Burger King Temporarily Closes New York Restaurant After Blood-Smeared Meal Incident
New York, NY — Burger King has temporarily closed one of its restaurants in Getzville, near Buffalo, following a disturbing incident where a customer claimed her 4-year-old daughter's meal was smeared with blood. The incident, which came to light through a viral TikTok video, has prompted the fast-food chain to initiate deep cleaning and staff retraining at the affected location.
Tiffany Floyd, the concerned mother, recounted her harrowing experience in a TikTok video that has garnered nearly one million likes. According to Floyd, she visited the Burger King on Friday to pick up a meal for her daughter. "I heard, 'Mom! I don't want ketchup,' so I take the bag back, thinking that they messed up our order, and I look in her bag, and there is blood all over her bag, her toy, her fries, everything," Floyd described in the video.
The video shows what appears to be blood splattered on the burger wrapper, and additional photos published by The New York Post reveal what seems to be blood on the burger itself. "So I instantly told her to spit out her food," Floyd told The New York Post. "She did have fries and a bit of her hamburger. And then I looked at my meal, and there was blood on mine too."
In response to the incident, a Burger King spokesperson expressed deep concern and stated that the company had been in contact with Floyd. "This incident was the result of a team member in the restaurant who injured his finger, and upon noticing immediately stepped away," the spokesperson explained.
To address the issue, Burger King closed the restaurant to retrain the staff and hired an external company to conduct a thorough deep cleaning. An employee at the restaurant confirmed that it had reopened on Monday. Staff members will be compensated for the shifts they lost during the closure.
Floyd revealed that she plans to get her daughter's blood tested monthly for up to a year, given the traumatic experience. "Obviously, she is traumatized from this," Floyd said. "She's refusing to basically eat." She added that her daughter even refused to eat a bowl of cereal, fearing it might be contaminated with blood.
The incident underscores the power of social media in bringing such issues to light, enabling consumers to hold companies accountable for their actions. As Burger King works to rectify the situation, the broader implications of this viral incident will likely prompt other businesses to reevaluate their health and safety protocols.