Pizza Today _ January 23 - 12

MIKE'S MONTHLY TIP
MIKE BAUSCH
ing and not just putting a Band-Aid
on a fl esh wound. If you half-ass it,
you will never get their repeat business.
If you comp a $100 order, you've paid
$25 in food costs to save a customer.
Th at's cheap and eff ective marketing
in the form of loss retention.
Now, solve the problem. You might
H.O.S.T. Method
H
.O.S.T.
Hear them out.
Off er a solution.
Solve the problem.
Th ank them.
Write this down and make it protocol
to your team.
Review sites have had a shot of
adrenaline recently where more
people are encouraged to give reviews,
and it's the jet fuel of great restaurants
marketing while furthering the
demise of lackluster restaurants. A
3.5 rating on Yelp means you're failing.
It also means you're not responding
to reviews and not doing what
you're supposed to do in-house. A
four-star and above means you're doing
your job correctly, and if it's over
1,000 total reviews, it means you're
really killing it. Th e current state of
reviews means two things. You need
more reviews, and you need more
good reviews. Along with that, the
negative reviews are opportunities to
be turned into positive reviews if you
follow the H.O.S.T. Method.
For the HOST Method to work,
you need to do all four aspects, or it
will fail harder than if you did nothing.
First step: Hear them out. Listen
with a deep empathetic understanding
that something went wrong, and
it is your fault. Assume it's your fault
fi rst, not, " Well, this customer doesn't
get it. " It's not their job to get it. It's
yours for them to be happy and not
worry about getting it. Let's say their
food took a long time: Th en...
Clearly, and overly emphasize your
remorse for wasting their time and
money. Do not try and defend your
restaurant. Don't say, " Well, it was a
busy night that night. "
Th en, you can initiate the off er.
Most level-headed customers are
not seeking a freebie. Th ey just want
to vent their frustration. Don't get
me wrong, some want their money
back, but an off er is you saying that
you can't sleep soundly knowing that
you've wronged them. Not, " Oh, we
ruined your daughter's graduation by
showing up two hours late. Here's
10 percent off the next time you come
in. " Th e off er must be all-encompassthink,
" Didn't we just solve it by giving
the off er? " No. You solved the
off er. You didn't solve the real problem,
the problem that caused this failure.
Why were you late? Was it because of
a miscommunication? Was it because
of inadequate training? How are you
addressing this systemic problem, so
it doesn't happen again and so that
this customer believes it won't happen
again? Explain that in painstaking
detail to the customer so they trust
your establishment for a second try.
Last and certainly not least, a genuine
thank you. Whether it was this
customer being kind enough to e-mail
you on the side or blasting you with all
sorts of vitriol on Yelp, no matter what
it is, thank them for coming into your
restaurant and being honest with you
because it helps you grow. Don't match
hate with hate, you will lose even
when you are right. You can blast the
customer, and sure there's a market for
that, but its fl eeting at best.
If you do the four appropriately,
literally any customer can be saved.
If you don't do all four, then it's not
worth the eff ort of typing a response.
It will fail and land on deaf ears.
Th e review sites need constant
fueling. Th e restaurants that respond
to every review on aggregator sites
or individual sites will move to the
top of the algorithm and garner more
reviews. Good reviews bring in new
customers, especially new out-of-town
customers, and reaffi rm what your
good customers already know.
MIKE BAUSCH is the owner of Andolini's Pizzeria in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Instagram: @mikeybausch
12 / PIZZATODAY.COM /JANUARY 2023

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Pizza Today _ January 23

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