Fast-Food Outlet Decides To Confront Aids Rumor

FORT PIERCE, Fla. - In a highly unusual move, an Ohio-based fast-food outlet went public to confront a rumor that one of its managers had AIDS and had contaminated hamburger meat.

"The rumor is totally false," said Don Gilbert, regional vice president of Snapps, a company with 44 stores, mostly in Ohio.

"All of our managers have been tested and none has AIDS," he said on Wednesday.

But in a little over a month since the rumor started, business in Florida's only Snapps store has dropped almost 50 percent, Gilbert said. Five of the store's 40 positions remain unfilled, and employee hours have been cut. Layoffs are possible, he said.

The firm is promising a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who photocopied or circulated a crude hand-drawn flier that accuses the manager of having AIDS and contaminating hamburger meat with his blood.

"There is nothing unsafe about Snapps," said Dr. Rod Cardiff, director of the St. Lucie County Public Health Department. "AIDS is not transmitted through food. There is no danger with going to Snapps and eating there."

AIDS rumors are not new. McDonald's and Burger King have faced them before. Neither has gone quite so public.

Snapps "did exactly the right thing," said Bill Patterson, of Columbus, Ohio, one of a handful of crisis-management specialists in the public-relations industry. "It took a lot of guts, but the media and the public will react better to a pro-active approach," said Patterson, who represents other restaurant chains. "I would urge all my clients to do that."