A crisis communication plan for Kaddis sweets : consultancy project.

Abstract

Note: Kaddis Sweets is a Generic Name, since the name of the organization has been changed for confidentiality purposes. On the 28th of November, the Minister of Public Health, Wael Abou Faour, revealed a list of names of food organizations that were selling unsafe food products (Aarji, 2014). Kaddis sweets was one of those names. Inspectors from the ministry of health took samples from Kaddis Sweets, XXX Branch, whereby some samples passed, and some did not. The tests performed by the ministry showed that there were Listeria bacteria in an ice-cream stick. Kaddis were forced by the ministry to pull this product from all their branches, until they received a clearance on the safety of this product. After 15 days, another testing proved the ice cream was clear from any bacteria. Kaddis justified what happened and blamed the ministry of mishandling their products. The spokesperson in that case, was the executive assistant of the CEO. She mentioned that the ministry did not take the samples in the right way and did not transport it correctly. Subsequently, this caused the presence of the bacteria, Listeria, in the ministry’s labs. On contrast, when Kaddis Sweets did tests in their onsite microbiology lab, no bacteria were present. They have a food safety department that is certified for good manufacturing practices such as the ISO 22000 and HACCP, Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Points. The hardest part of that was the media coverage. MTV interviewed the executive assistant, and questioned Kaddis’s hygiene and cleanliness, taking some photos whether in the factory or in the show room, which they are proud of. Therefore, the objective behind this project is to understand the sources of reputational and operational risks faced at Kaddis Sweets, what communication strategies they used during crisis, and role that their HR team played in preventing, acting, and recovering from crisis, to finally develop a full-fledged crisis communication plan with special focus on HR communication.