When you sit down at the Poivre Noir restaurant in Trois-Rivières, the menu will not only present you with the dishes imagined and suggested by chef José-Pierre Durand. There, in the middle of the menu, a message to customers catches our attention and reflects the desire to make us aware of a reality that is sometimes painful in the restaurant industry.
“The quality of your restaurant experience is the most important thing to us. If something went wrong with the food or service, please do not hesitate to report it to one of our team members so that the situation can be quickly rectified on site rather than on the internet. A lot of energy, time and money has been invested in Poivre Noir and your comments may influence the future decisions of other consumers. Scathing comments on social media after just one visit are like judging your work performance in just one day of your life. Thank you for your support.”
The restaurant team integrated this message into the menu a little less than two years ago. For chef and co-owner José-Pierre Durand, it was important to raise customers’ awareness of the impact that negative comments on social networks can have, without the restaurant team even having the opportunity to correct the situation during the customer’s visit Restaurant.
“When I studied cooking 20 years ago, we were told that a happy person would talk about it to four people around them and that an unhappy person would talk about it to ten people. Nowadays, however, it is amplified ad infinitum by the Internet. Sometimes it is very positive, sometimes it is very negative, and in these cases it can be very painful,” notes the man, who, however, indicates that 95% of the comments he receives are positive.
However, when someone decides to vent their anger, often for reasons that could have been immediately remedied if the customer had bothered to express their dissatisfaction, this affects the restaurant’s rating , which also directly affects the choice of future customers who consult these applications.
“Our goal is for everything to go well, for the customer to have a great dining experience. We are happiness traders, that is our job. And it’s not for nothing that we come back to the table after every service to see if everything is going well. Sometimes people can feel embarrassed, but that shouldn’t be the case because very often we feed on constructive feedback to constantly improve. But if the person doesn’t say anything and then criticizes us online afterwards, it’s a little unfair because it’s too late and we have no chance to make amends,” he agrees.
Not to mention the fake reviews that sometimes have a direct impact on the restaurant’s reputation without the internet user ever setting foot there. Speak to Jacques Langlois, co-owner of the restaurant Le Sacristain in Trois-Rivières. During the pandemic, the man took a public stand and indicated that he wanted to welcome vaccinated customers. For internet users opposed to health measures, it was enough to leave a bad review on TripAdvisor without ever eating there.
Result: While it was previously ranked number one of the best-rated restaurants in Trois-Rivières by internet users on TripAdvisor, it slipped to third place overnight.
“The truth is that most negative reviews are unreliable. I’ve seen all kinds. People who had never set foot in a restaurant, people who wanted revenge for something. We have always been open to comments here, provided they are constructive. If a customer tells me that they don’t like the soup, I will do whatever is necessary on the spot to correct the problem. “But what’s the point of simply saying it on the Internet afterwards when we could have corrected the situation so that it was to his satisfaction,” the restaurateur asks himself.
At Poivre Noir, we also have to deal with these false reviews, which sometimes affect the restaurant’s rating on these platforms. Like this time when negative comments were made about her, but they concerned another restaurant of the same name in Rouyn-Noranda. Or this time when a customer gave the restaurant the worst rating just because the men’s toilets were too small…
At the Association Restauration Québec, we welcome the initiative of restaurateurs who want to raise public awareness of this phenomenon, as it has a major impact on the sector, explains Martin Vézina, vice-president of public and government affairs. “The public needs to be made aware of this because when we read these opinions they do not always reflect the reality of lived experience. There can be fake comments, but also comments where we have no idea of the context. In some cases, we have already seen customers at a restaurant being blackmailed into getting free gifts with the threat that if they didn’t get what they wanted, they would leave bad reviews online. What we tell the customer is that if something doesn’t go well, they should communicate their dissatisfaction to the local restaurant owner. Restaurateurs are passionate people and will always try to find a solution to the problem if possible,” believes Martin Vézina.
Additionally, the latter strongly encourages restaurateurs to respond to comments left on Google Reviews, for example, so that consumers have both sides of the coin when consulting these reviews to form their own opinions.
At the beginning of the month, Jacques Langlois felt the need to post a status on the sexton’s Facebook page to alert customers to this reality. One of his employees made a mistake while making a sandwich during training and ended up on social media. “We also have to give our world a chance. We make 5,000 sandwiches a year, so we may occasionally lose a few,” explains the owner, two of his long-time employees recently retired. To replace them, we have to find new people and train them, which of course takes time.
“Here, too, I have a responsibility to protect my employees. It is demoralizing when they receive this without having had the opportunity to correct themselves. When that happens, I am there to support and encourage them. We have to give them the chance to learn. We already have problems recruiting people. “Can we make sure we keep those who are there?” announces Mr. Langlois.
The latter emphasizes that these are generally isolated cases and that the vast majority of his customers are lovely and understanding. However, if 500 customers were satisfied during the week, we still tend to stick with the one who didn’t like their experience and shared it with the world on social networks. We are human after all…
“There is no such thing as a perfect restaurant, everyone makes mistakes. When we are exposed on social networks, we become vulnerable. These are comments that can influence customers who are wondering where to eat. In our case, we are an independent and local restaurant and we do everything we can to keep our prices as affordable as possible. It is the vitality of local businesses that may therefore suffer,” he believes.
One thing is certain: José-Pierre Durand has no regrets about printing this message on the menus he gives to his customers who regularly visit Poivre Noir. This is probably the best way to raise awareness right at the source. “When customers read this, they react strongly, they talk to us a lot about it. It’s definitely very positive. It is always better to explain yourself and resolve dissatisfaction face to face than behind a screen. “Basically we say to our customers: help us get better,” says the chef at Poivre Noir.