Fewer diners visited Taco Bell and lettuce-heavy restaurants, including Panera, as a cyclospora outbreak grew late last week.
Early data from location intelligence firm Placer.ai shows that US foot traffic at some of these chains began to decline in the second half of the week as reports of the diarrhea-causing parasite spread.
After being slightly down or roughly flat early in the week, foot traffic at Taco Bell's US locations fell 4.6% on Friday, July 10, compared to the average for that day of the week this year. On Saturday, traffic fell 5.8%.
Shredded lettuce contaminated with cyclospora and served at Taco Bell locations in five states has sickened over 1,600 people, the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday. The outbreak was linked to Taylor Farms, a major supplier of produce to restaurants and grocery stores, Business Insider reported.
Taco Bell said late Thursday that it "has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states."
"The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states," a spokesperson said. The chain had voluntarily pulled multiple varieties of fresh produce, including onions, lettuce, and tomatoes, from some Midwest locations earlier in the week.
A similar foot traffic trend played out at other restaurant chains that serve lots of leafy greens, though they haven't been connected with the outbreak.
At Panera Bread, traffic fell 3% on Friday and 7.4% on Saturday. Chopt, a salad chain popular in New York, Washington, DC, and other parts of the East Coast, saw a 7.1% dip on Saturday.
In Michigan, home to one of the largest initial outbreaks of cyclospora, some of the declines were steeper, Placer.ai found. At Taco Bell locations in the state, foot traffic was down 7.3% on Friday and 10.9% on Saturday.
"While we only have a few days of data to work with, cyclospora headlines and product removals at some quick-service restaurant chains appear to be weighing modestly on visitation," Placer.ai said in a statement accompanying the data. A quick-service restaurant is industry-speak for a fast-food chain.
Taco Bell, Panera, and Chopt did not respond to requests for comment on the Placer.ai data.
Visits to other major restaurant chains appeared unaffected by the outbreak. Foot traffic at restaurants, including the chicken chain Chick-fil-A, the Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant Cava, and the sandwich shops Subway and Jersey Mike's Subs, was largely flat or up late last week.
The cyclospora outbreak has affected people in 34 states since May 1, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Tuesday. The data includes confirmed cases, and the CDC has cautioned that the actual number of people infected with the parasite is likely higher.
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Alex Bitter is a senior retail reporter covering the gig economy, food, and retail. His work focuses major gig delivery and ride-hailing apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart's Spark. He is interested in everything from what it's like to work on the apps to the companies' business strategies.Some of his recent stories feature gig workers who have been deactivated on the apps, DoorDash hiring traditional employees to make deliveries, gig workers' use of bots, and gig work expanding into new professions, such as nursing.Alex has also written about Aldi's US expansion, Starbucks' turnaround efforts, and the fallout from Kraft-Heinz's budget cutting. Convenience store chain Sheetz ended its "smile policy" after his reporting.Before joining Insider in September 2020, he wrote about consumer and retail companies for S&P Global Market Intelligence. He's a graduate of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and grew up on the Big Island.Alex lives in the Washington, DC, area, where you can find him studying ancient coins or searching for Civil War artifacts with his metal detector in his free time.Got a tip? Reach out at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (808) 854-4501.
