KFC/Taco Bell issues statement about NYC rat incident
February 25, 2007
NEW YORK — KFC and Taco Bell parent Yum Brands Inc. issued a statement Feb. 23 regarding a KFC/Taco Bell cobranded restaurant in New York which became the focus of national attention in early February. Television crews, filming through the restaurant's front window, caught images of a dozen or more rats scampering around the restaurant after it had closed.
"This is an isolated incident at a single restaurant at 331 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village, New York and it is totally unacceptable," the company said in the statement. "The restaurant is closed and we will not allow it to be reopened until it has been sanitized and given a complete clean bill of health. We want to assure our customers that nothing is more important to us than food safety and their health."
Construction in the basement of the building housing the restaurant apparently stirred up the rats, Yum officials said.