A well-prepared strategy can get an organization back on its feet during a crisis. The 2018 KFC chicken crisis is one of the best examples of how an organization can face its worst nightmare and yet come out of it much brighter!

Background of crisis

In February 2018, KFC’s biggest nightmare turned into a reality. The famous fried chicken restaurant chain ran out of chicken due to supplier issues. This resulted in the company shutting down more than half of the stores in the UK. The bright side to this story was the exceptional way in which KFC handled this crisis turning it into a positive PR campaign for the brand, saving not only the brand’s reputation but also maintaining the customer’s trust!

Let’s see what they did and how we can use this as a test case in crisis management.

  1. Apology and Accountability: KFC didn’t play the blame game with the chicken suppliers and instead apologized to the customers directly via social media channels and newspapers.
  2. Communication: KFC was playing the field in addressing questions and concerns of customers on social media. They also tweeted various Q&As that addressed customer queries.
  3. Transparent: Along with communicating with customers. KFC was also transparent about the steps they took to bring the operations back to normal by providing a link to a page with all key information.
  4. Gratitude: KFC showed their gratitude to all the stakeholders involved by publicly thanking everyone who was impacted.
  5. Emotion: To make things right, KFC injected the right amount of humor in their key messages.
  6. Spokesperson: All of the key messages on social media came from KFC’s founder, Colonel Sanders.

In this digital age, social media is a very important tool. KFC had a visible presence on social media prior to the crisis and made sure to use that to reach the affected parties. If you find yourself in crisis or in a similar situation, Midas-PR can provide you with hands-on approach and help you with a solid crisis management plan. Visit our website www.midas-pr.com today for more information or get in touch with us by email

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