Fast-food kids’ meals usually come with a surprise inside.
Tiffany Floyd wasn’t expecting the one she got.
Burger King temporarily closed one of its restaurants in Getzville, New York, after the Sanborn mother reported finding blood on her 4-year-old daughter’s takeout order late last week.
Floyd posted about the disturbing discovery on social media Friday in messages that quickly went viral, including 7.1 million views for one TikTok video alone.
“I did not expect it to blow up like this,” Floyd, 29, said in one of many interviews she has conducted this week.
The company later confirmed the incident at its location at 2515 Millersport Highway, at Campbell Boulevard in Getzville, and said it happened after an employee injured his finger.
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Floyd made her initial Facebook post at about noon Friday.
This is the Facebook post from Tiffany Floyd about blood she saw on her daughter’s takeout order from a Burger King in Getzville that caught the attention of media outlets near and far.
She said in an interview that her daughter, Matayla, had wanted a children’s meal, so they ordered through the restaurant’s drive-thru.
“i usually take her food out for her but today i just gave her the bag than i hear ‘mommy there’s ketchup and i didn’t want ketchup,’” she wrote. “so i take it back to see if they messed up our order and its BLOOD!!! There’s blood all over her food and inside the bag.”
Floyd on Tuesday said her daughter had taken one bite of her hamburger and had eaten a couple of French fries. There was a red liquid all over her daughter’s food and wrappers and, though not to the same degree, on her own order. Floyd said she hadn’t consumed any of her meal.
Floyd said she pulled over her vehicle and called the restaurant, where the manager told her a worker had cut his hand.
He offered to refund the cost of her meal, Floyd recalled. “I told him, ‘No thank you,’ “ she said.
She said she was more concerned about whether she would have to take her daughter to the hospital for blood work as a safety precaution.
“It’s so scary,” she recalled.
Floyd said she called the Niagara County Health Department, where an employee told her all they could do is take a report, and she contacted her daughter’s pediatrician. She said she was trying not to spiral emotionally with her daughter and her newborn in the car with her as she waited for return phone calls.
“I AM LIVID!!!!” she concluded in her Facebook post that has been shared 11,000 times.
Floyd said she made the posts and video because she wanted to warn other customers about what had happened, particularly those who had ordered from the restaurant before or after her.
“It’s a busy location,” she said.
In a follow-up video posted on TikTok, which received 958,000 likes and 73,000 shares, she showed the camera spots of blood on the packaging and wrappers for her daughter’s burger, fries and toy.
Floyd on Monday began speaking to local and national news outlets, including People magazine and the New York Post.
“We were deeply upset and concerned to learn of this incident,” a Burger King spokesperson said in a statement. “We have been in contact with the guest and are working with her to resolve this incident.”
The company statement said the employee, upon noticing his injury, “immediately stepped away.”
Burger King said it closed the restaurant last weekend for worker retraining and to allow an outside company “to complete a deep cleaning.”
All employees were paid for any lost shifts during the shutdown and the restaurant reopened on Monday, the company said.
A spokesperson on Tuesday said the Erie County Health Department did not receive a direct complaint from a member of the public, but followed up with the restaurant after seeing initial news reports.
“A sanitarian inspected the facility on Monday 7/29,” spokesperson Kara Kane said in an email. “No critical or non-critical violations were found at the time of inspection.”
Floyd said the incident remains troubling to her and her family, and she has cried while tucking her children in at night.
“I’m obviously trying to stay strong for my daughter, because that’s what’s needed right now,” she said. “But, emotionally, I am not doing OK.”
She said she hasn’t decided whether to sue Burger King, but is talking to lawyers.
“My daughter’s health is my main priority,” Floyd said. She said she must wait a month before her daughter can be screened for blood-borne diseases.
Floyd said her family is taking a temporary break from fast-food meals and, even though the Getzville restaurant is the closest Burger King to her home, it’s off their dining list.
“We no longer will go there,” she said.
10 popular international fast food chains that are growing in the US
10 popular international fast food chains that are growing in the US
When traveling outside the United States, it’s common for Americans to spot restaurants that they know from home. McDonald’s, Subway, and Starbucks are just three examples of American-founded restaurants that enjoy a large presence outside the country. However, several popular restaurant chains experienced the opposite trajectory, having expanded into the U.S. after originating in another part of the world.
Not every expansion into the U.S. market is a success story. For example, Pie Face opened several locations in New York City in 2011. But the chain and its Australian savory meat pies didn’t last. By 2014, nearly all the New York franchises had shut down. Pie Face enthusiasts now have to go to the restaurant’s home country to taste their smiley-faced pastries.
Restaurant chains appear to have a higher success rate when it comes to expanding into the U.S. market and beyond when they sell one menu item in particular: chicken. The love of fried chicken endures beyond borders, with restaurant-goers seeking out international takes on the classic dish. Or, at least in the case of one Guatemalan chain, a nostalgic taste of home.
New Yorkers and Californians are closest to the foreign food chains that made this list. However, there are several international restaurants located throughout the United States. Stacker compiled a list of 10 restaurant chains that started abroad and expanded into the U.S. market. See how many you’re able to try in a neighborhood near you.
Jollibee
The Philippines’ largest fast-food chain has been growing outside its home market for decades. And recently, the fast-food giant ramped up its expansion across North America. Jollibee first expanded into the U.S. market in 1998 with a restaurant in Daly City, California.
Now, the chain has 72 locations across the country, with plans to open 500 more stores in North America before the end of the decade. The Manila-based restaurant chain is best known for its bright red, anthropomorphic bee mascot and signature fried chicken. Aside from its “Chickenjoy” fried chicken, the chain brings a taste of its home country with menu items such as adobo rice, palabok fiesta noodles, and ube pie.
Pret A Manger
With a name like “Pret A Manger,” you’d be forgiven for assuming that the fast-casual restaurant’s roots are French. But, believe it or not, Pret originates from London. New Yorkers are probably the most familiar with the restaurant’s sandwiches, wraps, and organic coffee; the first location to open outside of London was in New York City on Broad Street in 2000.
Today, the company manages 58 stores throughout the U.S. East Coast, with a handful of other locations in Los Angeles and Chicago. The chain plans to expand to more than 300 locations across the U.S. by 2029.
Le Pain Quotidien
Another French-titled restaurant with franchised restaurants in New York City is Le Pain Quotidien, which translates to “the daily bread.” A young chef named Alan Coumont founded the first restaurant in 1990 in Brussels. Coumount wasn’t satisfied with the quality of bread he could buy locally, so he started making and selling his own.
There are more than 50 locations in the United States, with over half of them in New York City. If you’re not in the Big Apple, you can also sample the bakery’s fresh loaves, sandwiches, and pastries in the metro areas of Washington D.C., Miami, and Los Angeles.
Tim Hortons
The Canadian coffee and donut chain Tim Hortons shares its name with its professional hockey-playing founder. The company started in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario. But Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital purchased the chain in 2014.
You can find Tim Hortons across the East Coast and the Midwest, with most stores located in Ohio, Michigan, and New York. Try a “Double Double” coffee—named for its two creams and two sugars—and an order of its bite-sized Timbits donuts to get the quintessential taste of this chain restaurant. As of February 2024, there are about 630 Tim Hortons in the U.S., but the plan is to grow that number to 1,000 by 2028.
Pollo Campero
Since 2002, Americans have enjoyed a little taste of Central American cooking at Pollo Campero. The first Pollo Campero restaurant opened in Guatemala in 1971, but the company has since expanded to countries like El Salvador and Mexico. California has the most locations in the United States, but the chain restaurant can be found across both coasts.
The restaurant says the U.S. stores use the same recipe for its famous fried chicken as its Guatemalan locations. But Pollo Campero purists swear the chicken in its home country tastes better. Soon, more Americans will be able to try Pollo Campero, as the chain plans to grow from 80 locations to 250 stateside by 2026.
Beard Papa’s
In 1999, a small bakery in Osaka, Japan, began baking cream puff pastries that mimicked the fluffy, white beard of the store’s owner. That recipe would soon spread to 15 countries and territories outside Japan, including Australia, China, and the United States. It first came to the U.S. in 2004.
Pastry lovers can find Beard Papa’s offerings at bakeries in New York, California, Texas, Colorado, and several other states. Customers can build their own customized puff pastry by choosing a shell and desired filling. As of April 2024, five new Beard Papa’s locations have arrived in the U.S.
TKK Fried Chicken
TKK Fried Chicken hails from Taipei, Taiwan, with the first restaurant opening in the city’s Wanhua district in 1974. TKK Fried Chicken describes its menu as a blend of Eastern flavors and Western cooking techniques. For example, the chefs fry their chicken in soybean oil, rather than the vegetable or peanut oil favored by Americans.
In 2018, TKK joined forces with American company Kung Fu Tea to open a joint restaurant in New York City. From there, the partnership spread to more locations including Texas, Michigan, and Washington D.C. According to the company’s website, there are at least five more locations in the works.
El Pollo Loco
In 1975, Juan Francisco Ochoa launched the first El Pollo Loco in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico. Ochoa used the citrus marinade recipe that his family had cooked for generations. That recipe was a hit, and five years later, he brought his formula for success to his first American restaurant on Alvarado Street in Los Angeles. In 1983, Ochoa sold the American-based restaurants to Denny’s.
Today, the U.S. company has 475 locations, with U.S. outposts in California, Texas, and Louisiana. The company’s most famous former employee is almost certainly Brad Pitt, who dressed up as the restaurant’s chicken mascot before his acting career took off in the late 1980s.
Yashinova
Yashinova is by far the oldest restaurant chain on this list. It got its start in the Nihonbashi Fish Market in Tokyo in 1899. Over 70 years later, the chain launched its first American franchise in Denver before expanding into Los Angeles in 1979.
Today, there are more than 100 franchised Yashinova restaurants across California selling the chain’s signature beef bowls with rice. More Americans may soon get the chance to try the fast-casual food inspired by Japanese flavors—the chain intends to franchise new U.S. locations outside of California as of 2025.
Nando’s
The beloved South African restaurant, known for its spicy, marinated chicken, originated in Johannesburg in 1987. The signature taste of Nando’s comes from its use of the piri piri pepper, which is much hotter than a jalapeño, but not as hot as a habanero.
In 2008, Nando’s opened its first U.S. location in Washington D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood. Many more restaurants have opened up since, and now there are Nando’s locations from Georgia to Maryland. Order the PERi-PERi Chicken for the most popular taste of Nando’s.
Story editing by Chris Compendio. Copy editing by Meg Shields. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.
