An ailing national burger chain has poached a young Taco Bell marketing whizz who helped turn the Mexican fast-food brand into a viral social media hit by deploying the likes of LeBron James and Doja Cat.
Facing more than 18 months of declining sales, Jack in the Box announced Thursday that it has hired Taylor Montgomery, former global chief brand officer at Taco Bell, as its president and future CEO.
Montgomery, 39, will officially become president of the company next month, then take over the company’s CEO role within the next 12 months, according to a statement, with an $700,000-a-year salary and $200,000 sign-on bonus.
Interim CEO Mark King said he was “thrilled” by Montgomery’s hiring. “He is a proven leader with a track record of driving sustainable brand growth and results, and I have seen his ability to execute firsthand,” he said.
Montgomery was named No. 41 in Forbes’ 2024 World’s Most Influential chief marketing officers thanks to his role in turning Taco Bell into a rebellious brand savvy with influencers.
He led the company’s 2025 Super Bowl commercial campaign, choosing to feature everyday Taco Bell customers instead of centering celebrities. Taco Bell spokespeople Doja Cat and LeBron James made cameos in the commercial, but were not the stars.
Montgomery’s approach to marketing focuses on authenticity, he said in a January 2024 interview with marketing site Brand Innovator.
“You have to be really distinctive and you can’t fake it,” he said. “You have to be more real, more authentic than any other brand out there if you want consumers to engage with you over something else.”
But perhaps his master stroke was winning a battle with a fast-food chain that trademarked the phrase “Taco Tuesday.” By getting the chain, Taco John’s, to release the trademark, businesses of all types in 49 states could use the phrase without the worry of legal disputes.
Montgomery graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s in business administration, according to his LinkedIn page.
He joined Whirlpool Corporation as a sales and marketing intern in 2008, then went on to Procter & Gamble eventually became a global brand strategy director.
Montgomery moved to Taco Bell in 2016 as a senior manager of brand marketing and innovation, eventually working his way up to global chief brand officer in September 2025.
When Montgomery joins the Jack in the Box team in September, he faces an uphill battle. The company’s figures have been abysmal - with no sales growth since the first quarter of 2025.
The company, which has more than 2,000 restaurants in 25 states, has also seen its stock price plummet in the past two years from $84 in January 2024 to just under $18 Monday.
At the end of last year, Jack In the Box announced the closure of around 200 underperforming stores and sold its ownership Del Taco, a Mexican fast-food outlet, for only 20 percent of its 2021 purchase price, according to food news site TastingTable.
Jack in the Box - which sells breakfast, lunch and dinner - main struggles are finding a menu that connects with customers and improving customers’ store experiences, interim CEO Mark King said in a May interview with industry news publication QSR.
“I think going forward, it’s what does the menu look like,” King said. “How do we construct the menu and pricing to be able to drive people into our restaurants? And then the customer experience just needs to be better. And that comes from brand standards, franchisee execution, our helping on training and education.”
With additional reporting from The Associated Press
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