Taco Bell is known to be named after the company’s founder and owner, and so one might question whether Kristen Bell or any of her relations, own Taco Bell.
The person who owns Taco Bell is Glen Bell, and apart from having the same last name, Kristen Bell has no ties to, nor is she a relation of Glen.
Read more below about Taco Bell and it’s founder, Kristen’s vegetarianism and plant-based eating in the fast food industry.
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American fast food chain, founded by American entrepreneur, Glen Bell, and based in Irvine, California. The name of the restaurant originally comes from two of Glen’s other restaurants.
In 1954, Glen created Bell’s Drive-In and Taco Tia in San Bernardino, California, it was not until 1962 that the name was changed to Taco Bell.
As of 2020, Taco Bell is managed by two parent organizations, Yum! Brands and Yum China. Interestingly, the two companies also own fast food restaurants KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, The Habit Burger Grill and others.
According to Investopedia, Yum! Brands is the third biggest restaurant company in the world, after McDonald’s, founded in 1940, and Starbucks, founded in 1971.
Kristen’s Diet
Kristen neither owns Taco Bell nor is there any evidence of her even enjoying Taco Bell. The actress has been a vegetarian since she was 11 years old and since the restaurant predominantly sells meat-filled tacos, burritos and quesadillas, it’s highly unlikely that Kristen would opt to eat there.
Instead, Bell has said that she likes to eat protein shakes made from plant-based protein sources such as pea protein or hemp milk, as well as salads and chickpea pasta dishes. In fact, Bell even went vegan for a year or so in 2013 after watching Forks Over Knives, a documentary claiming that animal-based and processed foods cause diseases like cancer and diabetes.
Typically, for breakfast, the actress will drink a vegan matcha latte on the way into work and once there has egg whites, spinach, tomatoes and extra feta. Then, for a mid-morning snack, Kristen might opt for a salt bagel with cream cheese.
After this, a healthy salad for lunch, her favourite toppings being avocado, raisins, blue cheese, carrots and cucumbers.
In the afternoon, Bell has said she often eats fruit as a snack and for her final meal of the day has Banza pasta with olive oil, cherry tomatoes with either an egg for a carbonara-like meatless dish or Beyond Meat crumbles for a spaghetti and meatballs-esque dinner.
Despite her healthy eating habits, Kristen also enjoys her junk food. When asked what her “cheat food” was in a video by Extra TV Kristen answered, “pizza for sure, pizza for sure for sure, if I had to choose a sweet one it would probably be…any kind of chocolate chip cookie.” Check out the full interview by clicking the link below.
Vegetarian Fast Food
Despite Taco Bell being mostly meat, the restaurant has a few veggie options. The two main vegetarian dishes are a “7 layer burrito” or a “cheese quesadilla”. There are also various vegetarian-friendly sides such as guacamole, seasoned rice and black beans, as well as desserts like cinnamon twists and churros.
In 2019, the company launched a vegetarian menu, and the following year announced that they were introducing a vegan, plant-based meat alternative to their veggie dishes.
Eating plant-based has been a rapidly growing market in recent times and fast-food won’t shy away from getting their fair cut. The Vegan Society reports that in 2014 there were 150,000 vegans, in 2016 there were 276,000 vegans and in 2019 there were 600,000 vegans, that’s 1.16% of the population. As a result, many fast food companies have had to switch up their menus to include new vegan and vegetarian alternatives. So, despite not owning Taco Bell, Kristen Bell does have a lot more options when dining at the restaurant as more people decide to join her and go meat-free.