| UC |  |
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photo/courtesy
of Jack in theBox
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Editor's
note: When hundreds of people became ill and
four children died from a major foodborne-illness outbreak linked to Jack
in the Box restaurants in 1993, sales immediately dropped 40 percent and
the stock price plummeted. Since then, the company has rebounded as an
emerging national chain with nearly 1,800 restaurants, about 600 more
than before the crisis. Here is the two-step formula Jack in the Box adopted
to recover:
Step 1:
Commit all resources to regaining the public's trust.
We committed to doing everything possible to ensure the safety of our
food, from farm to fork. We developed the industry's premier food safety
system, strengthened requirements for meat suppliers, carried out microbiological
testing on meat, worked with legislators to develop stronger food safety
laws and created a customer-relations department.
Step 2: Spread
the word. We launched a national public relations campaign
that told our story through the news media. At the same time, we informed
investors, financial analysts and bankers about our strategy to regain
our footing.
Quoted in major newspapers after the 1993 E.
coli outbreaks, UC alum Robert Nugent, CEO of Jack in the Box, said his
company would help its customers with medical bills "immediately,
with no strings attached." Today, the hamburger giant's annual sales
are about $2 billion.
Link: See Jack in the Box Web site.
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