--- title: "PIZZA HUT DOING ‘THE RIGHT THING’: HANDLING OF HEPATITIS SCARE LAUDED" date: 2006-09-04T12:41:12-07:00 author: Bill Marler canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/pizza-hut-doing-the-right-thing-handling-of-hepatitis-scare-lauded" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / # PIZZA HUT DOING ‘THE RIGHT THING’: HANDLING OF HEPATITIS SCARE LAUDED September 2, 2006 The Journal Gazette (IN) Michael Schroeder 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. 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