Picture this: A bustling street corner, the tantalizing aroma of freshly prepared dishes wafting through the air, and… empty tables at your restaurant. In the cutthroat world of dining, where a single bad review can spread faster than a grease fire, your restaurant’s reputation can be its most valuable asset—or its biggest liability.
With Americans spending a whopping $3,639 per household annually on dining out (about $300 per month) the stakes couldn’t be higher.
But what if your establishment’s name has already been dragged through the mud? Is it time to hang up your apron, or can you still turn things around?
Effective reputation management isn’t always about building a strong reputation among consumers; it is sometimes about recovering from a bad one. If your restaurant is battling against a poor reputation, then you will need to take every step possible to fix it.
Turning the tables: Why does a bad restaurant reputation matter?
Whether you have received poor online reviews or patrons have been spreading bad word of mouth in the community, gaining a negative reputation can have an immense impact on your restaurant.
Once your restaurant gains a poor reputation, it can be hard for the establishment to fully overcome such negative press.
According to a recent BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, consumers take businesses’ reputations seriously when deciding whether to visit or not.
87% of respondents claimed they always or regularly sought out online reviews when considering using a local business.
In a society that has moved far past the newspapers, magazines, and other media that once influenced the success of businesses, online reviews have become one of the most significant influences that shape a restaurant’s reputation.
The more positive an online review, the more consumers are likely to trust a business. In fact, only 9% of consumers are willing to patronize a business if it has less than a three-star review online.
How can I use reviews to improve my restaurant’s reputation?
Restaurants are among the most susceptible businesses when it comes to bad online reviews.
Facing comments like these can be a difficult task as a business owner. That’s because you don’t have the freedom to control any online content that you don’t post yourself.
Despite this, customer comments on sites such as OpenTable, UrbanSpoon, TripAdvisor, and Google can make a serious mark on your restaurant’s reputation.
If your business’s good name has taken a beating thanks to poor reviews, the most important thing you can do to begin repairing your restaurant’s poor reputation is to address these comments. There are several strategies that you can use to this end, including the following:
1. Assess each of your reviews
While it’s never fun for you to read negative comments about your restaurant, it’s necessary to do so if you want to gauge how your customers are feeling about your business.
Even more importantly, assessing your establishment’s online reviews can help you understand how to improve those bad comments.
You will, inevitably, find some reviews that are rude and abusive for seemingly no reason. But there will be plenty of others that will offer key insights into the way your customers see your restaurant.
Note: Ignore criticism people post just to be mean. Think of yourself as a bloodhound—only sniffing for customer feedback that can help you improve.
If you look closely, then you might find patterns in your online reviews. For example:
- Are people experiencing issues with your staff?
- Is a certain dish not going down well with your customers?
- What are the more general concerns that you are seeing?
Only by understanding and fixing areas of concern within your establishment can you begin to repair its negative reputation.
Your online reviews present an excellent opportunity for you to learn if there is anything you can change to make your unhappy customers happier with your business.
2. Look into removing abusive reviews
Depending on which review site you are browsing, you might be able to contact the site administrators to petition for the removal of the most abusive reviews.
Read the terms of service for each review website you have a profile on, and if you feel a review violates these terms, then you should flag it for review or contact the site directly.
This doesn’t, however, guarantee that the site will take the offending review down.
Still, bringing the comments to the site’s attention will allow you to address your restaurant’s poor reviews and give yourself a better chance of improving your restaurant reputation management and online rating—even if only by a little bit.
3. Post replies to poorer reviews
When it comes to more reasonable online reviews, you should reach out to the original poster to respond to his or her criticism and see if there is anything that you can do to change their opinion of your establishment.
Any reply you post should do the following:
- Thank your reviewer for his or her comments.
- Apologize for the reviewer’s poor dining experience.
- Agree to improve your customers’ dining experience.
Dedicating yourself to making a dining experience improvement based on feedback will help you boost your business’s reputation. Though you may not always be able to rectify every negative visit, it is still crucial that you touch base with these critics and try to learn from them.
Taking this step can elicit one of several positive outcomes:
- It encourages consumers to revise their ratings or completely remove their negative reviews. (You should leave this choice up to the customer, however.)
- It helps improve the overall tone of the review page.
With frequent back and forth between yourself and your customers, your page will be filled with more than the occasional negative review. Moreover, this will demonstrate to potential diners that you care what they think even after they’ve left their tables.
4. Encourage customers to give reviews
You can ask patrons to review you, but you should never post these good reviews yourself. This can seem suspicious to potential customers and get you blacklisted from review sites. It’s also illegal. Instead, you should make it easy for your patrons to leave positive feedback of their own.
Leaving survey cards by the register or including links to review sites in your customer emails are great ways to encourage valuable feedback. The information you gather can help you make more immediate changes that could improve your reputation.
If you are looking for even more online reviews, then you should also post notes around your restaurant or on your receipts that direct your customers to review sites.
QR codes have become very handy when it comes to gaining reviews. Plus, people are already used to scanning them for viewing their menus.
You can even link online users to review sites through your social media handles and website. With more opportunities to leave a review, your patrons will be more likely to leave positive feedback.
Once you receive positive reviews, you should share them with your customers through social media. Customers will not only enjoy that you’re paying attention to them, but they’ll also like to know their favorite eatery cares what they think of it. As you continue to cultivate additional positive reviews, your reputation will likely improve, which can result in more customers flocking to your restaurant.
5. Incentivize future feedback
To minimize your bad reviews and boost your reputation, you should find a way to incentivize your customers to post feedback on review sites.
However, you should treat this process with complete impartiality so that it doesn’t look like you are bribing your customers for their comments and reviews.
Don’t offer discounts or any other rewards with monetary value that could be perceived as bribes, and don’t ask for reviews only from customers that you know will provide a positive one.
Getting professional help
It isn’t always easy to fix your restaurant’s reputation on your own. Hiring an expert restaurant reputation management company such as ReputationDefender can help you combat a negative public image stemming from comments unhappy customers have posted online.
Our suite of reputation management tools can make you aware of any complaints, concerns, or negative comments about your establishment. This can help you to react quickly to negative reviews, as well as encourage satisfied patrons to post positive reviews—essentially, drowning the bad with a flood of the good.
To run a free online audit for your business, grab your free reputation report card. It can instantly tell you exactly what information others find about your business online.