Taco Bell turns onto 'recovery' road
By
Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
About 1 in 3 frequent fast-food customers
say they plan to eat less often at Taco
Bell - or not at all - as a result of
the chain's recent E. coli outbreak, according
to a national poll done for USA TODAY.
Yet the online poll, by food service research
firm Sandelman & Associates, shows
fast-food eaters are satisfied with how
Taco Bell (YUM)
handled the crisis in which 71 people
fell ill after eating at the Mexican-style
chain. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed
rate Taco Bell's actions after the outbreak
as "good," "very good"
or "excellent."
"It's clearly affecting their business,"
says Bob Sandelman, CEO of the research
firm. "But Taco Bell appears to be
on the road to recovery."
Other chains, including McDonald's and
Burger King, were affected to a lesser
degree by E. coli outbreaks.
The poll of 311 people who eat fast food
at least once a month - and were aware
of the E. coli at fast-food chains - was
conducted Dec. 15-18. It noted that federal
health officials suspect lettuce as the
probable cause of the outbreaks at Taco
Bell and that the outbreaks had been limited
to four states, with no cases reported
since Dec. 3.
About 8 in 10 fast-food eaters polled
by Sandelman said they'd continue to visit
other fast-food chains at least as often
as they did before the scare.
Taco Bell President Greg Creed declined
in a phone interview to comment on Sandelman's
findings.
He said Taco Bell has been doing its own
polling since the outbreak and that 94%
of people who describe themselves as Taco
Bell eaters have a "positive"
view of the brand; 82% believe the food
is "safe."
"Given the publicity in the marketplace,
these are very good numbers," Creed
says. Taco Bell's national online survey
of 400 people was done Dec. 15.
Still, the Sandelman poll found that 36%
of Taco Bell's best customers - those
who eat there once a month or even daily
- say that after the recent illnesses,
they now eat at Taco Bell less often,
or not at all.
"It's still a raw issue because it's
still in the news," Sandelman says.
But he adds that consumer concerns will
fade over time, or even disappear, once
the cause of the outbreak is pinpointed.
Creed won't discuss sales until parent
Yum Brands reports quarterly earnings
in February. But, he says, "Over
the last few days, sales have started
to recover."
"This is a bigger issue than Taco
Bell," Creed says. It's an ingredient
issue, he says, and Taco Bell will seek
better industry testing in the field,
"before it comes to our restaurant."
The outbreak could have happened to anyone,
he says. "It's not like we did anything
wrong."