Taco Bell will report earnings for the 4th quarter of 2006 on Monday, and financial analysts are questioning whether earnings will fall short of expectations following the E. coli outbreak traced to Taco Bell restaurants in the Northeast last December.
The OC Register reports that the time of the incident, the survey by Sandelman & Associates showed that eight out of 10 people had heard of the E. coli incident. The poll included roughly 400 people, Sandelman said.
Of those who were aware of the E. coli incident, 94 percent were able to tie the outbreak to Taco Bell. "There was no confusion," said Sandelman.