Nobody ever seems to give Taco Bell enough credit. So many people consider Taco Bell to be the bottom of the barrel, worst of the worst or otherwise not worthy of their money, but still drop the dollars at plenty of other fast food places.
Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Arby’s, Burger King and any others you can think of generally pay the same rates, have similar marketing budgets, have the same quality standards and all follow the same FDA rules and regulations. Somehow, though, Taco Bell seems to sit at the bottom of the ladder of the average person’s fast food choice. Whether they don’t like the food (which 70% of the time means they’ve never tried it) or have never really eaten there, many are opposed to the idea of trying it rather than being open to giving it a try. If someone hasn’t ever tried McDonald’s, they’d be all gung-ho to dive right in and try a Big-Mac but the same could never be said for Taco Bell and a Chalupa.
This seems to stem from people either hearing that Taco Bell was somehow perpetually and inherently dirty or having heard some other horror story with little, if any, roots in reality. It sits on the proverbial bottom in people’s minds but there is absolutely nothing worse or dirtier about Taco Bell relative to it’s other fast food competitors. That is, on top of the fact that Taco Bell’s items generally have less calories and fat by weight and value and with the addition of their Fresco menu, have more versatile options to eat “healthy.”
Taco Bell has had its fair share of scares and negative marks on its record, but they were never really preventable by Taco Bell or YUM! Brands specifically. The 2006 E. coli breakout that affected 71 people in 5 states was not due to neglect on Taco Bell’s part. They immediately took action after identifying the problem. It turned out that the shredded lettuce they were using was infected with E. coli before it reached the Taco Bell, and there was no easy way to tell that it wasn’t up to code. Nobody at Taco Bell knowingly served up an E. coli taco, they simply used the same lettuce they always use.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the myth that the green onions were the cause of the outbreak holds no water. In fact, Taco Bell voluntarily removed green onions from all five-thousand and eight-hundred of it’s restaurants “after preliminary tests by the firm indicated the possible presence of E. coli” according to a report by the FDA. Taco Bell did their best to take care of the outbreak, but rumors spread and Taco Bell was quickly branded the bad guy. Taco Bell was not the only place to receive infected lettuce and “eight other [non-Taco Bell] restaurants on Long Island, in what [was] called a temporary precaution to sanitize and restock outlets, stopped service of lettuce.” Taco Bell was named the common factor in all of the outbreaks, but only because their reach extended beyond privately owned restaurants in the area.
If you look back to June 7, 2008, the FDA warned customers nationwide not to eat raw tomatoes for fear of infecting consumers with Salmonella. The only reason that particular “scare” didn’t target a specific company was because the FDA issued the warning before a considerable number of infections had occurred. This kept any one restaurant from suffering the burden of “the place that was infected with Salmonella.” The only difference in this case as compared to the E. coli outbreak was that the FDA caught it before it created any serious health issues.
All of these things, and probably miscellaneous other reasons, contribute to the social stigma surrounding eating at Taco Bell. This kind of thing causes it to stick around with enough loyal followers to keep it afloat, but Taco Bell should be a place that people are proud to eat. People should be able to tell others that they eat at Taco Bell without getting the disgusted looks and disgruntled sounds from their friends and loved ones. Taco Bell should be celebrated, even more so than the simpletons and copycats that are most other fast food restaurants serving meat between bread. So when someone you know says that they hate Taco Bell or that they think its gross, volunteer to be their tour guide. Bring them with you to a Taco Bell and show them the light. Show them what’s good, how to make it perfect and that there is nothing wrong with ordering more than just a hard taco. We need to show the world that Taco Bell is king, one patron at a time.
[The official E. coli FDA report]
Today I found out that the Syracuse Crunch of Syracuse, NY are pretty awesome. Not only is it fun to imagine they’re called the Crunch because they love Taco Bell, but on February 23rd, The Syracuse Crunch announced the details of “Taco Bell Night at the Crunch” to take place on February 28th. Now obviously that has already happened, but its pretty cool if you’re into hockey.
Joshua Trout, 19, decided to speed through a Dodge County Taco Bell parking lot at 11:55 PM. When Joshua lost control of his vehicle, he rolled into the dining room of the Taco Bell hospitalizing him and his passenger April Callies.