These days it seems there are more reviewers than there are restaurants. Not everyone is a food critic but it doesn’t stop anyone to form their opinion and share it on various online portals and blogs. Gone are the days when only food specialist from leading newspapers will give reviews, now social online presence is as important (At times more) than the offline presence. Many a time restaurateurs ask me as to what a reviewer is looking for. Food is quintessential but what else should they take care of? Everyone can have their perspective and hence a different opinion and rating, but here are my pointers and tips.
– Remember your signature dishes. No one can try the entire menu. Every chef makes few dishes better than the other. Remember to highlight them and present them to the reviewer. If the dish is special, a little background story and details about the dish always helps. If you haven’t read theory on diminishing returns, read it. After a point any more dishes you ask reviewer to taste, things will only get difficult for you.
– Pay attention to the service. When I say pay attention, it not only means services offered to the reviewer but everyone sitting nearby. As a reviewer we understand that special attention is given to us, hence we keep observing nearby tables to rate on service.
– Do not offer dishes off-menu. Either the dish is in your menu or it is not. It is simple. Any dish that is mentioned by reviewer, people expect it to be available for them. Do not offer to reviewer what you cannot continue. This includes the correct portion size. People do see how many dimsum or chops were there in the plate through pictures.
– Pictures speak. If the reviewer is taking his/her own picture, then try and get them seated in good lighting especially either in natural light or where the light source is above where food will be pictured. The pictures will come out better.
– Ambience. The décor cannot be much tinkered with. Just keep it clean and clear of any storage items. Don’t forget to pay attention to washroom too. Shouldn’t this be part of normal routine?
– Manage your PR company. Last but not the least, a PR person is your face. If they mess up, it would show in the review. However do not rate them on the bad reviews. They can at best arrange reviewers to come over and form their opinion. Having said that, I wrote an article some time ago on the top ten mistakes of a PR professional and I am borrowing most common one from it.
Trying to tell the media what to do: Telling media on how the story should look like or what type of questions to be asked is just not in. There is a fine balance between subtle hinting and directing.- Doing no research on the brand: Inability to answer common questions pertaining to brand, tells how deeply someone is involved into client servicing.
- Learn to empathize: At times things will not go your way. Instead of coming and asking media to refrain from reporting, ask them the concerns. Ask them how they could have done it better. Promise them that the points have been noted and thank them for the inputs. Then, politely check if some of the things could be avoided in the report or if the request for revisit can be entertained.
- Wrong Communication Pitch: I remember a time when we were invited for the wine-pairing session with specific dishes. Those dishes were changed without any reason and wine-pairing was nothing more than – please sip your free wine and enjoy.
- Follow-up call: Last but not the least, please follow up post the event on any requirement or thank the individual for their post. It is important to build long term relations even though the last post may not have appealed the client for various reasons.
Ofcourse this is not an exhaustive guide, but I am sure it will surely help restaurants to put a better picture forward. Would love to hear your views on pawan.soni@indianfoodfreak.com
This article was first published in Hotel Connect magazine
