Ratings and reviews have become the new currencies that help restaurants to grow. These days, most people will go online to check the reviews about a restaurant before they decide to order or visit. This is especially true for people who are looking for a restaurant to visit for the first time. That is why restaurants must put effort in ensuring they get good reviews if they want a good flow of customers. Sometimes, the inevitable happens and restaurants get poor reviews and low ratings. How should they handle such situations?
Investigate the claims
Do not dismiss any complaint or poor review given about the restaurant. Find out more about the claims. For instance, if the customer claims they were mistreated by a waiter, make some inquiries and understand the situation. You can even reach out to the reviewer to get a better context of what happened. From then, you will have an easier time coming up with a good course of action.
Apologise
There is nothing wrong with apologising if your restaurant made a mistake. Check how other institutions have apologised so that you get some tips and lessons. In your apology, you must assure the customers that you understand their disappointment/frustration and you have made necessary changes.
Make Changes
A negative review/rating should be used as a wake-up call to make adjustments. For instance, if you are getting a lot of complaints on customer service, it is time for you to train your employees on good customer care. If the complaint is on ambience, it is an indication that you should be working on your customer care.
Try and respond to complaints that you get and work towards improving the restaurant while focusing on customer satisfaction. Resist the urge to get into a defensive rant and use the comments as a means to become better.
