Potential Crisis Situations That Could Affect Food Service Operators Ken Schelper, Davanni’s Restaurants 
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Food‐borne Illness Outbreak Product Recall Customer or Employee Injury Act of violence Vandalism Loss of electricity or water Employee work action Food tampering Fire or flood Hostage or terrorist situation Gas leak Bomb threat Suspension of business for outside reason Employee found to have a serious disease Catering/delivery vehicle accident or breakdown Customer breaks tooth or chokes on food Insect or rodent infestation Strike or other service disruption of a manufacturer or distributor The hospitality industry has the potential to face many types of challenges due to crises. Many of these were considered in the APC Emergency Handbook, some were not. Owners and managers of hotel and restaurant establishments should prepare well in advance to deal with these crises in an effective and efficient manner. The absence of a strategy and an organized approach to handle a crisis can lead to a business’ demise. Some situations are preventable by modifying existing methods of operation, planning for possible responses and considering best‐
case and worst‐case scenarios. Planning is always more effective than scrambling or adlibbing in a crisis. Each hospitality operation is unique in terms of situations, menu, policies and procedures, customers, suppliers, partners, etc. Therefore each company should strongly consider building on the APC Emergency Handbook and adding to it as is appropriate to their situation. Here is an example of an Emergency Action Plan Table of Contents, that may help you consider what types of planning/information might be helpful for your business.