Taco Bell traffic declines following diarrhea outbreak

Dive Brief:

Traffic declined across the quick-service and fast casual restaurant segments following the cyclosporiasis outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce, according to emailed data from Placer.ai.
Traffic at Taco Bell was down by 5.8% on July 11 compared to being up 2.3% on July 7. The data is compared to day-of-week averages for Jan. 1 to July 6, 2026. It is likely the data will show further declines the week of July 13 as the CDC and FDA narrowed the cause of the outbreak late this week to shredded lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell.
Fast casual chains with heavy salad menus also saw declines in visits on July 11, with Chopt down 7.1%, Sweetgreen falling 3.1% and Panera Bread slipping by 7.4% compared to the day-of-week average.

Dive Insight:

With more info coming out on the cause of the outbreak, traffic could improve in the days ahead. But the ongoing media attention may have already dealt a blow to the industry. Traffic across fast casual restaurants was down by 2.4% on July 11, while it was up 6.2% on July 7. These numbers compare to day-of-the-week averages from January to July 6, 2026.

QSR foot traffic as a whole increased 3.1% on July 7, but edged higher by 0.8% on July 11.

“While we only have a few days of data to work with, Cyclospora headlines and product removals at some QSR chains appear to be weighing modestly on visitation,” Placer.ai said.

Taco Bell will likely take the brunt of traffic declines this month, despite its quick mitigation efforts. It said on Thursday that it had already removed the lettuce in question at the impacted restaurants and would replace it within 24 hours.

It’s possible that traffic could improve as the third quarter progresses, especially as the chain outperforms the rest of the QSR industry with ongoing same-store sales growth.

McDonald’s posted a similar dip in traffic in 2024 in the days and months after an outbreak of E. coli related to slivered onions served on its Quarter Pounder. While that outbreak impacted more than 100 people versus thousands of suspected and confirmed cases of cyclospora, it still led to a same-store sales decline for a couple of months at McDonald’s. Taylor Farms, which is tied to the current lettuce at Taco Bell, also supplied the onions to McDonald’s.