Glen Bell would daily watch long queues of customers outside a Mexican restaurant located right across the street from where he had a stand selling hot dogs. Inspired, he reverse-engineered the hot-selling recipe of the Mexican restaurant, albeit with a little help from its owners who let him see how the tacos were made.

He then opened a new stand selling tacos in 1951-1952 which he later sold before starting a restaurant named Taco Bell in 1964. By 1967, the company rapidly expanded and opened its 100th restaurant.