Taco Bell rushes to contain Cyclospora after July 14 alert

CEO Sean Tresvant publishes open letter to customers

Public-health officials on the evening of July 14 notified Taco Bell that shredded iceberg lettuce used in Crunchwrap Supremes, Cantina Chicken Burritos and other menu items was the suspected culprit in a rapidly expanding Cyclospora outbreak, according to current and former Taco Bell officials and people familiar with the chain’s operations. The word went out from the chain’s leaders that night: Stop the trucks.

Executives, many of whom were attending an off-site company event in Southern California, convened late that night and made contingency plans to begin pulling potentially contaminated Taylor Farms lettuce from stores. Working with franchisees, chain officials diverted supply trucks and mobilized field teams to toss cases of the lettuce.

Later that night, company leaders decided to go further and remove Taylor Farms lettuce across all of Taco Bell’s 7,785 U.S. locations. For days, executives oversaw the operation from a war room at the chain’s Irvine, Calif., headquarters and in numerous virtual meetings. By Friday, July 17, the chain had entirely switched out its lettuce, auditing the removal down to the store level.

More than 1,600 people who became ill in the outbreak reported eating at Taco Bell locations across five states, federal health officials said last week.

MSI previously reported that Taylor Farms lettuce supplied to Taco Bell was linked to the Cyclospora outbreak, and that the FDA later identified a single Mexican farm as the likely source.

The outbreak has taken a measurable toll on the chain’s business. Visits to U.S. Taco Bell locations last week were down as much as 31% compared with the day-of-week average from Jan. 1 to July 6, according to Placer.ai, a research firm that analyzes foot traffic. Shares of Yum Brands, Taco Bell’s parent company, have fallen 7.7% since the beginning of the month, the Journal reported.

Taco Bell’s social-media messaging since the outbreak has drawn scrutiny. Pam Goldstein, a crisis communications consultant who helped McDonald’s during a 2024 E. coli outbreak, told the Journal that the chain risks alienating customers with a playful tone and kissy emojis in its posts and advertisements. “You have one shot to get it right,” Goldstein said. Taco Bell said its efforts were reinforcing consumer confidence in its food safety, and that it had received positive feedback for its handling of the outbreak.

Consumers have filed at least four lawsuits against Taco Bell in connection with their illnesses, alleging the chain sold adulterated products that led to lost wages, suffering and bodily harm. Taco Bell has yet to respond in court, the Journal reported.

Tanner Stewart, 30, a Taco Bell regular from Kansas who said he received a Cyclospora diagnosis after eating at the chain, told the Journal he still believed the chain could retain his business. “As long as Taco Bell handles the situation correctly and safely, then that’s all we can ask,” Stewart said.

On Monday, July 21, Taco Bell CEO Sean Tresvant published an open letter to customers, sharing sympathies with those sickened and promising the company would continue to share what it knows. “We aren’t entitled to your loyalty,” he wrote. “We earn it one meal at a time.”

Online, blame for the outbreak has shifted this week to Taylor Farms and away from Taco Bell, according to PeakMetrics, an analytics company that tracks online discussions. About half of online discussions about Taco Bell are negative, while the rest are neutral or positive, the firm found. “Clearly, this is a nationwide industry-wide issue, not a Taco Bell-specific issue,” the chain said over the weekend.

Taco Bell said it voluntarily acted to protect consumers and urged other restaurants and retailers to do the same. The chain has said it appreciates fans who have continued coming in.

Industry experts told the Journal that food-safety crises present all-encompassing challenges for restaurant companies, affecting marketing, operations, legal and government affairs. Sales can be depressed for months or years, as Chipotle experienced after a string of food safety problems between 2015 and 2018.

Taco Bell has contended with similar episodes before. In late 2006, sales slumped after public health authorities linked lettuce served at Taco Bell with dozens of E. coli cases in Northeast states — then fell further after video of a rat infestation at one of its New York City stores surfaced in February 2007. “The press was so dramatic and so pronounced and it came in a one-two punch,” David Novak, then CEO of Taco Bell parent Yum Brands, said on a 2007 investor call. Same-store sales tumbled by 11% in early 2007, and it took nearly a year for the chain’s sales to recover, the Journal reported. Analysts have said they expect Taco Bell to rebound more quickly from the current Cyclospora outbreak.