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When you run a restaurant, you receive ongoing feedback whether you ask for it or not. Your staff will have thoughts on how things are run, your vendors will let you know about your systems, the health inspector will grade you on sanitation.
And of course, anyone and everyone will offer feedback on the food.
Some of this will happen organically and internally as you visit customers at their tables or when your servers pass along comments they received. Other times, the feedback will be more public—a food critic makes a visit, an influencer posts a video, or a customer leaves a review online.
You’re going to face public critique, so it’s important to be prepared. Read on for tips on how to handle critics.
Why You Need to be Ready to Handle Food Critics
In the past, a visit from a food critic was an infrequent and significant event that might have caused restaurant owners and staff to go into a frenzied panic. But now, each person who sets foot in your restaurant (and even some who don’t) is a potential critic—and restaurants need to be ready. The ability of customers to evaluate restaurants’ food and service—versus food critics who are bound by written and unwritten codes of conduct—has introduced a new and evolving landscape in the restaurant marketing scene.
Many professional food critics operate according to a Code of Ethics from The Association of Food Journalists, which outlines core principles related to things like conflict of interest, accuracy, and transparency. They strive to provide a fair and balanced review and usually visit an establishment several times in order to get a well-rounded experience and try a variety of dishes.
Amateur critics, on the other hand, aren’t bound by professional standards, and they may have a variety of intentions—sometimes nefarious. And then there are everyday customers who may decide to leave a review after a visit, not giving much thought to the consequences of their ratings and comments.
Anyone can be a food critic these days, so restaurant owners and staff need to be prepared.
Today’s restaurant owner needs to run their restaurant as if they were receiving a food critic every day. That means having a plan in place for how to react to poor reviews and foster good relationships online. Here’s a quick plan for dealing with food critics of all varieties:
1. Always Be Ready
It’s always a good idea to go into each day with the mentality that you’ll be at the top of your game; constant vigilance and preparedness separate the great from the mediocre restaurants. But the possibility that a food critic could enter your restaurant at any moment can serve as extra motivation to make sure your day-to-day business operations are impeccable.
Keep Your Restaurant Clean
Critics will be the first to point out a restaurant that isn’t up to sparkling standards, and poor marks for cleanliness can be harder to overcome than a few dings about the food. Be sure to stay on top of food safety and hygiene regulations that not only keep employees and visitors safe but keep your restaurant looking as good as possible.
Cleanliness is one of the most important aspects of running a successful restaurant.
Make Sure Staff are Fully Trained
Having well-trained hosts and servers goes a long way toward creating a positive experience for guests. Provide a handbook with information about the restaurant’s history and philosophy. Test trainees on their restaurant and menu knowledge. Ensure that new team members follow and learn from experienced leaders until they are fully ready to take on their roles.
Create a Menu that Your Kitchen can Competently and Consistently Execute
Large or complex menus can hinder this ability. When customers know that they can dine at your restaurant and be served the same delicious meals each and every visit, they are more likely to tell their friends, return often, and post positive reviews.
A well thought-out menu can put your restaurant in position for excellent service and good reviews.
Share Your Story on Your Website
Professional food critics and bloggers are often interested in telling an in-depth story about your restaurant, so put your restaurant’s history and origins of recipes on your website. The easier you make this information to find, the more likely they are to share the stories you want the public to know. You can get clear on this message by creating a positioning statement that details how you want the restaurant to be perceived.
2. Provide Great Service
Great service goes a long way to making a guest’s experience enjoyable, and it comes down to a handful of systems and processes you can make sure your employees follow.
Create a Good First Impression With Friendly and Well-Trained Hosts
Nobody wants to show up to a restaurant and wait for several minutes without being greeted. Always have someone at the host stand offering a warm welcome and providing accurate wait times.
Greet Tables in a Timely Manner
The rule of thumb is to greet tables within two to three minutes of being seated. Your handbook and training can specify the expectations for restaurant staff, and efficient operations can help ensure that your servers will be able to attend to their tables.
Friendly and knowledgeable servers can make a big impact on customers’ experience.
Offer Suggestions of the Most Well-Loved Dishes
Servers should be able to offer suggestions for each menu area (appetizer, cocktails and wine, main dishes, and dessert), as well as understand dietary restrictions in order to properly address guest questions and concerns. This knowledge can help boost your restaurant’s reputation as well as add to your bottom line.
Be Available But Do Not Hover or Interrupt
Most of us have had an overly attentive server and know they can be as disruptive to a meal as one who can never be found. Good servers understand the appropriate timing involved in checking on tables and make themselves seen throughout the meal in case they are needed.
When Things Go Wrong, Move Quickly Toward a Solution
Mistakes happen. Orders will be forgotten, entered incorrectly, not cooked well, or dropped. The best defense in these situations is to inform the customer immediately, let them know the next steps, and offer a remedy.
3. Leverage and Engage with Social Media Reviews
You are going to receive a range of reviews for your restaurant, regardless of how exemplary your food and service are. Because it’s so easy for folks to chime in, those reviews will come from people who know what they’re talking about, as well as those who … don’t know so much. And everything in between.
How you handle these, the negative and the positive, is just as important as the steps you took to avoid them.
Take Time to Recognize and Celebrate the Praise
If you live in fear of bad reviews, you can miss the opportunities of the good ones. Positive reviews provide helpful information on what guests love about your restaurant. Reading them to your staff or posting them in prominent spaces can boost team morale. And of course, you should use them in your marketing materials.
Honestly Evaluate Criticism
Rather than go into defensive mode when a negative review comes in, try to read it without emotion attached. Does the writer make valid points? Did they point out issues that could be areas for improvement? Many chefs will have managers read the reviews and only bring legitimate concerns to the chefs.
Respond to All Reviews—Even (Especially) The Bad Ones
Overall, the consensus is that it is best to engage, especially on Facebook and apps like OpenTable. For all types of reviews, respond promptly and professionally. Thanking people who post positive views helps build community and engagement on your platforms.
For negative reviews, this Lightspeed article, The Right Way to Respond to Bad Reviews, offers six helpful steps for responding. In short: be professional and brief, directly address and apologize for any legitimate concerns, and explain what’s being done to make sure it won’t happen again (if applicable).
Bad reviews will sometimes happen, but you have the choice about how to respond.
Think Twice Before Deleting Reviews
With the exception of a slanderous review (or something of a similar ilk), it’s usually best to keep reviews up for a few reasons. First, people may notice when a business removes criticism, a move that reflects more poorly than the criticism itself. You don’t want a reputation for being thin-skinned or, worse, for hiding something.
Also, consider this: people may actually be suspicious if you have 100 percent great reviews. They’re wise to the ways in which some places pay for reviews and game the system, so a few mediocre or critical reviews lend authenticity and credence to the praise.
Message a Critic Directly
This suggestion pertains more to social media than reviews on places like Yelp or TripAdvisor. If someone has taken to TikTok or Instagram to criticize your restaurant, you can comment on the post, similarly to how you’d comment elsewhere. You can also message the creator directly to sincerely ask about the situation and offer a remedy, if applicable; let’s face it, some people just want to make noise instead of find solutions, but if you can change the mind of a critic who then tells their audience about it, you’ve gained some goodwill as well as good PR.
4. Do Not Negotiate with Food “Elites”
Recently, a restaurant in the Hamptons reported that a pair of food influencers demanded a free meal, only to later pan the experience as “the worst $2,000 meal they’d ever had,” as though they paid a penny for it. Wow! How do you respond to impossible requests like these?
No Free Meals in Exchange for Good Reviews
The food critic’s Code of Ethics clearly describes this as an abuse of position. And this practice usually doesn’t do your restaurant any favors anyway. Consumers are more likely than ever to recognize a sham review when they see one; even websites like Amazon have implemented a “verified purchase” stamp to distinguish reviews by people who paid for products versus those who received comps. You might choose to offer a sample or to comp something small like a drink or dessert, but be careful to avoid a real or perceived quid pro quo in which a comp was in exchange for a positive review.
Don’t Engage with Negativity
Some people enjoy getting a rise out of business owners. They will never be satisfied or happy with their experience and are often looking for a fight. After you have posted your thoughtful response, you can stop engaging. Nothing positive will come from further trying to defend your position.
Build Relationships
Unlike food critics whose profession demands unbiased opinions, amateurs do not need to play by those rules, and influencers usually operate by different standards as well. You can work to build relationships with frequent posters and even invite popular bloggers to your establishment. You can also encourage your best customers to post positive reviews. Chances are, they’ll be happy to help you out and spread the word.
Set Your Restaurant Up For Success In Person and Online
If you strive to maintain a clean restaurant, consistently serve quality food, and provide excellent service, you will set yourself up for the best chance of receiving positive customer reviews.
You’ll always get criticism—sometimes fairly, and sometimes unfairly. No matter what, it’s always best to look at criticisms for what they are: one person’s opinion…and to respond appropriately. And when the criticisms are warranted, use those to make your establishment even better and thank the reviewer for their assistance!
Interested in finding out more about how you can operate a restaurant that is always ready for a food critic? A degree in Hospitality & Restaurant Operations Management from Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts can provide a broad overview of the concepts and skills that can assist you in building a restaurant.
To discover more about an associate’s degree or diploma in Culinary Arts or another discipline from Escoffier, contact us today!
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This article was originally published on February 15, 2016, and has been updated.
