Taco John's tries to minimize fallout from E. coli contamination
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Wyoming-based Taco John's has launched a campaign to reassure the public the food in its restaurants is safe.
The company has taken out a full page newspaper ad detailing recent problems and steps taken to remedy them. The ads are running in seven cities in Minnesota and Iowa, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The company's CEO John Fisherkeller delivered the message personally at news conferences in the Twin Cities and two of the cities where the outbreak occurred -- Austin, Minnesota and Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Fisherkeller said there are no signs so far that contaminated lettuce, the cause of the outbreak, continues to be a problem. And during the morning news conference, Fisherkeller said he was not concerned about eating at a Taco John's himself.
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"We're not just business operators, we're also our own customers. We eat at Taco John's. As a matter of fact, we're planning to have lunch at a Taco John's later today. So I'm just here to tell you that I am confident in the safety of our products at Taco John's."
Minnesota Department of Health spokesman Doug Schultz agrees that the E. coli contamination appears to be limited in scope. The department has no evidence of ongoing problems.
Schultz says the outbreak seems to have occurred over a brief period of time, and ended around Dec. 6.
"From the information we've received from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture as well, it certainly appears there was a limited amount of lettuce that was contaminated among the hundreds of thousands of pounds that go through a distributor and Taco John's during a day or during a week," Schultz said.
There have been enough E. coli incidents in recent times that I'm wondering if this will actually stand out much from that landscape.
As for those who have fallen ill due to Taco John's food, CEO John Fisherkeller says the company is worried about them and will pay their medical bills.
"We certainly believe anyone who has fallen ill linked to these three specific locations should have their medical expenses covered. We have alerted our insurance carrier and they will be addressing that issue as claims come in," said Fisherkeller.
Dave Jennings has some experience leading a business through this kind of health crisis. He was an executive at Schwan's Food Co. 12 years ago, when Schwan's ice cream was contaminated with salmonella.
Jennings says, in his experience, a rapid response is important when a company is contending with a food contamination crisis.
Jennings says the salmonella contamination at Schwan's prompted the company to start paying medical bills -- even before the source of the problem was confirmed.
"From the time we received the initial call from the health department, it took two weeks for there to be an actual 'in the laboratory test' saying our product was at fault. By the time that two weeks had passed, and we were actually clinically sure our product was at fault, we'd already settled thousands of claims -- no questions asked," Jennings said. "Now these were small claims, someone going to the doctor for a salmonella test. But we just got on top of it right away."
Jennings says he doesn't know enough about the Taco John's situation to judge the company's response. And in spite of Schwan's actions after the salmonella incident, he says it took about a year before the company's sales returned to pre-outbreak levels.
Taco John's says it is already seeing a drop in its sales, but the company's CEO would not put a number to the financial hit taken so far.
University of Minnesota journalism and public health professor Brian Southwell says Taco John's will probably have a hill to climb in getting its customers to return to restaurants with confidence.
"That said, there have been enough E. coli incidents in recent times that I'm wondering if this will actually stand out much from that landscape," said Southwell. "So I actually think it's not a total and absolute crisis here."
Southwell says Taco John's already seems to be doing the most important thing to help improve its image, which is to cooperate with the investigations underway.
