TACO BELL DECISION: STAY IN O.C. : Elated Workers Join Chorus Cheering Executives’ Call

After a year of uncertainty and anxiety, employees of Taco Bell Corp. and government and civic leaders throughout the state collectively cheered the fast-food chain’s decision Friday to keep its headquarters--and about 1,000 jobs--in Orange County.

“It’s very good economic news,” said Gov. Pete Wilson, who became involved in a bipartisan state and local effort to dissuade the PepsiCo. subsidiary from leaving, thereby avoiding the economic and image damage of having another major corporation flee the state.

The efforts included introduction in Sacramento of a bill to provide tax and other incentives to California-based corporations that want to stay and expand in the state.

While that measure has not yet been passed, Wilson said Taco Bell received “a great deal of help at the local level in terms of permits, in terms of involvement of local government in trying to retain them.”

At least as happy as the politicians were the workers whose lives would have been disrupted had the company decided to move to Texas, as it had been considering.

Company executives had told workers of the decision to stay during a morning meeting and several leaving the gathering said they had been worried at the prospect of pulling up Southern California roots and selling their homes.

“This is fantastic news, especially since I surf a lot. And Taco Bell is a Southern California company,” said Tim Johnson, who crafts the signs and image of Taco Bell restaurants. “A lot of the design and company philosophy is inherently Southern Californian.”

Annette Jaffee, a Laguna Beach resident who is marketing manager for the company, said the announcement “was a surprise, but I was happy we’ll stay.”

Local economic development officials and politicians rejoiced as well.

“It’s a huge win for Orange County, as it means keeping 1,000 high-paying jobs,” said H. Fred Mickelson, a Southern California Edison executive and head of the special public-private team formed to negotiate with Taco Bell. “High-caliber jobs mean employees buying goods and services in Orange County, from cars and food to entertainment.”

Equally happy were the many vendors and contractors who do business with Taco Bell: The company’s departure would have meant a substantial loss of revenue to most of them.

“I’m delighted that California negotiated with them,” said Anaheim marketing consultant Cathi Hofstetter, who oversees consumer product tests for the Taco Bell. “It would have impacted my business if they moved away.”

Unlike the upbeat mood in California, officials were understandably glum in Plano, Texas. Texas had aggressively sought to lure the company with $10 million in tax breaks as inherent amenities, such as no personal income tax, inexpensive land and less onerous government regulations.

Cole Morvand, executive director of the Plano Economic Development Office, said he was disappointed about Taco Bell’s decision.

“If you’re in California, it’s a great day,” he said. “We felt confident we would win until today. We were certainly aggressive and did what we thought was fair for the company and the city.”

Still, as Morvand pointed out, Taco Bell’s new lease in Irvine can be canceled in five years.

“Maybe then we will try again,” he said.

Times staff writers Eric Bailey in Sacramento, Dean Takahashi in Costa Mesa and Times correspondents Alan Eyerly and Lynn Franey contributed to this report.