Wendy's faced a crisis when a woman claimed to have found a severed human finger in her chili. The media widely spread the story, damaging Wendy's brand. Wendy's closed the restaurant, investigated, and found the woman had falsely accused them. While Wendy's communicated openly, the slow response allowed the story to spread unchecked. Wendy's stock dropped as sales fell nationally. To recover, Wendy's offered free food promotions and remodeled restaurants, spending millions to regain customer trust after the damaging finger incident.

1. Wendy’s Crisis
By: Yussra Annous

2. The History of Wendy’s
• Founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969 in
Columbus, Ohio, United States.
• The name was his youngest daughter's nickname. Her real
name was Melinda Lou, but her older siblings nicknamed
her "Wendy".
• In 1979, Wendy's was the first fast-food chain to
introduce the salad bar.

3. The Crisis
• March 22, 2005, a woman named Anna Ayala claimed she
bit down on a finger while eating Wendy's chili in San
Jose, California.
• Police arrested Ayala because of her false allegations
• Later on they found out that finger story was legit.
• A tip lead to an associate of Ayala's husband co-worker
who lost his finger in an industrial accident.

4. The Media
• 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.
• The next morning, the news was spread across the nation
and become a late-night television joke.

5. The Damage
• Wendy's reported a sales drop at its Northern California
locations.
• Wendy's President and Chief Operating Officer Tom
Mueller said that Wendy's reputation has been damaged
nationally.
• Stocks dropped and the chain reports first-quarter
earnings fell because of the finger incident.

6. How They Handled the
Situation
• They shut down the location, threw out the chili and had
an investigation to discover the source of the finger.
• Wendy’s communicated with the public openly and
honestly.
• Therefore, Wendy's offered up a $100,000 reward to find
the finger's owner.

7. How They Handled the
Situation
• 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.”

8. How They Handled the
Situation
• The fast food chain offered a free frosty day at the San
Jose location where the the scam occurred and customers
were out the door waiting in line.
• Wendy's then offered a nationwide free frosty day. (The
event just happened to coincide with the news that the
finger's owner had been found).

9. A look at Wendy's new
prototype | Nation's
Restaurant News
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmzOah9q75I

10. Planning in Crisis
• Define the risk:
• Wendy’s will close down
• People will lose trust in their food chain
• Wendy’s will get sued
• Define actions that mitigate the risk:
• The closed down the restaurant in that location
• They threw out the chili sauce
• They investigated the truth

11. Planning in Crisis
• Identify the cause of the risk:
• They were sure of what happened and that it was a scandal
• Demonstrate responsible management action:
• Anna was arrested
• The investigation proved it was a scandal
• Create consistent message:
• They chose the senior vice president, Denny Lynch to be their
spokes person.
• He was honest and he did not spin the truth.

12. Engaging the Media
1. Set up media headquarters:
• They did not go to San Jose, California.
• They did not face the media till a month after the incident
• They were slow in taking action
2. Establish media rules:
• They did not stop the lies that were going around about Wendy’s
3. Media live for the “box score”:
• Many workers were displaced
• More managers
• Millions were spent:
• giving out free gifts
• redecorating the place

13. Engaging the Media
4. Don’t speculate:
• They did not speculate or spin the truth
• They were honest
5. Feed the beast:
• They did not feed the beast
6. Speed triumphs:
• They did not do speed first and accuracy second.
• They wanted to what happened rather than face the media
without knowing what was going on

14. Engaging the Media
4. Cable rules:
1. They did not speak first
2. They did not speculate
3. They made their problem (peril) obvious to the public
4. They stayed with their facts
5. They were open and concerned about the publics point of view
6. They made their point (repeated it)
7. They did not wage war with the media
8. They established themselves as the most authorized source
9. They stayed calm and truthful
10. They did not lie

15. What They Didn’t Do
• They didn’t set a headquarter
• They didn’t speak to the media instantly
• They spoke to the newspapers a month after rather than
talking to the media at the time of the incident
• The media attacked them, because they didn’t feed the
beast

16. PR Practitioner