Crisis Communication Basics for Startup Independents

OH, NO -- SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAS HAPPENED IN YOUR RESTAURANT. NOW WHAT?

In fact, there are many steps that may need to be taken, but communication - controlling information and its release - is among the most important. You have plenty of examples of businesses in the throes of public relations crises in the news and on social media. Chipotle struggled with foodborne illness incidents. United Airlines had to assuage the public following a well-publicized incident involving the removal of a passenger from a flight.

With everyone having a video camera in his or her pocket and access to an unlimited audience, you have PR challenges that were unimaginable not that long ago. News of a crisis in your business can become as widespread as in any company because of social media. What's more, people rush to judgment without knowing all the facts. The court of public opinion can be unfairly harsh, at times.

Any situation that is deemed an emergency and has significant potential of immediately and negatively impacting the brand, customers or employees should be considered a crisis, according to Amy Freshwater, president of Freshwater Communication and Crisis Management in Dallas, TX.

"Depending on the size of the company, the actual response processes will differ," she says. "However, in a restaurant the most common situations that we see from a crisis perspective are robbery, fire, health department/food related allegations and widespread foodborne illness. There are dozens of examples, but these are the most common across all types of restaurants."

New restaurants may be at greater risk due to lack of established systems, inexperienced owners, and untested staff. There are many moving parts to any restaurant, and each one of them can be a point of failure if not managed effectively.

Freshwater calls it inevitable that crisis and emergency situations will occur in restaurants. "Therefore, it's critical that each leader in the organization has the knowledge and ability to respond quickly, responsibly and in alignment with the restaurant's established crisis process to ensure the situation is controlled to the best of their ability." Because all crisis situations are different, "it really is critical for management to follow the response procedures put in place by their organization."