Consumers find new voice in taking gripes online.

 The Internet is changing the way consumers complain about companies, products, and services.

Instead of grumbling to a neighbor or filing a complaint with the company, a regulator, or the Better Business Bureau, more and more consumers are taking their beefs online, either contributing to gripe sites or setting up their own. There’s even a website called Webgripesites.com that catalogs complaint sites and offers guidance to consumers on how to set up new ones

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Set Yourself Apart from the Others

There are only three ways to increase your sales.

1) Find new customers.
2) Increase their visits.
3) Increase their ticket size.

The most expensive and slowest way to increase your sales is to focus on finding new customers. The easiest and fastest way to increase your sales is to increase visits and ticket size.

Modeling the 12 steps above will virtually guarantee you’ll have repeat business and that they will spend a lot more when they come back.

See Full Article http://www.restaurantreport.com/departments/biz_set_apart_cg.html

Waiters and diners lay their complaints

Denver waiters are lazy, greedy incompetents who insult customers, expect big tips and work in restaurants because they aren’t qualified to do anything else. Denver diners are boorish, stupid slobs who treat waiters like dirt, demand total attention and then leave a few pennies on the table. Honest, that’s what some diners and waiters told us when we recently asked what irritated them the most about each other. Many of the remarks e-mailed to us from diners and waiters were pointed – some were unsuitable for a family newspaper. It’s not just us versus them: We received a significant number of pet peeves from waiters about other servers and diners about fellow eaters.

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Mystery Diners

I think all restaurants need mystery diners. You may think you know how your restaurant functions and how your customers experience it, but you really don’t. Too often your guests won’t tell you if they’re unhappy, they just won’t come back.

http://www.restaurantreport.com/departments/biz_mysterydiner.html

Restaurateur Fights Online Mudslinging

His contemporary American cuisine eatery, 21P, is named for its address, 2100 P Street NW, in the district’s hip DuPont Circle neighborhood. The owner and chef says he learned of the first incident in May from a nearby competitor. About 10 reviews had appeared simultaneously in the site’s City Guide section. They claimed that the eatery used recipes from cookbooks instead of preparing originally-designed meals, and its antique floor boards were unstable, among other remarks. Mr. Sakuta says the accusations are false and he suspected that former employees may have been involved.

http://www.startupjournal.com/howto/marketingsales/20061024-needleman-restaurant.html?refresh=on

Let diners decide whether to tip

A recent survey by restaurant booking service Top Table found that 90% of diners believed restaurants should not automatically add a service charge to the bill. David Moore, proprietor of the Michelin-star Pied á Terre restaurant in London, gives an insider’s view of the issue

Read the article here

Good customer service takes top-to-bottom commitment

“There’s only one boss, the customer, and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

On the flip side, unhappy customers tend to spread the word — telling family, friends and just about anyone else who will listen about their bad experience. Through the Internet, they can even complain to scores of strangers.

Common complaints revolve around salesclerks and waiters who are hard to find or act as if they want to avoid customers; are rude, unknowledgeable and condescending; offer too much contact by constantly asking if the customer needs help; or try to talk them into buying something they may not want.

See  http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/15888473.htm

Stores rave about Web reviews

Sears, which launched online reviews over the summer, would not say if it has increased sales, but that’s not the only reason for offering the service, said Gail Lavielle, vice president for marketing public relations.

“We think it’s important our customers know that we care about what they think,” she said. “If you tell customers what they think matters, and you give them a way to tell you, then it demonstrates their opinions matter.”

She called it relationship building, a notion similar to why Abt Electronics introduced customer reviews in May.

“We want to stay connected to our customers,” said Jon Abt, who oversees the family retailer’s online operations. “We service everything we sell here and if we keep hearing about a product that has too many problems, we’ll stop carrying it.”

He said that has happened since launching online reviews but declined to name the problem product. See Full Story in link below
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0610250155oct25,0,1700208.story?coll=chi-business-hed

This guy wants diners feedback

http://www.foodservicei.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14546&highlight=feedback

New Restaurants Should Solicit Feedback

Getting the flavor balance right is, naturally, still a work in progress for a place this new. Like Shawn McClain’s Custom House, steaks here come sans sides, forcing you to spend on accompanying dishes. While orange-colored chorizo whipped potatoes ($6), for instance, seemed to promise bite, it turned out to be blah.

But why complain? As early diners, we were treated to a 20 percent discount from the bill while the kitchen solicits feedback on what works and what doesn’t. Smart idea, and one that more new restaurants should try. Frankly, though, this place shows enough promise I’d be back even without it.
http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/dining/mmx-060328-david-burke-primehouse,0,3834738.story?coll=mmx-dining_top_heds