Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I haven`t seen any topics on this subject, so I`m curious to see what you think.  A restaurant in a big city was recently linked to multiple cases of food poisening from their booth at a big street fair.  This resaurant has been around for over thirty years, and this is an unfortunate incident, but obviously also an isolated one.  It`s been on the news, in the papers, and the word on the street.  So what are your thoughts on damage control for your business?  If something like this happens, say your product, although maybe not dangerous, hurts some one, or your reputation is compromised for the public to see . . . what do you do?

Easy.  Go to rehab for a few days and let the public forget about it.  Come back bigger then ever!

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Travis Tschepen
Hibachi Bros. LLC

--My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.--

Rehaba-cadabra!

Take action immediately.  Don`t blame others.  Just take care of it, whatever it takes, even financially.  Address all the concerns.  You`ll come out stronger on the other side and your customers will see that you truly care.

Look at Tylenol.

 

When Jack in the Box served E-coli burgers in WA state (and other places, too, I think) in the 90`s and a couple of kids died, they probably thought it was the end for them.  It wasn`t.  If a burger chain can come back from that type of incident, then a restaurant can survive making a few people sick. 

It`s unfortunate and in cases like that, I think restaurants do the WRONG thing by giving those they sickened a certificate for a free meal.  Most of those people will never eat there again.  They should offer something else to them and HOPE that someday they can stomach walking in the place again.  They`ve been around so long, though, that they will certainly have a lot of customer "advocates" who will come to their defense.

If you can survive the storm, it all becomes a distant memory.  The public has a pretty short attention span. 

~Kim

Well you could do some PSAs .... and then end up getting fired from the cast of Gray`s Anatomy anyway. At which point you should immediately throw your career in the toilet by playing the race card even when the show`s creator and several key staff are the same race you are.

Oh, wait, sorry .. what were we talking about?

I like when companies just flat out admit their mistakes and then outline exactly what they are going to do to make it better. It`s a much better policy than launching the spin machine and trying to brush it under the carpet.

Hire a really good PR company.

I`m happy to report that that restaurant did just what you all suggested (except the race card part).  The owner did every interview instead of a defensive "no comment," and they fully cooperated with all investigations by both the media and the health department.  Yesterday they had a line out the door!  It turns out that all of their customers from the last thirty years have come out to support them.