How to Respond to Reviews in Food Industry?

94% of diners check the reviews of a restaurant to decide where to eat. That’s a whopping number, isn't it? These statistics clearly show the importance of online reviews in the food industry. Online reviews are a digital form of word-of-mouth marketing. Positive online reviews will attract customers and bring more revenue to your restaurant business, while bad reviews can negatively affect your current revenue.

So if you have a business in the food industry, you need to take the ratings and reviews you get seriously, whether good or bad. You should know how to respond and react to those reviews to turn them in your favor. In this blog, we will help you understand why responding to reviews is important. Along with that, we will also navigate this process of responding to reviews, whether positive or negative.

Why Responding To Both Positive And Negative Reviews Is Important In The Food Sector?

When you respond to the reviews, it makes the customer feel acknowledged and seen by you. If the review you are responding to is positive, it will make the customer more happy when you respond to them and they are more likely to promote and recommend your food services to others as well. 

Similarly, when you acknowledge and respond to bad reviews in a professional way with the intention of improving your customer experience, it adds to your reputation in the food industry. Remember, people who are looking for your services online can see your response to the bad review. If you play wisely in your response, you can turn the bad review in your favor as well. 

Effective Handling Of Negative Reviews (With Some Examples And Templates) 

When responding to a bad review, you need to keep in mind that these reviews are written by people in a frustrated or angry state of mind. Your response should come out as a professional to defuse a bad review. Here are some solid tips for you to do that:

Tips To Handle And Respond To Negative Reviews

Handling negative reviews tactfully is a skill that you need to master in the food business. These tips will help you navigate a bad review like a pro.

1. Maintain Professionalism

Always respond in a calm and professional way regardless of the tone of the review you are responding to. Remember your tone and professionalism add to your reputation in the food industry. So choose your words wisely. A calm demeanor is a superpower in the food industry.

2. Acknowledge The Feedback

Acknowledge the feedback of the customer gracefully and thank them for sharing their feedback. This will help to reduce the anger and frustration they may have had while writing the review.

3. Apologize Sincerely

Once you have acknowledged the mistake, apologize sincerely to the consumer. Choose your words wisely in a way that they don’t sound too preachy. At the same time, your words should reflect the sincerity and genuineness of your apology.

4. Take Responsibility

Taking responsibility and ownership for your mistakes helps you build trust with your customers and respect in the food industry. Make sure you take complete responsibility for your mistake rather than trying to come up with excuses and shift the blame.

5. Offer A solution Or Resolution

After taking responsibility, it is important that you offer a quick and appropriate resolution to your customer. This is the place where you can turn that bad review in your favor by providing them with a good customer experience. Understand the problem’s root cause and make changes in your business and services accordingly to avoid the same mishaps in the future.

6. Encourage Offline Communication

You can contact the customer directly and come up with a solution to resolve the issue privately. Once you have served them and resolved their issue, you can politely ask them if they could take back their bad review.

Templates With Examples To Handle Negative Reviews:

These were the tips, now let us help you with ready-to-use templates to handle negative reviews.

Review 1: I had a terrible experience at this restaurant. The food was mediocre, the staff was really rude and unprofessional. Would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

 

 

Review 2: The staff at this hotel was very unprofessional. They were completely ignoring the customers. On top of it, they were gossiping and laughing loudly. Terrible dine-in experience.

 

 

Source

How To Respond To Positive Reviews (With Some Examples And Templates)

Along with responding and defusing a bad review, it is important that you acknowledge the positive feedback as well. This will encourage your customers to leave positive reviews and will help your position in the food industry. Let’s help you with some tips to get you started.

Tips To Handle And Respond To Positive Reviews

Use these tips to communicate with your existing satisfied customers to make them feel seen and acknowledged:

1. Express Gratitude

Your first and foremost duty is to thank them and express gratitude for their positive review. This shows that you appreciate their feedback and helps you build and maintain a good relationship with your customers.

2. Personalize Responses

Personalize your responses by adding their name, or expressing gratitude by specifying the things they have mentioned about you in the review. This lets them know that you are really reading their reviews.

3. Encourage Engagement

Invite them to visit you again by suggesting to them some of the specials on your menu to try the next time they visit you.

Templates With Examples To Respond To Positive Reviews

Review 1: Had the best dine-in experience. The food was a delicious treat and the ambiance was aesthetic and classy. The staff was also really polite. 

 

Review 2: Their white sauce pasta is the best. Not only pasta, but all the dishes we ordered were really delicious with timely and professional service.

Conclusion

There is no denying the fact that the reviews you receive in the food industry are important. But you should also remember that your response to the reviews is going to decide the direction of your revenue. 

Use the tips we mentioned, choose your responses wisely, and you are good to go when it comes to handling reviews, whether good or bad. We wish you all the best in navigating your review journey and if you get stuck somewhere, you can always come back to this blog.