Taco Bell to pay $100,000 salaries to some store managers

Taco Bell will pay a $100,000 annual salary for general managers at some of its company-owned stores, the fast-food chain said Thursday.

The pay hike — described by the company as a "test" in "select locations" — will be phased in later this year at some of the roughly 450 corporate-owned Taco Bell stores, where general managers currently earn between $50,000 and $80,000, according to the company.

"We are still in the planning phase and do not have locations or participants confirmed at this time," a spokesperson for Taco Bell emailed CBS MoneyWatch.

The company did not say if the salary hikes to six figures were tied to any difficulties finding and retaining workers in tight labor markets. The U.S. unemployment rate, 3.7% in November, has been at or around 50-year lows for much of the past year, and employers around the country have been reporting labor shortages.

Taco Bell is owned by Yum Brands, which also operates the Pizza Hut and KFC brands. Taco Bell's plans do not involve salaries at the 6,500 Taco Bells run by individual franchise owners, the company said.

Taco Bell workers at corporate-owned stores are now eligible for at least 24 hours of paid sick time each year, under a policy that took effect at the start of the year, the company said.

Some of Taco Bell's official commitments for 2020 include giving vegetarians more eating options, it added in a news release. The company also vowed that over the next five years it would make all of its consumer packaging recyclable, compostable or reusable, and free of two chemicals used to make plastic: phthalates and BPA.