Towel of Joy Issue: Turning negative publicity into positive publicity

On June 1, 2021, a Facebook user under the name Alique Perez took to the social media platform to share the, erm, strange Jollibee meal that was delivered to them from the Jollibee Bonifacio Stop Over branch via GrabFood. As they tried to cut up the chicken for their son, they felt something was very off—only to find out they were trying to cut up a battered, deep-fried towel.

"This is really disturbing... How the hell do you get the towel in the batter and even fry it!?!?" wrote Perez. "I really thought that the post complaining about weird stuff in their orders were just all made up, now I know that it really happens! So disgusting and embarrassing."

The post contained pictures of what's now been dubbed on the Internet as "Towel Joy" as well as a screen capture of their GrabFood order. Perez asked for help from the GrabFood rider who went back to the branch and reported what happened. The TowelJoy was eventually replaced with another Chickenjoy with Palabok Solo—the real thing this time, we hope—while their order, a four-piece Chickenjoy Family Box Solo, was not replaced.

If you are the Jollibee’s Product Manager, how will you going to solve this issue and
what are your concrete plans to turn negative publicity to positive publicity?

The road for the businesses to become successful has its ups and downs. While you will celebrate a lot of milestones and successes, you’ll also have to overcome various problems. It might happen a lot to a start-up business or to the big ones. According to Winston Churchill, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” Failure is a part of life, and that includes business failures. How we deal with failure determines whether or not it ultimately leads to success.

In regards, the Jollibee is facing a current problem and If I am the product manager, I'm the one who is responsible for the business management of a product and its commercial success. My goal is to ensure the customer satisfaction to product and contribute to the success of the organization. If there are problem arises, I need to identify and define the main reason of it, before making an action or solution. But, the main reason is already stated and it is because of "towel joy". Therefore, I will resolve these issues with the following concrete plans:

• Pay for damage control

  I will listen to the customer's concern and fix the problem immediately by paying the customer for damage control that cause of not unhygienic procedure of the said product.

• Increased the salary of the employees

  Due to the issue, the salary of Jollibee's employee was discussed on social media and many people gave different opinions. Many said that the Jollibee crew's salary is low and the work is all around, so they think that the crew is just tired and mixed up the towel to breading mix. Therefore, we will raise their salary, by doing so, they might be motivated to work hard and do their job with the best of their ability.

• Close the branch for about 3 days

  In closing the branch, the kitchen area and all the equipment will be sanitized. The storage area, the food prep and dining area, floor drains, and trash cans will be clean and we will investigate this matter in-depth to ensure it does not happen again.

• Health and Hygiene

  The employees will be undergo again to training about proper hygiene such as; washing hands, wearing gloves, aprons, hairnets, and kitchen shoes to avoid that matter and to not contaminate the foods. It is for the health and safety of the employees and customers.

• Replace the food

  First I will sincerely apologize to what happen, take the responsibility and thank the customer for pointing out the problem. Then, I will ask them if they want to replace their order and if they agreed, I will tell the crew to act quickly and take action to replace their food and remove the undesired item with the customer’s permission. I will prioritize he regarding of their complaints.

Customer complaints and problems are unavoidable in service industries. The
complaints in Jollibee is became negative publicity wherein it gain brand awareness in a negative way. But, negative publicity is still publicity and it possible to turn the situation around and use the opportunity to learn from their mistake. Also, a customer’s complaint is a problem that they see into our product, employees, process etc. and by hearing those directly from them, we can improve and avoid further complaints in the future. We can use their feedback to improve the work of employees and the product. Understanding their needs and their satisfaction will lead the business to be successful.

Thanks for Reading!

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# 10
: Thursday
: August 18, 2022
: Re-joyce