The past few days have not been easy for Phil Friedman, the chairman and chief executive of McAlister's Deli.
A McAlister's store in Orange County, N.C., has been associated with nine cases of E. coli.
"We learned about it last Friday morning," Friedman said.
Rosemary Summers, health director of Orange County, said the department is interviewing the nine people with E. coli and a control group. She said the only common denominator among those who are sick is McAlister's.
"When we do an investigation of a food-borne illness, we analyze the restaurant's menu and interview each person who's been sick," Summers said.
In a news release, the health department said there is not a continuing problem with McAlister's. Friedman said the store in question received a 91 in its recent health inspection. McAlister's has been very cooperative with the health department, Summers said.
"Most restaurant folks want to make sure they have covered everything," she said. "They want to find out as much as we do."
Friedman said most of McAlister's meats, soups, cheeses and breads are pre-made and are provided by 55 suppliers. Summers would not say what was the common menu item among the nine consumers who ate at McAlister's.
"We're taking it extremely serious," Friedman said. "We're doing everything we can. It seems to be a very specific isolated situation."
Summers said the health department's investigation should be completed by the end of the week. "It depends on when we complete our interviews," she said.
Steritech Group Inc., a provider of specialized brand protection services in North America, and Sanderson & Associates, a public relations firm, have been aiding McAlister's crisis communications and management efforts. Friedman said the sandwich chain actually held a session at its annual convention about crisis communications.
"After we knew about it, we contacted all of our managers to answer questions and all our franchisees," Friedman said.
Friedman said the incident will definitely impact sales, "but I don't know how much."
