Salad Chains Are Seeing Foot Traffic Drop Over Cyclosporiasis Fears
Fear of explosive diarrhea seems to be scaring customers away from the purveyors of salad in business districts and strip malls across the US. On
Fear of explosive diarrhea seems to be scaring customers away from the purveyors of salad in business districts and strip malls across the US. On Sunday, July 11, as news of a massive cyclospora outbreak—possibly linked to contaminated lettuce—made headlines, traffic at Chopt fell by 7.1 percent, compared to the chain’s average Sunday traffic in 2026, according to Placer.ai data. The same day, foot traffic at Panera Bread was down 7.4 percent, and Sweetgreen was down 3.1 percent, compared to those chains’ Sunday averages. While Placer.ai tells WIRED that it has only “a few days of data to work with,” the company says that the decline of visitors to places with “lettuce-heavy menus” began around July 10. Industry averages suggest that customers were more likely to ditch salad-heavy chains, with foot traffic across quick-service chains like McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, and Wendy’s up 0.8 percent compared to their average Sunday traffic.
Traffic for all fast-casual chains—the menus of which tend to include more fresh produce than fast-food rivals—was down 2.4 percent. None of these salad chains have been linked to the outbreak, which may have sickened nearly 7,000 people, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. In fact, federal authorities have not yet named any ingredient, grower, or supplier as the potential cause. However, the Health and Human Services department in Michigan, the state at the center of the outbreak, described lettuce or salad greens as a “potential source.” Past cyclospora outbreaks have been tied to raw produce, including herbs, raspberries, and lettuce. The easiest way to kill the parasite is with heat, and people do not typically cook berries or fresh greens. Wall Street also seems spooked by the turbo diarrhea rampage. At the time of publication, Sweetgreen shares were down 23.3 percent over the past five days.
(Chopt and Panera Bread are privately traded companies.) None of the “lettuce-heavy” chains responded to WIRED’s request for comment. While Sweetgreen’s stock is suffering, the only chain with suspected links to the outbreak is Taco Bell. Some locations in the Detroit region posted notices that they were “currently unable to sell lettuce, cilantro onion, pico de gallo, and guacamole due to a nationwide recall,” and The Washington Post reported that health officials are investigating whether the chain played a role in the outbreak. Shares of Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum Brands, are down 7.2 percent in the past five days. Placer.ai found that Taco Bell’s foot traffic was down 5.8 percent on July 11 compared to the chain’s average traffic on Sundays. In Michigan—where the case count has reached 4,312—traffic was down 11.5 percent compared to the Sunday average. Anxiety spreading online about the risks of contracting the parasite could continue to keep would-be gordita buyers away.
The BriefWire