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Success Stories: Linda Alvarado
One career led to another for businesswoman Linda Alvarado, and opening one Taco Bell restaurant 21 years ago in Denver eventually grew to owning and operating 130 additional Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and Long John Silver restaurants in Colorado, California, New Mexico and Virginia. Linda was a commercial building contractor and real estate developer in 1984, when she opened her first Taco Bell at a shopping center she was developing in downtown Denver. Her success with the one restaurant led to other opportunities to build new restaurants, expand to other Yum concepts, and acquire additional restaurants in other states. She became the first franchisee to open Taco Bells on a military base. Her working relationship with the Navy in Long Beach, California, was very strong and when naval operations were consolidating, she was invited to open additional restaurants at the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. "It was pioneering at the time and it was certainly risk taking," she says, "But it turned out to be a great business decision." Linda is also an owner of the Colorado Rockies, a major league baseball team. "It all seems so incongruous, considering how it started." she says, "There was a pad site available at the entrance to the shopping center we were developing, and I was just looking for a good traffic generator and a long term tenant to support positive cash flow for financing. In the end it provided the cash flow, but more importantly an exciting opportunity to own a Taco Bell franchise". "A lot of people have the hope of someday owning their own business. Yum! helped me move toward achieving the American Dream." She adds, "As a franchisee, our partnership with Yum! also creates opportunities for our management to empower others to learn how they too can achieve their dreams. We have many very talented managers in our restaurants and we constantly remind them of the importance of their position in a fast-paced and technologically challenging business environment. I encourage them to take pride in their accomplishments and to look around the neighborhood and try to find another individual on their block who manages a million dollar business"! "I am especially aware that as a Hispanic woman this has been a great opportunity," she adds. "Yum! has made that opportunity possible and has truly made a difference for me." |
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