Taco Bell Customers Share Their Saucy Wisdoms with America

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 2004--

Company Announces Winners of National "Share Your Sauce Wisdom" Contest to Find Taco Bell-Inspired Phrases for Popular Sauce Packets

“We appreciate our customers' unique wisdom and this contest allowed us to provide an outlet for them to share insights on everyday life and Taco Bell”

After combing through nearly 10,000 entries, ranging from "Pick me! Pick me!" to "You had me at taco," Taco Bell(R) today announced the winners of its national Share Your Sauce Wisdom contest. Sixteen saucy individuals from coast to coast will have their Taco Bell-inspired "words of wisdom" published on the nearly 5 billion sauce packets distributed to its restaurants and customers each year. Each winner also will receive a 1-year supply of free food.

The 12 new sayings will debut on "Mild," "Hot" and "Fire" sauce packets nationwide beginning Nov. 15. In some cases, multiple people submitted the same winning sauce wisdom. A complete list of the winners, locations and new sauce wisdoms can be found below.

"We appreciate our customers' unique wisdom and this contest allowed us to provide an outlet for them to share insights on everyday life and Taco Bell," said Greg Creed, chief marketing officer, Taco Bell Corp. "Although it was a difficult choice, we selected the entries that we knew would make our customers stop, think and smile whenever they picked up a sauce packet."

The contest, which ran from May 19 through June 18, was an open call for sauce wisdoms providing a humorous look at reality through the eyes of the Taco Bell brand. Messages needed to be simple, unexpected and provide insight on the little things in life. Entries were judged according to humor, originality, length and suitability of use.

The winning entries are as follows:

-- 1. Bike tires scare me - B. Sonderegger (Irvine, Calif.)

-- 2. Hello - S. Campbell (Mesa, Ariz.) and A. Franklin (Lakeland, Fla.)

-- 3. I M A HOT T R U 2? - M. Carson (East Wenatchee, Wash.)

-- 4. I'm in good hands now - B. Sonderegger (Irvine, Calif.)

-- 5. It's okay, you can say it. I love you too. - D. Kortenhoeven (Colorado Springs, Colo.)

-- 6. Mmmmmmm....Sauce - T. Stuckey (Smyrna, Ga.) and C. Underhill (White House, Tenn.)

-- 7. My sauce is an honor student at Taco Middle School - C. Kemmerer (Cocoa Beach, Fla.)

-- 8. Not to be used as a flotation device - T. Coleman (Indianapolis, Ind.)

-- 9. Pick me! Pick me! - S. Campbell (Mesa, Ariz.), C. Gierhart (Clyde, Ohio), D. Gray (Louisville, Ky.), J. Scoyni (Bakersfield, Calif.) and A. Teraberry (Scottsdale, Ariz.)

-- 10. When I grow up I want to be a waterbed - J. Rydman (Alameda, Calif.)

-- 11. Where are you taking me? - K. Moody (Arlington, Tenn.)

-- 12. You had me at taco. - L. Hunt (West Monroe, La.)

Taco Bell Corp., based in Irvine, is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc. and the nation's leading Mexican-style quick-service restaurant chain serving tacos, burritos, signature Quesadillas, Border Bowls(R), nachos and other specialty items. Taco Bell(R) serves more than 35 million consumers each week in more than 6,500 restaurants in the United States. "Think Outside the Bun" and visit www.tacobell.com.