Commentary by crisis management expert Edward Segal, author of Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies.

Paying close attention to the allegations, charges, and criticisms that customers make on social media about your company or organization can be an important way to help head off a potential crisis and prevent a bad situation from becoming worse.  

It's not often, however, that a company can pivot quickly and turn an unhappy customer into favorable publicity and a national sales promotion. 

But that's what the California Pizza Kitchen restaurant chain did. 

A Delivery Order Mistake

A TikTok user named Riley posted a video last July to complain that the company made a mistake when it fulfilled a delivery order she placed for macaroni and cheese, according to the Today Show.

"I'm having the worst week of my life," Riley said in her video, because "my boyfriend and I broke up, so I ordered mac and cheese from California Pizza Kitchen, and they just sent me cheese. Just cheese, no mac." 

The customer flagged the mistake to the restaurant, but to no avail.

"Riley says she called the restaurant, and two separate people told her she ordered incorrectly— she can see on her receipt that she did order a side of "Mac N Cheese," the Today Show noted.

Riley's video was seen more than 3.4 million times and generated thousands of comments, according to PR News.

Admitting They Were Wrong

In response to her complaint, the restaurant chain posted a video on TikTok admitting that it got her order wrong and announced a national promotion to encourage people to order its mac and cheese.

That video was seen by more than 10 million people, according to Media Post.

"Hello everyone, Chef Paul here," Paul Pszybylski, CPK's vice president of culinary innovation, said in the video, according to KTLA-TV. "I heard there's been a little bit of confusion on how to properly make our mac and cheese, so I thought I'd send this video out nationwide to make sure everybody knew the proper steps." 

That's when the company turned its mistake into a national headline-making sales promotion.

"Since, recently, we gave one of our guests only half a mac and cheese, we're gonna give?all?of our guests half off mac and cheese starting today through the rest of the month," he said.  

Making Things Right

The company sent Riley a second delivery: a basket with a note, a certificate granting the customer free mac and cheese for a year, another certificate for free pizza for a year that was hidden in a pizza box—and a bunch of uncooked pasta, USA Today reported.  

Why did the company go to such lengths?

California Pizza Kitchen wanted to "make things right with her and then use it as an opportunity to remind everyone what matters to us" Dawn Keller, chief marketing officer told USA Today.

Surprised By Reactions

 "Honestly, we had no idea [that its video] would go viral—we've been blown[away] by the response," Keller commented. "We appreciated that (she) had a sense of humor about it all, so we responded with something light-hearted that would make her day and maybe bring a bit of joy to all our fans as well," the newspaper reported.

The Benefits of Social Listening 

All organizations could benefit from social listening the same way that the national restaurant chain did.

"Social listening is the process of tracking mentions of a brand, product or competitor online. That can mean tracking direct mentions of a brand or product for the purpose of measuring customer feedback or it can be watching the conversation for discussion around a topic," according to Social Intelligence Lab.

As California Pizza Kitchen demonstrated so well, monitoring what customers and are saying about your company on social media—and reacting quickly to what you hear or see—can be an effective way to help head prevent a bad situation from turning worse—or into a full-blown crisis situation.

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