September 2, 2006
The Journal Gazette (IN)
Michael Schroeder
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/15423857.htm

Gary Boyer, operations director at Wendy’s in Marion, still hears
comments about hepatitis A.

It’s been more than two years since it was reported that an employee
at the restaurant was diagnosed with the virus. No other workers or
patrons ever contracted the virus, and sales are healthy. But the
impression left by the episode – which prompted nearly 6,000 people to
receive immunization shots – lingers, he said.

So when news broke that a server was diagnosed with hepatitis A at the
Coventry Pizza Hut in Fort Wayne, Boyer’s heart went out to all those
working at the restaurant.

“Through no fault of their own, they are going to take a huge
financial hit,” Boyer said Friday. He was speaking from experience:
The initial effect of the 2004 hepatitis occurrence at his Wendy’s
“was dramatic and substantial,” he said. While Boyer didn’t disclose
specific figures, he said the fast-food restaurant’s sales have
rebounded.

Observers expect the Coventry Pizza Hut to mount its own comeback.
They credit that prediction largely to its responsiveness – from
bringing in the top brass for a Aug. 25 news conference about the
initial hepatitis A diagnosis to addressing public concerns to picking
up the tab on shots, supplies and other associated medical costs. And
they say the country’s largest pizza chain has a good reputation that
can withstand what appears to be an entirely random occurrence.
Since the hepatitis A diagnosis of a server at the Pizza Hut on 5735
Coventry Lane, about 3,700 patrons have received shots, with the final
immunization clinic scheduled for this morning at Memorial Coliseum.
Pizza Hut required that all employees at the Coventry Lane restaurant
get shots, spokesman Chris Fuller said.

Fuller declined to discuss day-to-day business about the restaurant.
“Our focus right now continues to be working with the local health
department to help the community,” he said.

The restaurant passed an inspection immediately after the Fort
Wayne-Allen County Department of Health learned of the employee’s
diagnosis and has remained open for business.

“I’ve been fairly impressed with how they’ve handled it,” said Steve
Cebalt, a media consultant with Fort Wayne-based Bottom Line Public
Relations. He has been following media coverage, but Bottom Line is
not working with the pizza chain.

Cebalt said Pizza Hut has neither reacted defensively nor dismissed
people’s concerns. Such knee-jerk reactions by corporations tend to
exacerbate problems instead of making them go away, he said.
For legal reasons, companies are often advised not to pay for damages
or costs related to an event because it could be considered an
admission of guilt, Cebalt said. But because the hepatitis A diagnosis
appears to be random and not the fault of the organization, Cebalt
believes the move will further strengthen the company’s image as a
responsible corporate citizen. Costs for hepatitis immunization shots
alone will exceed $100,000.

“It makes them more bulletproof from criticism,” he said.
There are times when it might be in a company’s best interest to keep
quiet, such as when litigation is involved, Cebalt said. But the
public nature of this ordeal begged for the type of involved response
the company has taken, he said.

Any loss of revenue or damage to reputation will be minimal, said
Zoher Shipchandler, professor of marketing and international business
at IPFW’s Doermer School of Business and Management Sciences.
“I think Pizza Hut has done all the right things, and when you do the
right things, it restores consumer confidence quickly,” Shipchandler
said.

He didn’t think other Pizza Hut locations, especially those outside
northeast Indiana, would suffer. But Shipchandler does think that any
potential subsequent losses will be easier to absorb because the
restaurant is part of a chain.

“I expect for a mom-and-pop restaurant that the slowdown effect can be
crippling enough to force them out of business,” he said.
As for the goliath Pizza Hut, he said any resulting losses would be
like a small pimple on the rear of a large rhinoceros.