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Consumer poll proves that it’s easier to lose customers’ trust than to regain it
By Lauren | April 27, 2008
A Chipotle Mexican Grill in Akron, Ohio temporarily shut down when approximately 200 patrons complained of stomach illness after eating there. Management did everything right in responding to those complaints. They swapped out staff from other branches, scrubbed the place from top to bottom, and replaced all of the food before reopening. Yet, in an AOL poll associated with the story only 22% of respondents said they’d eat at the newly-sanitized restaurant, while a hefty 77% responded, “No way!”
Web polls are hardly scientific; the people who take the time and go to the trouble of answering them frequently have pretty strong opinions. Still, the three-to-one response rate provides pretty compelling evidence that a business which loses the trust of its customers can expect a long and difficult struggle to restore confidence.
Part of this restaurant’s problem, of course, is that it’s easy for potential customers to imagine how awful a case of food poisoning would make them feel, and even easier for them to decide that the best way to avoid getting sick would be to go somewhere else. That’s not necessarily true – any restaurant can get stuck with a shipment of bad food – but the risk of illness can loom large compared to the reward involved. The best burrito in the world isn’t worth two days of pain.
My sympathies really go out to the folks who own, run and work at the Akron Chipotle, and I hope they can find a way to coax their customers back. They’ve undoubtedly apologized to the Akron community, and I’m sure the owner is doing spin management 24/7. Some added incentives to eat there might help; free quesadillas, perhaps? At the same time, the rest of us owe them thanks for this timely reminder: it’s a whole lot better to keep your customers’ trust in the first place than to have to reclaim it when it’s broken.
Topics: Business Ethics, customer relations |
May 1st, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Lauren,
I am a Chipotle employee, and I thought I’d respond to your column. First off, we appreciate your sympathetic view of the situation. Secondly, I actually saw an informal online poll on US News online services, and it was the exact opposite of the percentages you saw, so who knows? As you say, there probably isn’t such a thing as a scientific online poll.
That being the case, I hope you don’t mind if I supply a little more information from what we know so far. For starters, this event happened in Kent, OH, not in Akron. And this is believed by the local health department to be a norovirus (which is a communicable illness that is spread very easily from person to person). As you noted, we took a number of voluntary steps to ensure the well-being of our customers and our employees, including the temporary closing and complete sanitization of our restaurant.
Additionally, Chipotle has established a claims program and process for the reimbursement of related medical expenses. Since then, our Kent restaurant has remained open with the full support of the local health department. A follow up inspection conducted by the health department there found that our restaurant met or exceeded all health department requirements. However, most definitely, we will continue to assist the health department as it completes its investigation.
Thank you for allowing me to post this information.
Sincerely,
Joe Stupp
Chipotle
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Hi Joe,
Thanks for writing in, and I’m glad the polls are turning in your favor. I also appreciate your clarifying the news stories. Everything reported in my post was based on the national news media. I never ceased to be amazed at how often the facts in national stories are a little off.
It sounds as though your restaurant is doing everything you can to keep things on track. Best of luck to you!
Lauren