Taco Bell Lawsuit

Although the lawsuit was ultimately dropped, Taco Bell has experienced some hardship after the crisis, which has in turn created another crisis for Taco Bell. Taco Bell’s crisis management team has had to devise a way to encourage their customers to return to their restaurants. Even though the lawsuit was dropped, Taco Bell has had to focus its efforts on repairing their brand due to the negative publicity from the lawsuit. Taco Bell succeeded in telling their side of the story through the “Thank you for suing us” tactic, but they still experienced a decline in their sales. Some stores even saw as much as a 5% decline from the fourth quarter of 2010 (Reuters Staff, 2011). The focus of the crisis management team has now shifted from navigating the initial crisis caused by the lawsuit, to stabilize the business and revive the growth Taco Bell was previously experiencing. In order to do this, one step Taco Bell took was demanding an apology from the firm which filed the lawsuit against them. By demanding this, their customers would see that Taco Bell stood behind their product enough to counter the argument initially presented in the lawsuit (Macedo, 2011).

By doing this, they are ensuring that they have constant contact with their customers, and that if another crisis were to emerge, their presence online is already established and therefore navigating any crisis will be smoother due to their preparedness.

Since the lawsuit was dropped, Taco Bell has had to deal with the aftermath of the damage it did to their reputation, regain the trust and business of their customers, as well as create a stronger online presence. Had Taco Bell not had the crisis management team already established, they would be experiencing a much different outcome in the wake of this crisis.