Turning to Twitter to fix restaurant complaints

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Thursday, September 23, 2010 (AP)
Turning to Twitter to fix restaurant complaints
By SERENA DAI, Associated Press Writer

(09-23) 09:39 PDT Chicago, IL (AP) --
When Tony Bosco saw mostly negative reviews about the restaurant Wow Bao,
he Tweeted: "Going to 'business' dinner (at)Wow Bao. Can any1 tell me if
it's going to suck as much reviews suggest."
And almost immediately he got a response from an unexpected source —
BaoMouth, the official Twitter feed of Wow Bao, an upscale fast food place
in Chicago. The restaurant offered him a coupon to find out for himself,
on the house.
Wow Bao sent Bosco two $15 gift cards via an iPhone app, and Bosco went
the next night, posting pictures of the food on Twitter.
"I would say it made it a little more exciting," said Bosco, 34. "That
immediate interaction.
Conversations about food that once only happened between friends are now
public thanks to the Internet. And the microblogging site Twitter has only
sped up the conversation. Whether it's reviews before the meal or the
service afterward, opinions are voiced freely — and restaurants are
taking notice.
Many eateries have been tweeting about specials or other events for a
while. But recently restaurants — locals and chains — have
started Twitter conversations with customers. Chains like Chipotle and Pei
Wei even have full-time social media employees.
Previously corporate-sounding restaurant Twitter feeds now are filled with
streams of replies directly to diners, in some cases performing nearly
instantaneous customer service.
Geoff Alexander, managing partner of Wow Bao, explained his company's
Twitter commitment like this: If somebody has 1,000 followers and writes a
negative Tweet about Wow Bao, then 1,000 people could think the restaurant
is bad. But if Wow Bao publicly responds to that Tweet, 1,000 people may
see the issue is being handled.
"We created this entity to talk to people," Alexander said. "BaoMouth can
do whatever it takes to enhance the guest's experience."
Chipotle, based in Denver, Colo., also has responded to customer problems
through Twitter, even though the chain has about 1,000 locations across 50
cities. Their entire feed, ChipotleTweets, is a list of answers to
consumer questions and responses to problems.
Dennis Yslas tweeted in a Fort Worth, Texas, Chipotle about a lack of corn
tortillas. Less than 2 minutes later, the company replied to Yslas, a
47-year-old actor. The corporate office called the local manager about the
tortilla situation even before Yslas had left the restaurant, Yslas said.
"I was kind of frustrated that they didn't have them," said Yslas. "But
Chipotle was totally, totally ready to cover me."
Chris Arnold, one of the several people who Tweet for Chipotle, said the
volume of Tweets is the greatest challenge for such a big chain. Not only
do they have an employee dedicated to social media, a slew of customer
service representatives also Tweet and use Facebook part-time.
"It's time and resources very well spent," Arnold said. "You can either
pretend that (the conversation) isn't happening or decide not to be part
of it. To us, it just really makes sense to use those as tools."
Graham Elliot, a judge on Fox's reality television competition
"MasterChef" and owner of the Graham Elliot restaurant in Chicago, is
known to — in his words — "publicly humiliate" customers who
complain about the restaurant online.
But if he thinks the complaint is genuine, Elliot said he will send a
private message or call to invite the customer to try the restaurant
again.
"It's great to have this wall torn down," Elliot said. "Most of the time,
people just want to be heard."
Elliot writes all of the GrahamElliot tweets himself. Like other
restaurants, Elliot wants his Twitter voice to be in line with the brand,
which in his case means "an individualistic approach to cooking," he said.
So he frequently tweets his opinions about topics other than his
restaurant or cooking, from current events to fantasy football picks.
Elliot even uses Twitter to let his followers make decisions about the
music the restaurant plays.
"It's the democratization of fine dining," he said. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2010 AP