So, Chobani.
No doubt you've all heard about what's going on with their "non-recall" recall. I found out from Hubby last Friday afternoon when he tried to pick up a few Flips for me only to find our local grocer actively pulling all the product from shelves and being warned not to buy it anywhere because Chobani has "recalled all their stuff". Yikes. I quickly contacted Chobani because, not only am I a fan personally, I've endorsed them for years as a quality product. And I had some in the fridge.
Put simply, Chobani's response to this has been an unmitigated disaster from a P.R. standpoint. From deleting or hiding hundreds of Facebook posts addressing this, and asking what's happening, to refusing to acknowledge a recall, to the promise of "replacing product" only to fail to respond, to finally putting out a press release almost a week later...Horrible.
Look, I know that mistakes can happen. I get it. I goof up in the kitchen all the time, and I'm not cranking out millions of pieces of product in multiple flavors and variations and shipping all around the country. But it's how you handle these problems that matters. Instead of getting out in front of this problem, acknowledging the issue and saying "Oops, we goofed!" and saying they'll make it right, they instead denied, denied, denied until they couldn't hide it anymore. Some bean-counting lawyer somewhere probably had "liability" concerns because, hey...Everybody sues nowadays, right? But how this was handled has made me decide Chobani has no place in my kitchen or fridge. I can't endorse a company that acts this way. Hubby had already moved on from Chobani almost a year ago, since he said he noticed a change in quality and consistency. He's a Fage fan, and it looks like I will be too. I liked Chobani's flavors, the variety, the mix-ins. But I don't like and will not support a company that acts as shamefully as Chobani has acted. So we're a Fage house now, and if you have printed out any of my past recipes that used Chobani, bear in mind that I don't recommend using Chobani for anything.
That's sad to hear. I missed this recall, what was wrong with their yogurt? I've seen you use them so many times so they must have truly made a PR Snafu.
ReplyDeleteChobani tried to quietly (without telling customers) recall their products because there was bacteria/mold in the yogurt causing bubbling, fizzing, rupture, and foul smell and taste. They refused to acknowledge it for over a week. They finally today (09/05/13) decided to issue a full recall. What was the final straw was how they lied and went about this issue. I just don't trust them anymore.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! When it comes to that kind of a recall that's not cool. My guess is they weren't prepared for consumers to find out about it before the press release. I don't know what legality goes around releasing a recall but I don't see why they couldn't be honest up front.
ReplyDelete