Article

3 ways Chipotle can avoid blowing its reputation

Chipotle's latest scandal is proof that bad things happen to great brands. And keep happening.

July 1, 2016 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

Chipotle's latest scandal is proof that bad things happen to great brands. And keep happening.

Just as the chain was starting to regaincustomer trust after its E. colioutbreaks, it's now dealing with another fiasco — one of its highest-paid executives was linked to a New York City cocaine ring.

Chief Creative and Development Officer Mark Crumpacker, who had been leading the brand's efforts to recover from recent food-safety scandals, was named in the indictment Thursday by Manhattan prosecutors, who alleged he was one of 18 repeat buyers of cocaine from a business that reportedly delivered drugs to customers.

Can Chipotlecomeback from these high-profile fiascos?

Twitter is already full of jokes about burritos being topped with coke or being made from sustainable coca leaves, so it's pretty obvious that the brand faces an uphill battle when it comes to defending its reputation. ​

"The timing couldn’t be worse for their brand, a day after they rolled out a new menu item, Chorizo," said Linda Duke of Duke Marketing. "But since the new product isn’t getting the headlines, I would advise their communications team to turn the questions about the investigation into an opportunity to tell the new product story and features."

Ashley Rodriguez, account director at fish consulting in Washington, D.C., said her advice to Chipotle would be the same to any brand facing a public relations nightmare. The chain should: 

1. Prepare for the worst even if it never happens.
2. Respond to the situation quickly.
3. And have a plan to regain consumers' trust.

1. Prepare for the worst, even if it never happens.

Chipotle is a perfect example of why companies need to proactively develop a crisis plan and train everyone from the CEO all the way through all restaurant employees, Rodriguez said.

"No one would have ever thought such a highly regarded brand would be hit with so many blows like Chipotle has. In public relations, we constantly say it's not about if it will happen, it's when," she said. "Everyone should be prepared."

She and her team do crisis simulations with their clients, which are similar to safety drills.

"We develop the crisis — whether it's an isolated instance of a foodborne illness or a system-wide recall — and act it out with executives as if it's real. We're able to find holes in their crisis response plan, media-train executives, etc. — which is all much easier to do in a simulation than during a real, high-stress crisis situation," she said.

Has Chipotle done this? I think it's fair to say the E coli issues have made Chipotle prepare for the worst. I doubt, however, the brand expected another scandal so soon. 

2. Respond to the situation quickly

In a crisis situation, media is going to write about your brand whether you release a statement or not, so it's to your benefit to get your message out there, Rodriguez said.

"Take the time to gather all the key stakeholders, get the details and formulate a response,” she said. " There's no need to rush, where you risk saying the wrong thing.”

Most media outlets are fair and will update their stories with your statement, but Rodriquez advised against waiting days to respond.

"Getting a statement out within a few hours is key," she said. "If you're lucky enough to know about a potential situation before media and consumers hear about it, be prepared with a reactive media statement and social media copy, so you can immediately respond if and when you begin getting inquiries."

Jason Grill, of JGrill Media, agreed saying that it's important to build and share key messages and to prepare a lead spokesperson to field media calls .

"Work with your team to make sure they are all on the same page if someone asks them about the situation," he said.  "Draft three to four key message points for them along with potential FAQs."

Has Chipotle done this?Yes, The brand not only sent out this memoto employees, but Chris Arnold, its director of communications, has said that the brand has placedCrumpacker on administrative leave and has assigned other leaders to fulfill his duties during his absence.

"We made this decision in order to remain focused on the operation of our business and to allow Mark to focus on these personal matters," Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman, stated in an email to CNBC.

3. Havea planto regain consumers' trust

In some instances, you just have to admit to the mistake and be transparent about how you're going to fix things. 

"I think consumers are pretty forgiving, especially when they've been loyal for so many years," she said.

Duke said the best advice for any publicly traded company —like Chipotle— is to state the fact that it took immediate action with the employee.

"And since it is of a personal nature and criminal investigation, they really shouldn’t comment about that, and (instead) put the focus on their operations and customers, as they did," Duke said.  

Has Chipotle done this? I guess that remains to be seen, but I did receive a tweet today offering me free chips and salsa with my next purchase, so it looks like the chain hasn't altered its text campaigns. Maybe their strategy is "business as usual" or maybe they forgot to turn off auto-tweet?

Although the chain's stock was slightly down this morning, maybe executives don't think the bust will keep customers away. After all, most would probably rather read a story about an executive from their favorite brand being arrested on drug charges, rather than take in news of another food poisoning incident.

Chipotle did not respond to a request for comment. 

About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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