This paper proposes a hybrid approach involving Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Bacterial Foraging (BF) for tuning the PID controller of an AVR. Recently the social foraging behavior of E. coli bacteria has been used to solve optimization problems. We first illustrate the proposed method using four test functions and the performance of the algorithm is studied with an emphasis on mutation, crossover, variation of step sizes, chemotactic steps, and the life time of the bacteria. Further, the proposed algorithm is used for tuning the PID controller of an AVR. Simulation results are very encouraging and this approach provides us a novel hybrid model based on foraging behavior with a possible new connection between evolutionary forces in social foraging and distributed non-gradient optimization algorithm design for global optimization over noisy surfaces.