Taco Bell Arrives In Quebec

By: Taco Bell | 3 Shares 1,750 Reads

(Friday, December 01, 2006) - The first-ever Taco Bell 'crossed the border' and set-up shop in Quebec mid-December 2006, on the corner of Pierrefonds and Hymus in the West Island.

The official opening will occur in March 2007 as the company is currently working out some kinks, including constructing a French zone on Taco Bell Canada's Web site.

Why the wait in Quebec?

Mexican food was somewhat obscure in Quebec until fairly recently. "Ten years ago, there would only be a few items like taco shells in grocery stores, but now you'll find an aisle full of Mexican food, and it's becoming more prevalent to cook Mexican food at home," said Annik Labrosse, the Quebec marketing manager of Priszm, the company with exclusive licence on opening Taco Bell franchises in the province, in a recent statement to the press.

Annik Labrosse pointed out that Taco Bell had been planning on coming to Quebec for over a year. The corporation has been busy opening franchises throughout the rest of Canada as these fast food chains could advertise in the same language. Opening its doors in Quebec certainly posed more of a challenge.

To date, the French slogan is up on the Web site ("Sauve un pain à hamburger. Mange un Taco"). Some minor menu name changes had to be made. For example, the popular Crunchwrap Supreme is now the "Wrap croquant suprême," but burrito and taco managed to sneak by the province's French language policies.

Since its opening, the Montreal Taco Bell has had huge line-ups from Quebecers who "have been deprived for too long." Due to the popularity of the chain, and its many die-hard fans known for making day-trips either to Ontario or the United States for a taste of Taco Bell, Montreal's first chain was flooded with people wanting to try Taco Bell's popular food. People waited as long as three hours in line to order their food, according to Wikipedia. Twenty to thirty additional chains are planned to be open in the future within the Montreal area.

A Little Taco Bell history

The founder of Taco Bell, Glen Bell, started with a hot dog stand in San Bernardino, California in 1946. After experimenting with alternative food items, he opened three Taco-Tia (his initial attempts were named for his daughter) stands between 1954 and 1955, which he later sold to his partners. He then opened the first Taco Bell in Downey, California on March 21, 1962.

The first Taco Bell franchise was sold in 1964 and the company went public in 1969. In 1978, Bell sold the chain to PepsiCo.