Author: christopher
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Best of the Bell: DDO Celebrates Top Performing Restaurants & Leaders
Gold never looked so good! We’re proud to showcase our 2025 Golden Bell winners, which includes those Taco Bells that have also simultaneously reached Signature Restaurant status. For 2025, 136 Desert de Oro Foods (DDO) Taco Bells were named Signature Restaurants! Golden Bell celebrates the nation’s top restaurants in the Taco Bell system, along with
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Meet MaElena, Modeling Perseverance, Leadership & Strength
“How far I’ve come, the little girl from Mexico,” MaElena Garcia says while acknowledging she needs celebrate herself more. Now a reputable leader at Desert de Oro Foods (DDO) as a Taco Bell Area Coach (AC), we celebrate the full life she’s created here! MaElena moved to the United States in 1996 at the age
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Selene Quintana Leads with Purpose
Selene Quintana never planned on building a career in restaurants. At 16, she walked into a Taco Bell looking for a job that would support her dream of becoming a nurse. She wanted to help people. That first visit didn’t go as planned – the manager was busy and turned her away. Flustered but determined,
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Meant to Be: Karla Garnica’s Journey with DDO
Some careers are planned. Others are simply destined. For Karla Garnica, Area Coach (AC) of Area 25 for Desert de Oro Foods (DDO), working in the restaurant industry wasn’t just a job, it was part of who she was from the very beginning. Karla grew up in California in a household where work ethic was
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Bill Williamson Sings Our Praises
If you ask Bill Williamson, he says he just kind of fell into restaurant management with us. He’d devoted his more than 40-year career to the grocery business and when he was ready to walk away from that, well, it appears he was just in the right place at the right time! “It’s been a
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Tamlyn White Wins Pizza Hut Scholarship!
Restaurant General Manager (RGM) Tamlyn White is the definition of a go-getter. At just 22 years old, Tamlyn leads our Miller Road Pizza Hut in Scottsdale, AZ, all while working toward a college degree! Tamlyn already participates in our tuition assistance program, which is helping her pursue an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from Colorado
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DDO Expands Taco Bell Presence in East Phoenix
We’ve just acquired three additional Taco Bells in our backyard! These newest locations are in Globe, Thatcher, and Claypool, AZ. According to VP of Operations Fred Bendel it was exciting to be selected for this acquisition, given the locations are in our home state and a market area where we have an experienced, tenured Area
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Val Martinez: Committed to Excellence
For Restaurant General Manager (RGM) Val Martinez, working at KFC is a family affair. Val and each of her 12 siblings (yes, really!) have all worked for the brand at one point or another! However, when it comes to the longest tenure of the bunch, Val takes the cake: she’s been with KFC for a
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RGM Trevon Wright is on the Right Track!
For Restaurant General Manager (RGM) Trevon Wright, the sky’s the limit! As RGM of our Taco Bell Cantina in Phoenix, AZ, Trevon’s Taco Bell journey began at just 16 years old in Dallas, TX. After relocating to Arizona in 2022, he joined the Desert de Oro Foods (DDO) family, earning his promotion to RGM in
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Belinda Believes in DDO: A Restaurant Training Leader with Heart
Belinda Medellin knows ball! She currently works as a Restaurant Training Leader (RTL) at Desert de Oro Foods (DDO) but she’s been with the KFC brand since 1981. In fact, she was hired by her sister, the late Wallie Jaso, whose leadership is the stuff of legend around here. “Wallie said, ‘Why don’t you just