Fast-Food Clients Consider Quality Issue By Kathy Tyrer with Robin Meyerowit

LOS ANGELES - Concern about the Jack In The Box food poisoning crisis is running so high among a variety of meat suppliers that not only

At least one major fast-food competitor to Jack In The Box anonymously reported a 20% sales decline in the weeks following the incident to Nation’s Restaurant News. Jack In The Box reported sales plummeted 30-35% following the incidents.
A surprising range of suppliers and restaurants – from grocery meat departments to mom-and-pop seafood dinner houses – report increased inquiries about food quality from customers since the incident. Most, however, have decided not to address the issue formally.
‘Any company in the industry has discussed the problem and what to do about it,’ said Patty Parks, spokesperson for West Coast fast-food chain Carl’s Jr.
Parks said the chain deliberated over whether to run ads because, like others, Carl’s sales saw some decline in areas where cases of food poisoning were reported, but ultimately decided not to address the issue in its next round of advertising from agency Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein/S.F. Parks declined to discuss specifics on that campaign.
The same is true for other fast-food firms. ‘Our manufacturing and preparation processes exceed USDA industry standards,’ said Janice Smith, spokesperson for Irvine, Calif.-based Taco Bell. ‘In light of that, we are not doing any specific quality advertising on the way we process beef. We chose not to address it because our advertising already discusses the quality of our product.’
Sheree Zizzi, director of corporate communications for Jack In The Box parent Foodmaker, San Diego, Calif., acknowledged that ‘this incident brought the issue of the safety of meat supply to the forefront of consumers minds. And it’s possible other companies need to increase the education and awareness of their programs to their customers.’
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