How Chick-fil-A deal with COVID-19?
Coronavirus has become a global issue, and more than 124 thousand people have been confirmed positive on the COVID-19 test. To deal with such a serious situation, companies are taking actions like remotely operating and taking days off. As one of the most famous fast-casual restaurants, Chick-fil-A makes some changes as well.
Response to Covid-19
Chick-fil-A has changed its website UI setting. When entering the official website, we can easily see the message it leaves for visitors: “We’re open, offering delivery and contactless pay, we are here for you” and it provides a link button showing their latest updates on COVID-19. The latest update on preparation for COVID-19 includes: Stop serving in dining rooms, limit person-to-person contact by partnering with DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats, and some restaurants will provide delivery service thru team members. When I try the delivery service, I check if my address is available for Chick-fil-A App, the answer is not. However, it asks me to check if I can order through its partners. I feel this is authentic. They cannot develop a strong delivery service in such a short period of time, but they are trying to provide food to as many customers as possible by partnering with more food delivery apps.
Changes on Social Media
On Instagram, Chick-fil-A also changed its voice. They used to post happy personas. Nowadays the posts become some short phrases like “All your old favorites delivered to your new normal”, “Because you care enough to stay in, we’ll come to you” and tag like “#OpenForDelivery”
They do a similar change on their Twitter as well by emphasizing they are “openfordelivery.”
What do I say?
I won’t say Chick-fil-A did a phenomenal job responding to COVID-19, but they did make an effort to please their customers. They showed their attitudes for bringing Chick-fil-A to customers, and they are trying to reach a wide range of customers. They know delivery is their disadvantage, so they deal with those apps to solve that issue. Also, on the digital platforms, Chick-fil-A sends a message that they are still trying to serve and please their customers. There are no surprisingly good or bad actions they take, but they indeed made some efforts.
In my opinion, the COVID-19 pandemic will change how brands communicate with their customers in the long term effects. It seems that the COVID-19 pandemic will not finish in a short period, so people will get used to staying home working or studying. Those remotely operations will change their habits. Online customer service is taking place. For example, those updates on official websites, the new posts on digital platforms, etc. AI bots will be often used for effective communication.
