With all the comical references to Taco Bell in pop culture over the years, it is easy to consider Taco Bell to be a bit of a joke. The food isn’t the most healthy. The prices continue to increase every year, it seems. Most Taco Bell stores I’ve been to have been on the less-than-clean side. Hell, why would anyone want to go to Taco Bell?
When I was growing up in the corn fields of Ohio, my family had a few rituals we would do every single week. One of those rituals was visiting the local Taco Bell store on Sundays for $0.10 taco day. My family consisted of my brother and me, with my mom and dad. The four of us would pile into the car, and my parents would take us to Taco Bell. We would order 10 hard-shell tacos, and that would feed the entire family for lunch. Every single Sunday.
I don’t recall exactly when that ritual ended, but I imagine it was sometime around when that special ended. The prices went up, but the desire for the tacos and mild sauce never stopped!
Later in life, I worked various jobs. When I finally converted to corporate America, I eventually started working for a manufacturing company in southwest Ohio in their human resources department. I was far away from my family. My wife and I started a family and did our best to live the dream with our two dogs, a cat, and a beautiful daughter. While life was going great, my job was anything but. My manager was awful. I hated my job. I stuck it out for a year, which was longer than any of my predecessors in that position, which I wore as a badge of honor.
While I was trying to cope with all of the stress of my job and the horrible working relationship with my manager, I sought refuge in the restaurant near the end of the street. You guessed it – Taco Bell! Every single week, and sometimes more than once per week, I would order the three soft shell taco meal, nachos and cheese, and a large refreshing Mountain Dew that I continue to tell everyone is absolutely the best fast-food Mountain Dew anywhere on the planet. Every Taco Bell I have been to has the best Mountain Dew. It’s mixed perfectly, not too much carbonation and not too much sweet flavoring. If I could drink that every single day without overloading my body with sugar and caffeine, I absolutely would!
Fast forward almost a decade later. My mom was on her deathbed, fighting her second stint of cancer. At this point, I was living in Chicago with my family, more than double the distance from my mom back in Ohio. In March 2025, my mom was rushed to the emergency room due to extreme dehydration. Things were really scary. I drove to Ohio by myself and stayed there at the hospital every day for about a week while she was getting medical care. I slept at her house and stayed up most of the week doing chores around the house. I did her laundry, vacuumed, washed all of her dishes, put a new shower head in her bathroom with a handle – all of this with the hopes that she would be getting better and returning home. She never did. At the end of that week, she went to a nursing home for rehab, but eventually she was rushed back to the ER several weeks later, and she would eventually pass away just a few days later.
During that week, I remember two things. The first was that I wanted to do everything I could to take care of her house and make things easier on her so she could heal up and get better when she finally came home. The second was that the food at the hospital was awful. I tried to eat snacks the best I could, but there’s only so much free jello and crackers you can eat without getting any real sustenance. What was my saving grace? You guessed it. Taco Bell.
In the parking lot outside the hospital, there was a Taco Bell. I ate there twice that week. It was easy to get to, cheap enough, and I could eat it fast without spending too much time away from my mom. I wanted to spend every possible moment I could with her while she was awake so she knew I was there. She always seemed to perk up when I was in the room. Truthfully, I think she had the same effect on me, too.
As I turn 40 this year and am about to spend my first birthday without my mom, I’m full of so many emotions – most of them sad, angry, or regret. My wife and I fought last night over something stupid, of course, but she got me Taco Bell tonight for dinner as a “let’s squash this” offer. Taco Bell has been there my entire life. It’s reliable, consistent, and has helped me through some of the most difficult times in my life. I’ve eaten at Taco Bell literally all over the world. Taco Bell has never let me down. When life gets challenging or even when I want to celebrate something big, I always find myself getting in the car and taking a short trip to the nearest Taco Bell.
Thank you to all the restaurant owners and thousands of workers all over who make Taco Bell what it is. I can’t bring back my mom. I can’t change the relationship I had with my manager. But I can remember the times in my life when I was the happiest, especially when my family was all together every Sunday getting $0.10 tacos. From the bottom of my heart, I honestly say – thank you, Taco Bell.
Love,
Greg Mitchell
