What other brands should take note about Chobani's recent crisis

 

Picture via Chobani

It is undeniable that at one point or another, a brand will face some type of crisis. What sets mediocre brands apart from spectacular brands, however, is how these brands decide to handle these crises. In my opinion, Chobani displayed genuine concern for their consumers and expressed sincere apologies for the mishap.

For those of you not familiar with what happened, Chobani decided to pull the product off the shelves and voluntarily recall all yogurts made between specific dates in their Idaho plant due to mold contamination. This recall was not enforced by the FDA, but was decided upon by the company due to wanting to uphold the highest quality of yogurt. Chobani is all natural and does not use preservatives, which is probably why this mold came about in the first place.

Once the yogurt was recalled, Chobani immediately stepped in and issued a statement in which they took responsibility and apologized for their mistake. They also responded to users on Twitter and immediately updated their website to ensure that customers had access to what happened in their own words, as well as the words of the FDA. The exact statement issued by CEO Hamdi Ulukaya was: 

Ulukaya uses direct language and takes full responsibility for what happened. He explains it in a way that any person could easily understand and indicates how truly sorry the entire company is. He addresses that they care about their consumers and are attempting to right the wrong. Finally, they are shipping out fresh products and are offering full refunds or replacements for tainted products. In essence, it is unfortunate that Chobani experienced this crisis, but they handled it with astonishing grace and depicted excellent crisis communication skills.