Restaurant’s Crisis Shows Importance of Facts
By Thom Weidlich for PRCG | Haggerty LLC
We recently came across a crisis story from last year that had escaped our attention, though we’re willing to bet Chicago-area communicators are well aware of it. A restaurant-bar accused of assaulting a patron fought back by releasing video that turned public opinion in its favor. It’s an example of invoking facts to your advantage in a crisis.
Just after midnight on Sunday, March 10, 2024, a 22-year-old woman named Julia Reel was ejected from the Hubbard Inn in Chicago’s River North neighborhood allegedly for being abusive toward a staff member in one of its bathrooms. Reel posted a TikTok video in which she relayed the story, maintaining that a bouncer had dragged her from the ladies’ room and violently manhandled her. Reel’s storytime reportedly garnered millions of views.
This was a serious allegation, and Hubbard Inn endured the expected excoriation from the public and patrons, including reservation cancellations. It didn’t endure the backlash for long. On March 13, 2024, it posted a video on its own TikTok account in which it coupled clips of Reel’s accusations with potentially exonerating security-camera footage.
For more, click here.