How Employees Are Managing Crisis Communications for Restaurants

Covering all aspects of the restaurant world is what The Main
Course is all about. The series has looked at almost every angle
regarding the COVID-19 impact. Today, host Barbara Castiglia
opens the door on one more—crisis communications. Experts in the
area, Dave Poston and Megan Paquin, CEO and VP of Poston
Communications, respectively, shared their perspectives on the
topic.


“Crisis communication is now way beyond the regular problems
restaurants faced. Now they have to cope with the constant stress
of a new challenge,” Poston said.


A vital aspect of crisis communication is reputation protection.
Paquin added, “They should consider reputation as their most
valuable asset outside of financial ones. Restaurants are
thinking about dollars but sometimes forget about reputation.”


Crisis communication includes three main factors: plan, respond,
advocate. Paquin noted that restaurants feel they are in an
ever-responding response phase.


“It’s a good time to step back and plan to to assess current and
future risk objectively and what the vision to endure will be
like,” she said.


Poston also talked about empowering employees to send out clear,
consistent messages is critical in crisis communication. He said,
“Employees are the most important stakeholder group. Advocacy and
promotion starts with them, so they need to feel safe and know
how to communicate to guests, so they aren’t interpreting on
their own.”


Overall, they both feel there is optimism ahead for the industry.
Paquin said, “You can’t replicate the dining experience online.
Customers have an emotional tie to restaurants, and that will
help them prevail.”