Stay Cool with Food Crisis Management

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March/April print version of QA under the headline "Cool in a Crisis."

Mistakes happen — and in the food and beverage industry, mistakes are taken very seriously. It’s important to know how to handle a crisis within your company if one were to occur.

Janet Riley, president of Janet Riley Strategies, communication strategist, professional facilitator, media spokesperson and trainer, discussed food crisis management during a webinar with QA magazine titled “Protecting Your Brand: Key Strategies to Strengthen Food Safety Culture and Communication,” sponsored by FoodChain ID.

“Consumers have the right to expect safety,” Riley said at the beginning of her presentation. People have come to expect a high degree of safety, she said. When a failure occurs — especially in the food industry — it can be a shock to consumers.

“In the world of food safety, we feel relief when things are quiet. If there are no line stoppages, no withdrawals, no recalls, we may think, ‘Let’s just let sleeping dogs lie,’” she said. “But we do this at some peril, because the absence of harm isn’t sufficient to build trust with consumers, and trust is such a key, fundamental ingredient in managing crises that may and probably will occur at some point.”

Riley broke down crisis management into the following four key phases.

BUILD TRUST BEFORE A CRISIS.

Before a crisis ever occurs, it’s important to create a good reputation with consumers so they will support and trust you.

“We have to be active in building trust in our products, in telling people how and why we take the measures we take,” she said. “We need to actively tell people what we’re doing to make sure it continues to be safe.”

Riley explained that good food crisis management starts when times are peaceful and quiet, and it is essential to communicate to the consumer your food safety programs, policies, innovations and commitments during this time. Taking these measures communicates to your audience that you take food safety seriously, and it will ultimately work to your advantage if something goes wrong.

Messages regarding your company should be tailored to each of your stakeholders. Messages to your investors, to your consumers and to your employees need to be different, catered towards each group, Riley said. These messages also need to be simple, so they are easily understood and retained by the target audience.

“A five-log reduction might mean a lot to your food safety team, but it’s not going to mean anything to consumers,” she said.

Since we live in a visual world, with applications like YouTube and TikTok dominating the internet, it is important for messages to be visual, as well as frequent.

“Just a single press release or a short video is insufficient to leave a memorable impression and to hit all your targets,” Riley said.

Messages need to be echoed throughout the company. If a crisis does occur, people may be looking towards employees for information on what’s going on. It’s important for them to be informed and echo the messages you want the public to hear. Riley said it’s important to never overlook the power of your team members in these types of situations.

The best way to spread your message is through stories told in narrative form. A story not only makes content more memorable and relatable, it also promotes cognitive engagement and connection.

“Our brains are wired to process information in narrative form. It holds our attention; it engages multiple areas of the brain,” Riley said.

“It’s so important to have written plans for your most likely scenarios. you will never anticipate every crisis you will face accurately.” Janet Riley, president, Janet Riley Strategies

DELIBERATE CRISIS PREPARATION.

Riley’s second phase of food crisis management involves being prepared for a crisis to occur.

“It’s so important to have written plans for your most likely scenarios,” she said. “You will never anticipate every crisis you will face accurately.”

When a crisis occurs, everyone involved wants to know if they are safe, and because of this, it’s important to prepare customized messages for everyone you need to inform.

“In a crisis, it’s so much better to start with a draft of messages than a blank sheet of paper,” Riley said. “The consumer wants to know, ‘Is the food safe? Can I eat it?’ The employee wants to know, ‘Is my job safe? How is this going to impact our company?’ The stockholder wants to know what impact the crisis is going to have on stock prices.”

Having good images and videos on file also can help in times of crisis, according to Riley. When something unexpected occurs, your plant may not be operating normally, so it’s helpful to have media of what a good, normal day looks like.

“You want to tell your story, so make sure you get those images ahead of time,” she said.

It’s important to have a practiced team to respond to situations when a crisis occurs.

“Everybody in the company has a role to play in communications during a crisis,” Riley said. “You have to have that peacetime practice to make sure that you can have effective wartime communications.”

Controlling the message is another important aspect of crisis management. Riley said that when responding to a situation, firstly, think about what you want stakeholders to hear. After that, plan out how to respond to questions based on the messages the company wants reflected, such as that food safety is your top priority.

“Media training is a great way to learn to control your message in many situations, whether you’re talking to investors, presenting to customers or talking to your inspector about a contentious issue,” Riley said.

She stressed again that it is crucial to prepare for all of these moments before a crisis has even had the chance to occur.

“You cannot build skills in these techniques during a crisis. You have to learn them in peacetime, practice them in peacetime, practice them again and practice them again, because the approach has to become somewhat reflexive,” she said.

TIMELY, EFFECTIVE RESPONSES.

“Silence is never a strategy in crisis,” Riley said. “Silence creates a vacuum, and when there is a vacuum, it can easily be filled with speculation.”

Speed is key when dealing with a crisis so that the spread of misinformation is at a minimum. Along with this point, Riley highlighted several more key ingredients needed for a timely, effective crisis response.

Companies need to have defined internal processes, involving how and when a crisis response team will meet. Additionally, team members need to understand their roles, responsibilities and decision-making authority, Riley said.

Transparency with your audience is another necessary ingredient in crisis management.

“Be as transparent as possible,” Riley said. “Say what you can, and be honest in admitting what you don’t know or are still investigating. Let people know when you will get back to them with information they want.”

It is essential to have effective, available communicators and a competent spokesperson.

“A good spokesperson has to understand the situation, has to have the facts and must be able to communicate in a simple way with urgency and with sincerity,” Riley said. “You need that steady flow of information to stakeholders. Crises, by their nature, involve chaos, and each stakeholder should be hearing essentially the same message tailored to their needs at regular intervals.”

It’s also a good idea to scan the media while dealing with a crisis to see how people are responding to your messages. This can help you identify mistakes you may have made in the process so they can be corrected if necessary.

REPUTATIONAL IMPACT AND REPAIR.

Riley discussed the final phase of food crisis management briefly but stressed that this step is still very important.

After a crisis has been dealt with, a company should assess the business impact, measure the consumer impact and let the impact measures guide a plan for repair.

“It’s essential, following a crisis, to gain an understanding of where your reputation stands as a result of a crisis and then make a plan to communicate any changes you’re making as a result of the event and bring it to a reasonable, positive closure,” Riley said.