This is the age of the review. Now more than ever, consumers have, and are taking advantage of, the opportunities to let people know what they think.
About everything.
Behold the online review.
Whatever you are doing, you have the ability to let the world know about the product, service or experience you are having. Right now. (I'm thinking of Yelp! but most any social networking site will do in terms of spreading opinions) You can even leave a review/comment about this blog post you are reading.
So what do you do as a business when someone leaves a less than stellar review about your restaurant or business? I almost said "bad" review, but not all bad reviews are bad. We'll leave that thought for another post.
The magazine Restaurants & Institutions has a great article dated 6/5/09 written by Allison Perlink about the steps you should take and the considerations you should make when you get a negative review.
One of the points made in the article is freebies are not always the answer when trying to right a wrong. Short term freebies may appease a customer, but more importantly, address the problem and make sure the offense does not happen again. You may feel the need to offer a free drink or dessert because of a poorly cooked dish, but are you addressing the real problem, which is the poorly cooked dish.
How a restaurant handles a negative review can have a big impact on the restaurant's business. Do you have a plan for how to handle a negative review?
Many thanks to @nnascenzi for the heads up on R&I article.
RT: @unitedlinen Do you know how to handle a negative review for your restaurant? http://twurl.cc/1cmd
nited Linen's service schedule is back to normal after the 4th of July holiday. 
