Wendy's Crisis Management

On March 22, Wendy's has faced a crisis after a 39 years old woman, Anna Ayala, allegedly claimed that she had bitten down on a human fingertip in a spoonful of Wendy's chili at a San Jose location. Within 24 hours, media had the entire story published and broadcasted causing Wendy's to face the issue of recovering its brand image since then.

At the beginning, the police was still unable to identify whose the finger was and was uncertainty about whether the finger came from a dead or live person. However, the police was able to initially identify that the object was assumed to be from a woman because of its long and manicured nail. Furthermore, the gruesome was preserved enough to draw a sample of DNA and fingerprints.

The next morning, the news was spread across the nation and become a late-night television joke. Denny Lynch, Wendy's senior vice president for communications, had given an interview for The New York, (April 22, 2005) Times stating that ''It went nonstop the next two or three days even through the weekend. Even when the pope passed away, it still got coverage."

The police had begun the investigation to find an evident of missing digits among the workers in the restaurant and furthermore among the food supply company that involved in the food production by using the product coding that allows them to trace where a product comes from, the day it was produced, when it was shipped and when it arrived at the restaurant. Neither of restaurant employees nor the chili ingredients suppliers had suffered a hand injury. The police also used lie detector with Wendy's employees who worked that day and came up with the result that they were truthful regarding to their statement indicating that they didn't have any involvement and knowledge of the introduction of the finger into the chili. Wendy's immediately announced with assurance that no evident to support allegations that it or its supply chain was the source of the finger and wherever the finger came from, it did not come from any Wendy's employees or food suppliers.

The Santa Clara County Department of Health had inspected the Wendy's at Monterey Road, giving it a clean bill of health. The officials announced that there was no public health risk at the restaurant. However, the Santa Clara health officials released a photo of the finger to the news media. The image became a big issue for Wendy's public relation to solve. Denny Lynch, Wendy's senior vice president for communications, gave an interview for CBS News to react to the incident, stating that "Putting that picture out and broadcasting it across television was incredibly damaging because it created a grotesque visual image"

The investigation for the fingerprint in the F.B.I.'s database of about 50 million prints came up but the result showed no relation. Importantly, at the beginning, the police still couldn't give the official confirmation whether the finger was cooked, and if so, for how long. It can be perceive that a thoroughly cooked finger might indicate that it came through Wendy's food supply chain. On the other hand, if the digit is uncooked, that might indicate that it was added to the chili after the fact. One week after the claim, it was initially concluded that the example was not consistent with an object that had been cooked in chili at 170 degrees for three hours as Wendy's policy of preparation of chili.

On April 7, 2005,Wendy's announced in its own website that a 50,000 dollars reward would be given for the first person providing verifiable information leading to the positive identification of the origin of the foreign object found in a bowl of chili on March 22, 2005 at the Wendy's at 1405 Monterey Rd. in San Jose. However, there was a good news for Wendy's at this time because some questions also had been raised about Ayala that she had filed multiple civil claimed before the finger case had happened. The police had discovered approximately 13 civil actions involving Ayala and/or her minor children that included a settlement for medical expenses for her daughter, who claimed she became sick at an El Pollo Loco restaurant in Las Vegas.

On April 12, it was publicly announced that Ayala was no longer perusing a lawsuit against Wendy's, and her lawyer confirmed that he was no longer representing her. Ayala gave a reason that the whole situation was just too stressful for her. On April 15, three days after Ayala dropped her case out, Wendy's had doubled the reward to 10,000 dollars and also announced that its franchisees have had to lay off some employees and reduced workers' hours in the following week.

On April 22, the police arrested Ayala for felony theft charges in connection with her claim. The police got the key information from two sources, one from Mike Casey who runs an asphalt plant in Las Vegas that employed the man who lost the finger and Ayala's husband, and another person who wishes to remain anonymous. The information was ultimately led to the arrest and guilty pleas of Anna Ayala, who planted the fingertip into the chili cup, and her husband who acquired the digit from a co-worker at Lamb Asphalt Maintenance who lost it in a work accident.

Tom Mueller, president and chief operating officer, Wendy's North America, immediately announced on its own website that:

In regards to the San Jose incident, we're thrilled that an arrest has been made... From the beginning, we said we wanted to know what really happened that night. We applaud the San Jose Police Department and medical examiner for their thorough investigations. Now that an arrest has been made, we feel vindicated. We are forever grateful to our customers and we thank them for their support. For 35 years, Wendy's has served the highest quality food that is safe and wholesome. We're going to continue to do just that, selling hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, salads and other great products. (www.wendys-invest.com)

One mission that Wendy's have to focus on after it became clear that Wendy's was wrongly accused is to inform the public that Wendy's wasn't the suspect but it was the victim in order to get its customer back. After the announcement, Wendy's launched a couple new campaigns as part of its efforts to repair its image showing its customer appreciation. The first effort was that 100,000 Frosty shakes would be given to its customer around San Jose area on April 23 and 24, the weekend after Ayala had been arrested and other local efforts were direct-mail offers, customer appreciation events, and radio promotions. Diane Weed, the Wendy's Pacific division vice president, convinced that he want everybody to remember that Wendy's