Three things the Haidilao hot pot crisis public relations taught me: responsibility, review and improvement
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Last night (August 28), I taught the course “[Practical Training on Media Communication and Press Release Writing] (https://www.tiandiren.tw/archives/30161)” to dozens of students at Tiandiren Academy (https://www.tiandiren.tw/). When I introduced the unit of “Crisis Public Relations”, I just remembered the [Haidilao Hotpot Health Incident] that broke out in Beijing, China (https://udn.com/news/story/7332/2665193), so I dismantled the development of this case and analyzed with everyone how Haidilao Hotpot responded to this huge corporate crisis? What did they do to minimize the big problem, turn the crisis into safety, and successfully weather the storm?
Due to poor corporate management, peer competition or even malicious sabotage, or the impact of special external events, crises have been brought to the company or brand. A series of self-rescue actions taken by enterprises in response to the crisis, including eliminating the impact and restoring the image, are crisis public relations.
This outbreak Haidilao serious health hazard incident The whole story is that a reporter from China’s “Legal Evening News” concealed his identity at the beginning of May and the end of July this year, and successfully applied for Haidilao hot pot service. He went to work in the Jinsong store and Taiyang Palace store in Beijing, and found rats scurrying around the kitchen, and even rats crawled into the cabinets containing food. In addition, reporters also discovered that Haidilao employees washed cleaning brooms and tableware together, and used hot pot spoons used by customers to clean sewers and other outrageous things.
To be honest, the discovery of rat traces in a restaurant is not news, but the problem lies in [Haidilao Restaurant] (http://connection.today/101), which is famous for its service. This is incredible and even caused an uproar!
Afterwards, Haidilao’s official Weibo issued an apology statement, stating that after investigation, the company believed that the problems disclosed in the media reports were true, and expressed its sincere apology to all customers and friends. They mentioned in their apology letter that this incident exposed problems in Haidilao’s management, and the company was willing to assume corresponding economic and legal responsibilities. All stores in Haidilao, Chen Haidilao, will be rectified and rectification plans will be made public in the future.
According to reports from Chinese media, the door of Haidilao Jinsong store was closed tightly on the evening of August 25, and an announcement was posted on the door that “due to internal rectification of the store, business is temporarily suspended.” There were several staff at the door, handing out paper bags to apologize to customers who came to eat. The paper bags contained two boxes of Haidilao base ingredients, with the words “delicious tomato soup, must drink soup” written on it, and a one-time 12% off discount card.
This move not only implies compensation, but also demonstrates the “service first” spirit that Haidilao has always been proud of.
Four golden hours, showing a responsible attitude
Now connect to the [official website] of Haidilao Hot Pot (http://www.haidilao.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=lists&catid=62), and you can see three official statements issued by the company. They are Apology Letter, [Incident Handling Report](http://www.haidilao.com/index.php?m= content&c=index&a=show&catid=62&id=302) and actively accept social supervision.
The first one was an apology statement sent within four hours of the incident. The focus was on admitting the mistake and setting the tone that there was a problem with the company’s management and that it was willing to take responsibility and make rectifications.
In the past, everyone has heard the term “golden twenty-four hours”, which means that news must be released within 24 hours of the incident to dominate public opinion and calm the incident. But in today’s era of social media and self-media, the longer it takes, the more disadvantageous it will be. You must know that “[A single spark can start a prairie fire](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%9F%E6% 98%9F%E4%B9%8B%E7%81%AB%EF%BC%8C%E5%8F%AF%E4%BB%A5%E7%87%8E%E5%8E%9F)”, rapid response is the first element of crisis public relations.
Why emphasize the golden four hours? It is mainly based on the following three points. Firstly, it is necessary to allow the company’s executives time to clarify the truth of the facts. Secondly, it is necessary to coordinate related processing work and let the public relations department be responsible for writing press releases and communicating with the media.
The so-called “crisis” refers to a specific threat to companies or people. Because the event itself is sudden, response and decision-making time must be very short and cannot be delayed.
We thank the media and the public for supervising Haidilao Hotpot and pointing out the loopholes in our work, which exposed problems in our management. We are willing to assume corresponding economic and legal responsibilities, but we are also confident that these problems will be eliminated as soon as possible. We have also arranged rectification in all Haidilao stores and will publicly issue rectification plans later. We also hope that all media and customers who support Haidilao will supervise our work.
Don’t underestimate crisis management. Even if it means acknowledging, apologizing and making corrections, many units and organizations still cannot do it. Some companies, based on their own interests or concerns about subsequent liability, are reluctant to respond directly, or play word games in press releases, which is very offensive to people. If you think about it, these are not the correct public relations attitudes.
Responsibilities start from the supervisor, the style is bright and heart-warming
Less than three hours after issuing the apology statement, Haidilao Restaurant issued a second statement. This time it was to report the handling of each store and quickly formulate solutions.
Looking at the statement issued by Haidilao, we can see the bright style of the business owners. For example, they took the initiative to close down the Beijing Jinsong store and Beijing Taiyanggong store for rectification and conduct a thorough investigation, and hired a third-party company to inspect and eliminate rats from sewers, roofs and other sanitary blind spots.
In addition, Haidilao also welcomes customers, media friends and management departments to inspect and supervise Haidilao stores and put forward suggestions for modifications to our work. It also lists the names and contact information of the person in charge, showing Haidilao’s accountability and determination to reform.
What’s more worth mentioning is that when such scandals or crises occur in general companies, front-line employees are often targeted, or the aftermath is settled. However, the statement issued by Haidilao shows their heart-warming side: Cadres and employees of the two stores involved in the closure do not need to panic. You only need to make rectifications in accordance with the system requirements and bear corresponding responsibilities. The occurrence of such incidents is more of a deep-seated management issue of the company, and the main responsibility lies with the company’s board of directors.
Haidilao Hot Pot clearly stated that the company’s board of directors shall bear full responsibility for the entire incident, which is the performance of taking responsibility. This move not only won the recognition of the public, but also reassured the grassroots employees in each store.
The focus of crisis management is to regain trust
In the third statement letter issued by Haidilao Hotpot, it mainly mentioned three key points, namely comprehensively strengthening employee training, implementing rectification measures and transparency, and actively realizing the visualization of kitchen operations, demonstrating the company’s sincerity in reform and its willingness to accept the supervision of Haidilao Hotpot from the media and consumers.
It is true that the focus of crisis management is not only to “stop the bleeding” and “put out the fire”, but also to identify the cause so as to eliminate the root cause of the error. Many people applauded Haidilao Hotpot’s public relations operations, but in fact they were only responsible, reviewing and improving according to the facts.
Of course, we also understand that there are still many companies and organizations that cannot do even just admitting and making corrections. I also agree with what [Carina Chang] (https://www.facebook.com/vivichang2011/posts/10212985302482498) said, “Netizens are not idiots. Don’t be clever. If you need to apologize properly, apologize properly and solve the problem properly. The only way to gain trust is to have no means.”
If there is a so-called golden rule in crisis public relations, I think it is to announce the truth as soon as possible and present the handling process clearly and transparently, so that the public can understand the determination and courage of reform. It is important to divert attention from negative events, but you must use the right method and do not mislead yourself or others.
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★ Photo Credit: Dan Whale
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- Sincerity and quick action is the best crisis management: See the company’s sincere response from Shengkaishi’s New Year dishes
- How to do crisis public relations? Three things Haidilao Hotpot teaches us: responsibility, review and actual improvement
