Taco Bell Trims Search to O.C., Texas : Fast food: The restaurant chain won’t say outright if its Irvine headquarters is scratched from its list of possible sites. But it does decide against moving to Atlanta or Charlotte, N.C.

Taco Bell Corp. hinted Tuesday that it has decided to move out of its 12-story headquarters and said that it has narrowed its search for bigger offices to Orange County and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Spokeswoman Janis Smith said the company, a week away from its self-imposed deadline for deciding where to move its headquarters, has ruled out Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C. That decision was made earlier this month, she said.

“We’re still looking at a variety of options,” Smith said.

When Taco Bell said at the end of September that it might relocate, the company also said it was possible that it would remain in its 285,000-square-foot mirrored Irvine office tower. “To say that would be inaccurate today,” Smith said, though she would not say outright that the Irvine building was scratched from the company’s list of possible sites.

The fast-growing, Mexican-style fast-food chain already has nearly 1,000 employees working in its headquarters and in several floors of a smaller building next door, she said.

The hunt for new offices will depend on “economics, transportation and, for Texas, a central location” in the nation, Smith said. The company still expects to reveal its plans by the end of the month.

Smith would not elaborate on what Taco Bell is looking for in a headquarters or what incentives are being offered, but it is believed that Dallas’ central location and larger airport facilities would be weighed against the huge cost of moving such a large operation halfway across the nation.

Taco Bell’s announcement last fall jolted Orange County and California officials who already were beset with companies fleeing--or considering leaving--the state for cheaper land, cheaper labor and fewer state and local restrictions on business.

North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt stopped by Taco Bell’s headquarters on Nov. 4 as part of a Southland swing to round up a new crop of companies for the Tarheel State.

Smith said corporate executives have since talked with the governors of all four states.

Gov. Pete Wilson sent in a so-called red team, a task force of corporate leaders, to try to persuade Taco Bell to remain in California. Red teams have been used in other cases where large employers have threatened to relocate out of state.

Smith said Taco Bell is still discussing possible plans both with Wilson’s red team and with Texas officials.