Opening the Doors to a Major Milestone

You couldn’t have asked for a better day to open a restaurant. With the sun glistening against oversized scissors for an official ribbon cutting, we opened our doors to our newest location in Rochester, NY, with fans wrap around the building eager to order their favorite craveable Crunchwraps and Cheesy G’s. Marty Lobdell, President and CEO of Hospitality Syracuse, Inc., and his team, have been building new restaurants across Upstate New York and West Tennessee at a rapid pace, but this specific opening meant a little bit more.

Hospitality Syracuse, Inc.’s philosophy is clear and simple: do what’s best for their brand and the Taco Bell brand. So, when the opportunity came along to build a new Go Mobile restaurant, the team was in. Not only that, but this new restaurant would bring us to over 7,500 restaurant openings system-wide, pushing the brand even closer to its goal of expanding its footprint across America.

Operating in a true college town, Hospitality Syracuse, Inc.’s local Rochester, NY-area restaurants see high volumes, high digital use, and high delivery orders. This makes for the perfect location to add a Go Mobile restaurant, meeting the community where they are; which is none other than a rapidly excelling digital forward age with Gen Z consumers to match.

These projects aren’t possible without the collective efforts of the franchise organization and the Taco Bell development, operations, and technology teams, to partner seamlessly and deliver an exceptional product. Similar to how a restaurant team communicates and works together to provide a great customer experience, the collaboration between franchisee and franchisor is equally exceptional. Without collaboration, we wouldn’t see the growth we’re seeing today.

Jessica Woodburn, Director of Marketing and Communications of Hospitality Syracuse, Inc., recalls how much we have grown in her over 17 years with the brand. “I remember when the brand had about 5,000 [restaurants], so to now know we’re in the 7,500s and part of that growth, is amazing.”

And wow, have we been growing. In the last decade alone, Taco Bell and partners have built over 1,100 restaurants system-wide, fulfilling a strong pipeline year after year and bringing Taco Bell to communities across the United States in a wide range of formats.

From 5 restaurants to 5,000 and now into the 7,500s and beyond, Taco Bell is outpacing its competition one strong partnership at a time.