Yum Finds E. Coli A Hard Sell

by clorenz1 | December 14, 2006 at 12:32 pm

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It would seem hard to recover from a E. coli outbreak in the food
service industry. But Taco Bell is not only ready for you to return to
those plastic bench chairs, they are assuring people that it is safe to
return.

Even though they have not discovered where the contamination actually originated. The President of Taco Bell has spoken to the people. Of course the guy runs Taco Bell, which is assuring, yes!

However, the reality is that people will return. E coli. or no E coli. And the
fast food service industry seems well prepared to handle such
outbreaks, at least in terms of its PR management.

Do outbreaks
like this even matter to consumers? They are becoming very common and
the companies involved seem to always pull through. A few months of spin, and back to Taco Bell.

Will you return?

"Taco Bell is still a big piece of Yum, but growth coming from China and other international markets will mitigate some of the impact," Buckley said.

For 2007, Yum -- which also operates KFC, Pizza Hut and other fast-food chains -- will get half of its earnings from international markets, and half domestically, where Taco Bell comprises 50 percent of sales, according to Buckley.

Buckley added that the Northeast, where outbreaks occurred, is a fairly lightly penetrated market, so while it might take three to six months for that area to bounce back from the outbreak, "across the nation, sales will bounce back faster than that," he said.