Taco Bell Follows Dominos’ Trail Hoping for Better Results

Two years ago, Dominos Pizza was hammered in the media because of a YouTube video showing two employees doing childish and tasteless things to a pizza that they presumably were going to sell to a customer. Domino’s fired the employees, had the CEO apologize and later offered free food in an effort to restore confidence in the Brand. While this approach was hailed in business schools for its aggressive solution to a business disaster, it turns out that it may not been as successful as first thought. Current Domino Pizza ads still show a company trying to convince its customers that their food is made with real tomatoes and its dough tossed by real people and not machines.

Earlier this week, the Alabama-based law firm of  Beasley Allen filed a class action suit against Taco Bell, the number 6 fast food company in the U.S., alleging that the meat used by the company is  actually “taco meat filling.” Therefore, according to the suit, Taco Bell should stop calling its taco meat beef because it isn’t. Well, today Taco Bell answered the charge with a full page ad in all of  the nation’s major newspapers, thanking the law firm for suing them.

In the ad, the company said they use 100% USDA inspected beef and that their “seasoned beef” is 88% beef , 3% water and 9% spices and flavoring. What’s important here is that the FDA says a company can call its product beef if it contains at least 40% beef (Taco Bell says their product is 88%). The law firm says it tested the product and found it  to be 35% beef (5 % below the allowable limit). Taco Bell plans to countersue.

The reason I point this story out is because the next page in the “confronting disaster manual” suggests that Taco Bell will offer free tacos at some point to win back (and gain new) customers. Look for this sooner rather than later regardless of the legal outcome.