Review Sites And Kitchen Nightmares

Sitting here watching an episode of Kitchen Nightmares on a two part show about the Burger Kitchen in Los Angeles.

There is an entire segment on Yelp Reviews and how the restaurant had responded. They attacked reviewers and even threatened some of them.

What the...? You never respond negatively or threaten reviewers. What you should do is respond publicly saying you are sorry for the problem and ask them how they could make things better. Reviews can help you to recognize problems that you may be to change. Yes...some people are just negative people or have an agenda and will leave nasty reviews, but 18 from 18 different people? That means there may be a problem.

Review sites, social media sites, and other Internet properties can be talking about you even if you aren't participating in them. That is why it is so important to have a monitoring system in place to know when someone says something about your business and then be able to respond.

The worst thing you can do is ignore them or respond negatively. Be smart and don't take things personally. It is not a personal attack on you, they are just trying to tell you something. Good or bad...it is there to help you and your business.