- PR
Crisis management: How food businesses can stay ahead of crisis
With packaged sandwiches, wraps and salads hitting the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons1, it’s a salutary reminder that food and drink businesses should have a crisis management plan in place.
Many times this only happens after the damage is done and no-one wants to be on the back foot when the chips are down.
As a food and drink communications agency, Nexus has extensive experience in issues management including full blown crises, product recalls and media training, helping to protect our clients if their business is under scrutiny.
It’s not a one size fits all approach but takes into consideration different scenarios and how the business should respond. A well-executed crisis management plan will ensure that those watching, from colleagues to customers and the general public, see that your business is honest and reliable.
Being prepared offers the best chance of recovery. There’s a lot at stake, from loss of revenue, erosion of trust and long term reputational damage. All these can be mitigated by a planned approach that instils confidence and demonstrates that you are prepared in the event of a situation.
The following is the backbone of how we deliver an effective crisis management plan, helping you prepare and manage a difficult situation whilst limiting the damage and protecting your reputation:
Analysing the risks: consider the potential business risks and prioritise them.
Response procedures: identify the roles and responsibilities of each person should a crisis occur and actively involve them in planning and training.
Activation protocol: determine when action should be taken by considering the impact of the crisis on the business.
Communications strategy: agree who delivers information and manages feedback across all your audiences and channels eg customers, colleagues and social media.
Emergency contacts: include a list of emergency contacts to ensure things can be managed without delay.
Flexibility: in today’s connected world crises move at speed. Meet regularly, update frequently and adapt to the changing scenario.
Post crisis assessment: assess and learn from what went well and what didn’t.
Effective crisis management is a key element of organisational resilience and continued success into the future so to learn more please contact hi@nexuspr.com.
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