Dine Brands Global, one of the world’s largest full-service dining companies and franchisor of Applebee’s Grill + Bar and IHOP, must navigate and manage the many risks associated with a global restaurant business, including social media issues, food safety and weather-related hazards.
In a newly published case study on our website, the company explains how it partnered with our mobile crisis management app, In Case of Crisis, to build state-of-the-art crisis defenses.
In 2017, Bill Taylor, Executive Director of Risk Management at Dine Brands Global, began a search for technology that would make more effective the dissemination of risk management information to approximately 3,700 restaurant locations across the globe.
At that time, the Dine Brands’ crisis plans, information and resources were stored in a hard copy binder, which Bill’s team affectionately referred to as the “Green Monster”.
When Bill was introduced to our mobile crisis management app, In Case of Crisis, he was surprised to find that that there was an established product on the market that was suitable for Dine Brands Global.
Bill quickly realized that the In Case of Crisis platform is the tool that would allow Dine Brands to spread information quickly and accurately to team members, including franchisees and regional risk management teams, overcoming the risks of using out-of-date email distribution lists.
Now, Dine Brands is a great example of the value of In Case of Crisis.
Currently, Dine Brands has two plans in the app including a crisis management response plan and a hurricane and tropical storm plan, and they have been developing several more resource plans for their operations team.
An example of how the In Case of Crisis app is deployed by Dine Brands was during Hurricanes Michael and Florence, when the app was used to communicate with field operations team members and to issue guidance where to find the appropriate processes and procedures to assist in preparation and recovery activities.
The hurricane and tropical storm plan on the app proved to be effective during Hurricane Florence in September 2018.
Restaurant locations in the areas likely to be affected by Florence were reminded that information, including recommendations on dealing with the storm and guidance on closing and re-opening of restaurants, was all available on the app, and would be even if the location lost power.
Bill has been so impressed with In Case of Crisis that it is seeking to add additional plans.
Bill and his team finished implementing a food safety risk management plan for which Bill says that In Case of Crisis is “taking away a lot of the manual work we would do by having a simple process to publish new information”.
Overall, in just a year, In Case of Crisis has given Bill’s team at Dine Brands a lot of confidence in its ability to stay in touch and give its field operations teams the essential tools they need to operate independently while also having the support of quick and accessible risk management planning.
