If a recall were to happen tonight – would your company be ready to respond?
No one is immune from a food safety crisis and its ripple effects on consumers, stakeholders and hard-earned reputations. Most likely, you have been fortunate so far and the only recall you may have experienced is in a mock recall. But, be prepared.
How would you cope in the following scenario?
A consumer has been suffering from food poisoning after eating one of your products – your social media channels have gone crazy – do you know what to say in response to multiple negative comments that are tarnishing your brand every minute?
The phone is running off the hook with dozens of calls an hour, people in the office are jumping in to help with the increased volume – are you aware of what they are saying in response to multiple complaints and media channels? You have no way of tracking these responses either.
You need to perform testing on your products to see where the pathogen has originated – but the lab test results you have been given don’t make sense, the results are conflicting and the advice that accompanies it does not help your situation.
All of this is having to be managed while trying to continue to run your day-to-day business.
A poorly managed crisis – whether big or small – has the potential to ruin a business due to brand damage or the amount of money lost in the process. On the contrary, a crisis can create an opportunity for growth, when managed well. Acting quickly, professionally, and transparently enables your business to earn trust, which is critical to the successful management of a recall crisis.
Having access to the right expert help when planning for and maintaining preparedness for the event of a crisis can be the one factor that ensures your survival. In addition, having a team of experts on call 24/7 ensures that you have expert help if a crisis were to happen outside of business hours to ensure you respond in an appropriate and timely manner.
Working closely with a panel of experts will help with your ability to:
- be adequately trained
- have the correct administrative systems
- act fast
- be transparent
- deal with the media and crisis communications
- ensure your actions match your words
- offer an appropriate solution
- know the regulations
- guarantee that you are insured for all recall expenses