Getting a negative review on your restaurant’s Yelp page is not the end of the world. As stressful as a negative comment or review can be, what you do to handle that comment is what matters. As much as we want the negative comment to disappear on its own, it definitely won’t, so managing it well is extremely critical.
First, make sure that you address the comment and respond. Nothing looks worse than a restaurant with a negative review on its page that has not been responded to by the restaurant owner. Owning a successful restaurant means that your customers perceive you as honest, reputable, and reliable. Making sure you are consistent in your actions across the board is step one. Reviews have been shown to directly affect a restaurant’s success. An increase in positive Yelp reviews has even been shown to correlate to an increase in a restaurant’s revenue.
That being said, a mix of positive and negative reviews is better than no reviews at all. People tend to be pretty understanding if they can tell someone who wrote a bad review was not being fair to the restaurant, so as long as you are doing your job to please your customers, negative reviews should be largely out of your control.
Lastly, make sure that you stay up to date with your Yelp page. If your restaurant sees a lot of traffic, make sure that you check your reviews daily. You can also offer special deals or discounts to your customers for checking in on Yelp or for leaving a review. Remember, the more reviews the better - and there is no such thing as bad press.
