Taco Bell
Of course, you’ve probably heard of earning a business degree from the likes of Stanford and Harvard University. However, what about learning from one of the biggest names in the restaurant business: Taco Bell. That’s right! The fast-food giant plans on launching its own business school for those who want some useful information with their Mexican-inspired food!
Taco Bell Business School
Walter Cicchetti/Shutterstock
The forthcoming Taco Bell Business School, created with the help of business educators from the University of Louisville, will help hand-picked Taco Bell managers learn fundamental business concepts, leadership skills, and the ins and outs of franchise ownership. The “school” will actually be a six-week intensive course giving managers the core MBA skills they need to move up the Taco Bell corporate ladder.
Not only will the Taco Bell Business School be shorter than traditional business school, but it will also be much cheaper. Much, much more affordable, in fact! While business school has an average total cost of $176k, Taco Bell’s school will be entirely free to the managers picked for the program! By offering the remote program for free, Taco Bell hopes to make corporate and franchise ownership career paths far more viable and accessible to people from underrepresented backgrounds.
“We know that fast food jobs are often seen as stepping stones to other careers. And we’re trying to change that,” Mark King, the CEO of Taco Bell, said in the statement announcing the business school. “Through the Taco Bell Business School, we want to show our ambitious restaurant leaders how their careers could flourish at Taco Bell and see opportunities they may not have previously considered. We want to make foundational changes that positively impact our diverse team members’ growth. This program will teach them skills they need to climb the ladder – whether that’s moving up to the next level or even owning their own franchise one day.”
Believe it or not, Taco Bell is not the first fast-food giant to open a business school…
Growing Within The Franchise
Taco Bell
It’s not just corporate Taco Bell that thinks the business school is a great idea. The company also included a quote from one of its biggest franchisees – Tina Regan – to show that franchise owners also support the move.
“When I first started working in a Taco Bell restaurant in 1983, I thought I would only stay for a few months,” Reagan recalled in the statement. “Little did I know, I would end up staying for a few decades and eventually managing and operating 319 restaurants. As someone who started as a team member, I know firsthand that franchise ownership can be an intimidating path. But it’s been very rewarding.”
Interestingly, while this might sound like a novel concept, the Taco Bell Business school is not the first fast-food-run business program. Most famously, McDonald’s runs the Hamburger University, which has been helping train hand-picked franchisees and managers for more than 60 years. Taco Bell hopes to start their version this month, so we’ll need to wait and see just how much of an impact it has on their corporate structure and franchise ownership.
