The Taco Bell's CEO and chairman John Martin is one of the most influential man in the fast food industry, he has a reason proud for his achievements over the past few decades in Taco Bell company. He's guidance on the value - oriented reengineering to Taco Bell company marks an era of the fast food industry. He set off a revolution in the fast food industry, each Taco for 59 cents and still profitable.
Starting in 1983, John Martin began a series of changes in the Taco Bell organization designed to alter the company’s mind-set, as well as its capabilities for pursuing a strategy to compete with the major fast-food chains. The first thing he did was to modernize Taco Bell’s physical units. These changes included remodeling the restaurants, increasing seating capacity, adding drive-through windows, installing new signs, and outfitting employees in more contemporary uniforms. The company also added new menu items, including Nachos, Taco Salad, Mexican Pizza, Double Beef Burrito Supreme, Seafood Salad, and Soft-Shell Tacos.2In addition, Martin accelerated the company’s growth, averaging 249 new stores per year from1983 to 1988, an increase from less than 100 units per year that had been added in the late 1970s. This expansion also extended Taco Bell’s geographic presence into the Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast.In the process, the company replaced its old 1,600-square-foot mission-style restaurants with more modern2,000-square-footunits.
2 Dean Takahashi: “Taco Bell…,” The Orange County Register, August 13, 1989. The first four products mentioned are trade marked products of Taco Bell