Domino's Pizza Crisis Paper

Communication and crisis’s go hand in hand. Both two interdependent items that can influence each other for better and for worse. Communication can be the difference between an organization recovering from a crisis or not. It is a crucial tool that can be used to create both positive or negative outcomes. Crisis’s are often influenced by the media, allowing for the public to become apart of the conversation with the organization. This was the case for Domino’s pizza during their social media incident where two employees were caught spitting and violating the customer’s trust by being dirty with their pizzas. The crisis was covered by all sorts of news media, from coast to coast. Dominos was able to use their communication with the public …show more content…
This crisis occurred at the Domino’s location in North Carolina, at around 11 pm. This crisis not only affected dominos though, it brought on nationwide disgust as the video quickly reached 1 million views on YouTube. This event caused distrust in customers, loss of revenue, competitor backlash and general distain for the company. The dominos restaurant, was seen to be a local favorite and a highly grossing store up until the crisis occurred. This type of crisis was not something that was commonly known as a threat before it happened, however, afterwards it came to the forefront of the customers, and the restaurants minds. Initially it was reported that only a couple people’s orders had been tampered with, however, others began to claim that theirs were damaged too, simply due to the unknown factor. The speculation by the customers on whether or not they trusted the pizza that they had from the restaurant became a common concern. The severity of this incident was unlike anything ever seen before in the food industry. The risk for sickness and food poisoning began plaguing the minds of those ordered, or were going to order at …show more content…
They also launched an expensive investigation by the health inspection department of the state to assure the public that the incident was due to the employees, not the company or the standards it held. As the president of the company issued a video statement on YouTube condemning the employee’s actions, he also said, “We thank the members of our online community who quickly alerted us and allowed us to take immediate action,” (Goldmam, 2009). The president’s statement shows that there was an intent by the company to begin reconnecting with their customers immediately after the crisis, making it seem as though they are victims in this situation too. The management of the restaurant underwent re-training in order to establish knowledge on how to prevent these sorts of incidents before they arise. The videos that these two employees posted on YouTube, did a monumental amount of damage, and their effects lasted long after the video was taken