- Restaurants heavily reliant on lettuce are experiencing a dual challenge from a nationwide Cyclospora outbreak and significantly rising prices.
- The Cyclospora outbreak, which started in late June, was initially connected by federal health officials to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell in several states.
- Taco Bell voluntarily removed the implicated lettuce from its U.S. restaurants, resulting in a 21% decrease in customer visits by late July.
- Other salad-focused restaurant chains, including Chopt and Sweetgreen, have also reported declines in customer traffic despite not being directly linked to the outbreak.
- These food safety concerns are compounded by months of increasing lettuce prices, attributed to factors such as unusually hot weather impacting crops and higher fuel costs for refrigerated transportation.
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