Taco Bell's Looming Sour Cream Shortage Spells Doom For Menu Items
Want sour cream with your Taco Bell order? You may just have to cross a picket line. Lots of people consider sour cream to be a staple topping for their favorite Mexican dishes. Though it may not be an authentic Mexican chain, many popular Taco Bell menu items also include the beloved condiment. Unfortunately, your days of enjoying fresh sour cream with your Taco Bell order may be numbered — unless workers' rights start getting prioritized, that is.
New Dairy Select Milk is a subsidiary of Borden Dairy, and this brand supplies many Taco Bell locations with its dairy products. On July 25, Taco Bell received an open letter from the company warning that if certain problems at the company don't change soon, folks looking to order sour cream at Taco Bell will be out of luck. Employees of New Dairy Select Milk are on strike, and until their employer meets their needs when it comes to healthcare, sour cream will be a thing of Taco Bell's past.
An open letter to Taco Bell claims a strike may leave them without sour cream
In the open letter sent to Taco Bell, Tom Strickland, the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 662, wrote, "Employees are striking for a better health insurance plan that will provide cost savings for them, the company, and the customers." This isn't the first time labor issues have affected the chain — in 2022, workers at a Kansas City Taco Bell went on strike, with one worker calling her workplace "Taco Hell" (via Fox4).
Workers are currently striking against what they say is the unfair healthcare coverage that Borden Dairy is forcing its employees to take on. Since the facility that currently has striking workers is the sole supplier of sour cream for every Taco Bell located east of the Rocky Mountains, the company's failure to comply with workers' demands will ensure a sour cream drought for the chain. Western region vice president and food processing division director of teamsters, Peter Finn, calls what Borden Dairy is doing "irrational, irresponsible, and bad for business." He added, "We're encouraging Taco Bell customers to reach out to the company's leadership and demand that their suppliers treat these hardworking men and women with the dignity and respect they deserve." While sour cream is great, workers' rights are even better, so here's hoping that both of these things will be on the menu in the not-so-distant future.