Restaurant Customer Service Tip

Handling Customer Complaints

From time to time you will have a guest complaint. Your managers must be trained on how to deal with such encounters. Teach the steps below for dealing with a complaint.

1. Listen to the guestʼs complaint

2. To ensure that you understand what the complaint is and demonstrate that you understand, repeat the complaint back to the guest

3. Apologize for the situation

4. Acknowledge how the guest feels

5. Explain what you will do to correct the problem (sometimes a simple apology is enough; other times you must do more to counter a negative experience)

6. Thank the guest for bringing the problem to your attention

David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker and founder of TheRestaurantExpert.com. Rather than focus on cheap thrills and destructive restaurant marketing tactics, he specializes in teaching independent restaurant owners how to use systems for increased sales and increased profits. He is the nationally acclaimed restaurant coach whose unique “SMART Systems” approach to boosting profits has earned him the title of, “The man who can walk into any restaurant in America and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door – Guaranteed!” Learn more tips, tricks and secrets in David’s free weekly e-newsletter, “Instant Action Systems.” Simply sign up to receive the e-newsletter at TheRestaurantExpert.com.