Even if your staff is well-trained and you handle your operations carefully, there will inevitably be times when a customer is dissatisfied with their experience. Knowing how to effectively address and resolve complaints can not only help retain customers but also improve your restaurant’s reputation. By understanding the common reasons for complaints, implementing effective complaint handling procedures, and training your staff to handle challenging situations, you can turn negative experiences into opportunities to showcase your commitment to customer service excellence.

Why Do Customers Complain?
In hospitality and foodservice, customers complain when their expectations haven’t been met. They anticipate a level of service from your restaurant, and if the experience you deliver isn’t on par with their expectations, a gap forms. Customer complaints help you close the gap and make sure the experience you promise matches the service you provide.

Benefits of Customer Complaints
woman sitting at a table during lunch and complaining about the food to the owner of the restaurant
You can take your business to the next level if you view complaints from customers as something valuable instead of detrimental. Below, we’ve listed the benefits of customer complaints in your restaurant:

Improves Your Menu and Service – Complaints provide you with valuable feedback about your restaurant and reveal opportunities for improvement. For example, if you receive multiple complaints that a dish is too spicy, you should improve your menu descriptions and talk to your servers about communication.
Creates a Better Guest Experience – The number of customers who voice their complaints is very small compared to the number of unhappy guests who just leave and never come back. When you resolve one customer complaint, you improve guest satisfaction for a larger group of customers than you realize.
Reveals Guest Expectations – Guest complaints and criticism help you understand what your customer base is looking for. This info can be used to shape new menus, create new services, and enhance your marketing approach.
How to Deal with Customer Complaints
Any time you can handle a complaint, consider it an opportunity instead of a failure. If a customer walks out your door and hasn’t addressed their complaint with anyone in person, they are more likely to vent their frustrations in a review or to their friends. That’s exactly what you don’t want to happen. Handling customer complaints face-to-face gives you a chance to make it right.

Customer Complaint Procedure
Unhappy customers can range from slightly irritated to extremely angry. It’s difficult for many people to face an irate guest and stay professional in the heat of the moment. That’s why it helps to create a step-by-step response that anyone on your staff can follow. This is our five-step complaint handling procedure:

Stay Calm – When dealing with a complaint, keep your voice level and calm. Don’t let your tone rise, or you may appear defensive or confrontational. Take a deep breath, make eye contact with the customer, and keep an open mind.
Listen – To fix the problem, you must understand what happened. It could be multiple mishaps during service, or it could be one big mistake. Either way, give the customer your full attention.
Sympathize – This step can be tricky, especially if you’re in the middle of a busy rush and a complaint catches you by surprise. Put yourself in the guest’s shoes and sympathize with their situation, even if the issue seems minor. Use sympathetic facial expressions and body language. Don’t impatiently tap your foot or look over your shoulder.
Apologize – This step seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how important it can be. Don’t pass the blame or make excuses, even if the customer’s complaint isn’t directly your fault. Always accept responsibility on behalf of the restaurant and apologize sincerely for the oversight.
Resolve – Every complaint will require a different resolution. This is where superior customer service skills and emotional intelligence come into play. The perfect solution could just be an apology, or it could require comping the bill for the entire table.

Who Should Handle Complaints?
The best person to handle a complaint in your restaurant is the front-of-house manager. When the manager-on-duty steps in to handle a customer complaint, it helps diffuse the situation. It shows you value the guest’s opinion and you appreciate their business. Not only that, if the complaint revolves around customer service from your server or host staff, a neutral party should intercede and represent the restaurant.

Some restaurant managers empower servers or hosts to handle minor complaints as they come up. However, not every member of your staff is going to be an expert at handling customer complaints, and that’s okay. If there’s no management presence involved, you may never know the scope of the complaint or how many complaints you are receiving. Train your servers, hosts, and customer-facing employees to recognize when they need to notify a manager about a customer complaint.

What about Social Media Complaints?
Today, there are many online avenues where guests can share negative and positive feedback about your business. It happens on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as well as review sites like Yelp and Google Reviews. Since your online presence is very important, you should be proactive about monitoring any complaints and focus on responding to online reviews as soon as possible. Handling restaurant social media complaints takes time and effort, so make this a job responsibility and not just an afterthought.

Source webstaurantstore.com