Belatedly, Business Leaders Act to Get Taco Bell to Stay : Headquarters: State and local officials will meet with the fast-food company’s executives to see what can be done to keep firm in Irvine.

A week had passed since Taco Bell Corp. said it was pondering whether to leave Orange County, and Terry Hartman, president of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce, decided to add his voice to those he was sure had been begging the fast-food chain to stay put.

He made a call to Rudy Pollak, a Taco Bell vice president. “I said, ‘We really want you here in Irvine,’ ” Hartman recounted. “He said, ‘You know, you’re the first person to tell me that.’ ”

Hartman was appalled. “People were talking to him about a number of things, but they were not saying, ‘Stay here.’ As soon as he said that, I got on the phone to Sacramento and all over the place trying to stir up trouble.”

Now, a month after Taco Bell said it might move its 900 headquarters workers out of its mirrored office tower next to the San Diego Freeway, business leaders have sprung into action.

State commerce officials have agreed to form one of their “red teams,” which work with companies to encourage them to stay in California. They will join with local leaders to meet with Taco Bell executives next month to see what can be done to keep the company here.

“We are not going to tell them anything. We are going to listen,” said Thomas Wilke, a local public relations executive who is president of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce.

What they can expect to hear is an earful about how much cheaper it is to do business outside Orange County.

Taco Bell mentioned Dallas and Atlanta as two possible headquarters sites when its current lease expires in November, 1996. When word got out, other cities out of state started putting together unsolicited offers to lure the Pepsico subsidiary their way.

Even governors and secretaries of state have been on the line to Taco Bell Chief Executive John Martin and his subordinates. Each is ready to present a package of benefits, and they are doing their homework, even citing the number of Taco Bell Mexican-style eateries in their towns.

“We don’t just eat fried chicken here,” said Bill Crane, marketing director for the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. And he pointed out that the Georgia city’s Latino population is 2% and growing.

Taco Bell is not commenting on its relocation deliberations.

Analysts, however, note that there are plenty of good business reasons why the restaurant chain should stay in Irvine. It has a prime office location minutes from John Wayne Airport, and it is smack-dab in the center of one of the highest concentrations of restaurants in its system. Also, prototypes for Chevys--the chain’s new mid-priced, sit-down restaurants--are nearby in Irvine and Fountain Valley.

Orange County business leaders reckon Taco Bell knows all that, so for now their approach is a soft-sell.

“The most important thing we need to do is tell them we want them to stay here,” Hartman said.

Wilke of the Orange County chamber said local officials are finally recognizing that they can take steps to head off business and job flight.

“We’re learning to do that,” he said. “The very fact we are responding in these ways is a major improvement (over) just a year ago.”