NEW YORK Yum! Brands Inc. said it has hired "a renowned expert in the area of pest control" to review the sanitation practices of the company's New York City franchisees, which have been at the center of a media frenzy since rats were videotaped inside a lone Taco Bell-KFC combo unit here.
In disclosing that the company had retained Bobby Corrigan, a rat catcher of considerable renown, Yum U.S. president Emil Brolick declared in a statement that "we have been working around the clock to prevent this from happening again." He also repeated an earlier apology to customers.
Corrigan's exploits in combating rodents were celebrated "Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants," a popular work of non-fiction. One reviewer referred to Corrigan as "the Elvis of the pest control world."
Widespread media coverage of a rat infestation within a combo unit run by ADF Cos., a New Jersey-based operator of several hundred Yum-franchised restaurants, led to the closing of an estimated 13 ADF-operated units within the last week. Yum has indicated that the stores would not be allowed to reopen until they had been certified as sanitary and safe by local health officials.
Brolick said that Yum is working "in partnership" with health department representatives on the situation.
Meanwhile, local media have reported that health officials are enforcing the city's sanitation codes more stringently in the wake of the scandal. The rats inside the Taco Bell-KFC unit were taped the day after a health-department inspector gave the restaurant a passing grade. That inspector has since been relieved of his inspection responsibilities. It was unclear if he had been fired or merely reassigned to other duties.