Image Source: F. D. Richards, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Was the Accusation?
Arby’s faced national attention in May 2012 after 14-year-old Ryan Hart discovered part of an employee’s severed finger in a junior roast beef sandwich purchased from an Arby’s restaurant in Jackson, Michigan. Hart and his family had ordered food through the restaurant’s drive-through and were eating in the parking lot when he bit into something that felt rubbery and was difficult to chew. After spitting it out, Hart realized that the object appeared to be human tissue. Jackson County health officials subsequently said that an Arby’s employee had cut part of her finger while using a meat slicer. According to health department officials, the employee left her work station without immediately telling her coworkers what had happened, and other employees continued filling customer orders until they learned of the injury.
Once the restaurant staff became aware of the accident, food production was stopped and the restaurant’s food-preparation areas were cleaned and sanitized. The injured employee received hospital treatment, while Hart’s mother contacted emergency services and took her son to a hospital, where his blood was drawn and he was prescribed medication. Contemporary reports said Hart was physically feeling well afterward. Arby’s stated that the franchise cooperated with the local health department, which allowed the restaurant to remain open following the sanitation measures. The incident attracted widespread media coverage because an employee injury had resulted in human tissue entering a customer’s prepared food and because restaurant operations briefly continued before coworkers learned that the injury had occurred.
Arby’s spokesman John Gray apologized publicly to Hart and described the episode as an isolated and unfortunate incident. The company said it was continuing to investigate what had happened. Arby’s also reported that it contacted its nationwide restaurant network to reinforce employee training and safety protocols for approximately 66,000 workers. Its public response therefore combined an apology to the affected customer with measures intended to address sanitation, employee safety procedures, and the possibility of recurrence, while its characterization of the event as isolated limited the perceived scope of the problem to a single restaurant accident.
Key Apologia Strategies:
Mortification, Corrective Action
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Transcript
Excerpts from Arby’s Public Statements (May 18, 2012):
“We are deeply concerned and apologetic to the guest involved in this unfortunate incident. We continue to investigate the events.”
“Upon learning of the incident, the franchisee’s restaurant team shut down food production and thoroughly cleaned and sanitized the restaurant.”
“We have been in touch with its nationwide network of restaurants to reinforce training and safety protocols for our 66,000 employees.”
