1970s. The owner successfully argued that Sydneysiders would confuse the takeaway chain with his restaurant, and this would damage his reputation. Taco Bell later opened in 1997 in Australia with a store in the cinema district on George Street, Sydney and a year later in 1998 within a few KFC stores in the state of New South Wales, but by 2005, the Taco Bell brand was pulled out of the country. On September 13, 2017, Collins Foods announced that Taco Bell would return to the Australian market, with their first store being situated in the Brisbane suburb of Annerley in Queensland using a refurbished Sizzler restaurant which had closed earlier that year. The Annerley store opened on Saturday November 4, 2017 with about 50 people camping out overnight to be first to try the store. The store has 96 seats in indoor and outdoor settings and has an open kitchen so diners can see their food being prepared. There is also a drive-through. The menu appears to be a subset of the US menu based on food tasting research undertaken by the company. The Annerley store does not have a breakfast menu, but offers beers and margaritas similar to their Mexican food competitors in the Australian market. In 2018, Collins Foods signed a development deal with Yum! Brands to open over 50 Taco Bell restaurants across Australia between January 2019 and December 2021. A legal dispute with Victoria-based restaurant chain Taco Bill was resolved in February 2020. As of January 2023, there are 39 Taco Bell restaurants across Australia; 12 in New South Wales (including one that does not serve pork), 14 in Queensland, nine in Victoria (including one that does not serve pork) and four in Western Australia. By city or town, there are nine in Melbourne, seven in Sydney, five in Brisbane, four each on the Sunshine Coast and in Perth, two on the Gold Coast and one each in Ballina, Cairns, Ipswich, Newcastle, Orange, Tamworth, Townsville and Wollongong. There are also plans to open restaurants in other locations, such as Canberra, the Central Coast, Port Macquarie and Toowoomba. Guam Taco Bell operates several stores in Guam. New Zealand Taco Bell officially opened its first New Zealand location on November 12, 2019, in the suburb of New Lynn, Auckland. As of January 2023, there are 14 Taco Bell restaurants across New Zealand; 10 on the North Island and