In 1989, two businessmen—Tom Cook and Dennis January—formed a partnership corporation, Pacific Bells, Inc., to build and operate Taco Bell restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. Dennis had just opened his first Taco Bell restaurant in Tualatin, Oregon and they were eager to expand. Tom had been with Taco Bell for 10 years, starting as a fry cook, then shift manager, restaurant manager, district manager, area manager at the corporate offices in Irvine, CA and finally working as a Franchise Consultant in the Washington/Oregon region.