Ultimately (spoiler alert), in a first for the show, Ramsey walked away from the restaurant saying he had finally met “two owners who I could not help.”
If you thought that was bad press, the social media outcry that ensued was much worse. Thousands of people from across the country took to Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other user-driven websites to voice their disgust with the owners.
But it gets worse.
ABC’s owners, Amy and Solomon “Samy” Bouzaglo, retaliated on social media, spewing obscenities and vowing legal recourse.
The website Buzzfeed called the ensuing arguments on social media “the most epic brand meltdown ever.” Yahoo, Forbes, the Daily Beast, E! Online, the Huffington Post, USA Today and hundreds of local newspapers and television shows all ran stories about the Bouzaglos and the cafe.
I’m a huge fan of social media – I think it’s the most efficient, cost-effective and engaging way for agriculture to tell its story. That being said, a few crucial missteps, and social media has the potential to absolutely destroy your brand; anyone recall “Pink Slime?”
My point is: There are many examples, ABC’s being the most recent example, of the power of the masses and more importantly, the masses on social media.
I was a recent attendee at Alltech’s 29th annual Symposium in Lexington, Kentucky. At the symposium, I had the privilege of attending numerous sessions with renowned crisis-management and communications experts.
One such expert, Gavin MeGaw of Hanover Communications, shared the crucial observation that in this day and age – you, or your company, don’t own your reputation. Instead, your reputation is in the hands of the public (consumers), politicians and the media.
Scary thought, right?
In crisis communications, there’s a fairly common saying that goes something like this: “There are two types of companies in the world – those that have had a crisis, and those that will have a crisis.”
I think most people would be able to pick out what the Bouzaglos did wrong. They argued with a renowned chef on national TV, one who they had invited there to help them with their failing business.
In the months following the taping of the show, the Bouzaglos should have been preparing for a crisis. Clearly they were unprepared.
In order to properly prepare for a crisis, you need to manage your reputation and the reputation of your brand. Are you engaged in goodwill activities? Do people know about those activities? Do people know your company?
Reputation matters, as Gavin said during his presentation: More than 60 percent of your market value is based on reputation, and more than 60 percent of consumers say they would change their buying habits if they don’t know enough about an organization or if they don’t like what they do know.
Perhaps the biggest blunder that the Bouzaglos made, however, was engaging in a social media war (for the record, they now claim their social media accounts were hacked) where they yelled, swore and otherwise demeaned social media users commenting on the “Kitchen Nightmares” episode. Some examples of their comments can be found here.
Instead of being prepared for the onslaught of public disapproval likely to follow the airing of their episode, the Bouzaglos dug their heels in and came out swinging.
There’s a time and a place to fight for what’s right, and this wasn’t it. In my opinion, the Bouzaglos should have taken responsibility for their actions, publicly apologized to Chef Ramsey and shown the public how they had learned from their mistakes since the episode’s taping.
A crisis can be a great opportunity to actually improve the reputation of your brand but only if handled swiftly and correctly. And of course, if a good reputation is on your side.
So what are you doing to improve your reputation and prepare for a crisis? There are many professionals who can help you prepare for a crisis (myself and the Animal Agriculture Alliance being one), so make sure to reach out.
Your individual reputation affects the reputation of the entire animal agriculture industry, so we all have to help each other to ensure the longevity of our collective brand.
Let’s learn our reputation ABCs and not be another Amy’s Baking Company. 
Emily Metz Meredith
Communications Director
Animal Agriculture Alliance
