Article

How to Handle and Reduce Guest Complaints in Your Restaurant

In the 1976 movie classic, "Network," news anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) told the audience he believed he had been given a mission from a faceless voice "to tell the people the truth -- not an easy thing to do because the people don't want to know the truth." His weekly rants included attacks on reality about the environment, rampant crime, world politics and people in power, and he even attacked the integrity of television itself. His mission culminated with his "mad as hell speech" in which he tells viewers that things must change and the only way is for everyone to stick their head out the window and yell, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Facing reality or truth is often a bit uncomfortable for restaurant owners and managers. Each day offers new challenges and difficulties that can consume their time and dampen their spirits. Many of these problems are either employee instigated or guest related, and when they occur in droves it's easy to become overwhelmed.

Customer complaints are inevitable … or are they? In this article, we review the systems and techniques to address and, better yet, prevent customer dissatisfaction. If complaints are frequent in your restaurant, maybe it's time for you to get 'mad as hell' and adopt systems to prevent them.

Perhaps the most distressful problem is the complaining guest. Considering the planning, investment, training, time and effort it takes to simply get guests in the door, it can seem hopelessly deflating when a guest doesn't have a favorable guest experience or, even worse, a terrible experience.

You Get What You Tolerate

What's unfortunate for some restaurateurs is that complaining guests, or even guests who don't complain but might if asked, are all too often a frequent occurrence. How many complaints are acceptable? How many complaints do you need to have before you finally do something proactive to deal with them? How many complaints must you hear before you finally throw up your window, stick your head out and declare you're not going to take it anymore?

I am not a "mad prophet of the airwaves" or even a foreteller of your restaurant's chances of success. But I can say with confidence that a regularity of complaining guests will not only limit your restaurant's success, it almost certainly will doom it.

Success in the restaurant business, for both independents and chains alike, is determined by the quality of the guest experience. If the collective guest experience is good or great, your restaurant will most likely be successful. If it's not, failure looms closer with each negative encounter.

The White House Office of Consumer Affairs reports that a dissatisfied consumer will tell between nine and 15 people about their experience, while around 13 percent of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. These figures correlate with an American Express survey in which it was reported that Americans tell an average of nine people about good experiences, but will tell as many as 16 others about poor experiences.

Consider also, that for every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent. A typical business only hears from 4 percent of dissatisfied customers; of those, 91 percent of them will never come back.

Here is the cold, hard "truth" restaurant owners need to face: If you get even one complaint a week, that means that you possibly offended as many as 26 other customers. If you get one complaint a day then you could be offending more than 175 guests each week.

The bottom line: Regularity of complaints can have a staggering sales effect. Considering that as much as 80 percent of your business relies on repeat customers, unresolved complaints will most certainly result in lost sales and eventually a shuttering of your doors.

Reducing Complaints Requires Systems and Diligence

To begin the process, begin viewing your restaurant through your customer's eyes. What do they see when they first arrive at your restaurant? Do they see a well-manicured landscape and a clean parking lot? Or do they see missing lights in your sign or smudged prints on the entrance door glass? Are changes warranted to the opening checklist or to your repairs and maintenance systems?

What happens when they first enter your restaurant? Do they clearly understand the seating or ordering expectations? Are they properly greeted? Are the dining room and restrooms clean? Tables bussed?

How about when they approach the service line or get seated at a table? Do you have detailed steps of service that are documented with time expectations for getting beverage orders, delivery of appetizers or length of time it should take between placing an entrée order and delivering it to the guest? If so, is it universally understood by both the front of the house and back of the house?

Does your kitchen have written recipes for every menu item? Does staff have the proper portioning tools or equipment for keeping hot food hot and cold food cold until service? All of these things and more need to be systematized to ensure the expected guest experience. Even when you do have systems there are still times when mistakes are made. Maybe the cook dropped the steak while transferring to the plate. You need systems for dealing with mistakes as well.

In a high-volume steak-and-seafood restaurant of which I was the managing partner, we created an appeasement platter of cheeses, crackers and fresh-cut vegetables before each shift. The servers were empowered to give them to guests whenever service times were delayed, along with an apology and explanation -- before the guests became antsy. Bartenders were empowered to buy a round of drinks whenever waiting guests had a longer-than-quoted wait time -- no questions asked. (See "First Person: Lack of Systems, Not People, are Often to Blame for Customer Complaints" below.)

Maybe you have an appetizer that is "ready to go," or a promise of free desserts, which could be offered as a gesture to head off a problem before it occurs.

Complaints Are Simply Opportunities

No matter how good your systems or how attentive your staff, mistakes still happen, guests become disgruntled and chances for a positive guest experience begin to dwindle. But don't panic yet; not all guest complaints need result in a negative guest experience. Complaints are merely an opportunity for improvement. According to a Lee Resources study, if you resolve a complaint in the customer's favor they will do business with you again 70 percent of the time. Complaints let you know where your operation needs improvement. If you resolve a complaint, and make improvements to prevent similar complaints, the complaining guest may end up being one of your most loyal followers.

So, when you get a complaint, two things need to happen. First, resolve it quickly. Next, revisit your systems to find ways to prevent future complaints. Perhaps the biggest challenge for operators is about how to resolve complaints in the customer's favor. Noted speaker and restaurant expert Bill Marvin says that if you resolve a complaint "on the spot," as many as 95 percent of them will do business with you again. So who is in the most likely position to resolve a complaint on the spot? The correct answer is the person to whom the guest is registering the complaint, whether that be a server, cashier, bartender or manager.

But can we trust just anyone to handle complaints? The answer is no, unless you provide them with the empowerment, skill and training on how to deal with them. Marvin goes on to say, "The most common mistake in handling complaints is getting defensive and wanting to explain. It never helps and almost always makes things worse. Handling a complaint well is not about determining who is right and who is wrong. It is about saving a disappointed guest and retaining the business you would lose by alienating them."

It's true, guests don't want to hear that you are short-handed, or that a delivery didn't come in, or that there is a new cook on the line. They don't want excuses. What they want is both to know that you care about them and that you sincerely want to resolve the issue.

The fact is, the first words out of your mouth (or that of your employee to whom the guest is complaining) are the most likely to determine whether the guest returns. If they are defensive in nature you've already lost the customer. Train your employees to respond with phrases like, "Thank you for taking the time to let us know" or "I'm sorry that happened and hope you'll give us an opportunity to make things right" or "I don't know how that slipped through the cracks but I will do everything I can to make it better."

Unfortunately, most restaurants do not prepare their staff on how to respond to complaining guests. Some guests can be downright mean and berating in which an inexperienced minimum wage worker is more often left intimidated and unprepared to respond. In situations like these, I believe, is where scripting can be beneficial, even if it may appear rote.

We can't expect every staff member to become a skilled diplomat, able to calm down the most irate of customers. We can, though, teach them how to initially respond with phrases like, "I am so sorry this happened. Please give me a moment to get our manager so we can make this right." Or, "I'm sorry I (we) have disappointed you and your guests. I'll get the manager right away."

Notice that saying "I'm sorry" or "we apologize for your disappointment" isn't necessarily an admission of wrongdoing, but it does help to placate the immediate issue through acknowledgement rather than to escalate the problem by responding defensively. This can be particularly important when responding to potential liability complaints like foodborne illnesses or foreign objects.

Additional Resources: How to Respond to a Food Safety Emergency

Many customers who quit patronizing a business do so because they were turned off by an attitude of indifference by the service provider. A smaller percentage does so because of dissatisfaction with the product -- for restaurants that typically means food and beverage.

The key to empowering your staff to handle complaints is to educate them on why people complain and then prepare them on how to deal with it. For instance, not all food or beverage complaints need be a crisis.

Let's say your guest orders a medium-cooked filet but when it comes out is more to the rare side -- at least in the customer's opinion. Simply acknowledging the fact and immediately returning it to the kitchen for additional cooking might resolve the issue. Follow-up gestures, such as a complimentary dessert or glass of wine, show your guests you are prepared to go above and beyond to make their guest experience memorable.

On the other hand, let's say the steak comes out well done. Obviously, your server should immediately place an order for a replacement, but now the guest has nothing to eat while his or her companions are chomping away. This is an opportunity for the manager or server to offer a complimentary soup or appetizer while they wait; or maybe a complimentary glass of wine or even dessert "on the house" for the inconvenience.

For more severe lapses, it is common practice to comp the guest's entire meal, and most restaurants will do this, which is good. But as we all know, some mistakes can't be remedied with a simple comp or even a gift certificate to return. More importantly, the guest must also believe you truly care and are sincerely apologetic for the disappointment. They must also be convinced that your restaurant is capable of providing better food and service -- and that this incident isn't the norm.

Pal's Sudden Service is a 26-unit quick-service brand based in Kingsport, Tennessee. The company boasts a 99.97 percent success rate when getting their customers' orders correct, with only one in every 3,500 orders receiving a customer complaint. This astounding constancy can be attributed to the detailed systems Pal's has put in place toward attaining consistency in every guest experience.

Thom Crosby, president and CEO of Pal's, is a big believer in responding to complaints immediately and in a manner that goes beyond the expected. Pal's units are drive-thru only and have no seating. This means that typically most guests won't check their order until they arrive at their destination. He tells of a time a customer called to report they were missing something from their order. Crosby happened to be at the restaurant when the call came in. They prepared another order -- in its entirety -- and Crosby personally delivered it to the customer's house along with an invitation to come back again "on the house."

Most customers would probably be satisfied if the restaurant simply gave them their next meal for free; Pal's employees will go out of their away to make it right by actions of hospitality. (See "First Person: The Rewards of Observing and Acting Upon the Signs of Guest Dissatisfaction" below.)

Social Media: The New Word of Mouth

In today's fast-paced world of Facebook, Yelp, Twitter and Instagram, among others, word of mouth (WOM) is spread exponentially. Before social media, operators had very little opportunity to respond to negative WOM. As reported earlier, a dissatisfied guest may tell up to 20 others gathered around the water cooler about their experience -- 20 people that you may never get a chance to convince them to give you a try.

With a negative post to Yelp or Urbanspoon, the water cooler gathering may grow from 20 to 200, or even 2,000 readers that could read bad things about your restaurant. The good news is you now have a chance to respond to the same audience. But you must respond or risk growing a negative reputation.

Responding on social media is done much the same way as if you were responding face to face. First, remember never to be defensive. Second, always show empathy by acknowledging your regret for disappointing a guest. Third, if the criticism is warranted then explain any new systems or policies you put in place to prevent such occurrences in the future. Lastly, invite the complaining guest to contact you personally (through the restaurant contact channels) and allow you to make things right.

Additional Resources: Webcast: YELP! Love It or Hate It, Here's How to Deal With It

Face the Truth

One of your most important objectives in handling complaints is to convince the complaining guest -- or those reading your reviews -- that these types of incidents are not an everyday occurrence nor up to your standards. If they think their negative experience is commonplace, well let's just say they won't be telling nine others how great you are.

If complaints are happening all too often at your restaurant -- even more than once a week -- then maybe it's time you and your staff face the truth. Raise your window, stick out your heads and yell, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!"

FIRST PERSON:

Lack of Systems, Not People, are Often to Blame for Customer Complaints

By Joe Erickson

During my early years as a restaurant general manager, I used to cringe each time I had to make a table visit to address a guest's complaint. I knew we had somehow failed in delivering a favorable guest experience. What was particularly agitating was when the complaint was for something that was easily avoidable if everyone had simply done their job correctly. Whether it was for an overcooked steak, long ticket times, inattentive service or that our signature pasta tasted differently from past visits, my inclination was that someone was to blame.

Like many restaurant managers, I'd apologize, comp the meal and assured them it wouldn't happen again. And then I'd look for the waiter or cook responsible so I could give them a good tongue-lashing. After all, there had to be someone I could blame; someone who was at fault; someone who didn't do their job right. I vented my frustration by reprimanding all involved, thinking that will cure the problem -- and then the next week the same thing would happen again, but with a different server, cook or bartender.

It wasn't until I realized the only person I could blame for these mistakes was me. It dawned on me that the only way we could reduce complaints was to put in place systems to avoid them. We must have systems designed to achieve a specific guest experience, including systems to thoroughly train our staff on how to follow them.

Perhaps the most significant realization was that we didn't really have a common definition for what the guest experience should look like in our restaurant. It was just assumed that everyone should know what a favorable guest experience entails. Nothing could be further from reality. It's only when you sit down and map out a preferred guest experience, and then convey that to your staff through the implementation of systems that the frequency of complaints will drop.

FIRST PERSON:

The Rewards of Observing and Acting Upon the Signs of Guest Dissatisfaction

By Joe Erickson

My daughter and I visited highly acclaimed Hugo's restaurant in Houston for brunch one Sunday. Even though we had reservations, there were dozens of waiting guests, each waiting longer than anticipated for a table. Sensing the potential that waiting guests may become impatient, the proactive staff circulated the waiting crowd with trays of complimentary mimosas along with a verbal thank-you for their patience. They headed off potential complaints by acknowledging the imposition and doing something in favor of the guest.

In his book, "Setting the Table," New York restaurateur Danny Meyer recalls an experience at his Blue Smoke restaurant in which he noticed a table where most of the onion rings were left on the plate untouched. He walked by the table for a closer look and saw that the onion rings didn't look as crispy as usual. He approached the head of the table, gesturing to the rings, and said, "You didn't love them." The man replied that the rings could have been crispier and spicier. Meyer said to the man, "Well then, you're not paying for them." When the table got up to leave a few moments later the man handed him a $100 bill, saying, "This is for the waiter." Meyer says that the generous tip was more a reflection of the guest's appreciation for the special interest taken in them than the service alone.

Many restaurants have managers who are supposed to "touch each table" with a table visit. The problem I often see is the rote manner in which many perform this task. It's much more important, in my opinion, for servers and managers to become skilled at reading the table, not just visit. Unfinished plates, guests looking around for their server, empty glasses, dirty plates piled up, empty bread baskets or salsa are just a few of the hundreds of signs guests give us indicating a potentially negative experience.

The message is simple: If you develop systems designed to achieve a specific guest experience, including proactive measures to recognize mistakes, you are far more likely to avoid complaints.