In India, one bad tweet can shut down restaurants

In the pre-Masterchef and foodgramming generation of restaurant regulars, a bad experience could be solved, before the night was over, just by screaming at the manager and peace was achievable with a complimentary dessert or a 20% discount. Whether this hassled consumer returned or not, the restaurant went ahead with business as usual.

But in 2015, no issue, whether a minor one like the ambience or a serious one like the denial of entry, stays within the walls of the restaurant.

Nothing happens without the world knowing about it. In times of live tweeting and follower count, an opinion doesn't count unless it's online and it is these online reviews, discussions and analysis that often have the power to make or break a restaurant in NCR today.

A week back, a differently-abled customer had alleged that Keya, a restaurant in the city, had denied him entry. This charge triggered an online campaign against the restaurant and also a protest at the establishment. But Keya is just the latest to bear the brunt of the anger of socialmedia savvy consumers, who, in the past, managed to bring down Lemp brewery in Gurgaon in June 2013.

The incident, which is now a case study for everyone in the hospitality industry, saw an anonymous blog post wreck the reputation of a commercial establishment overnight, forcing the shocked management to shut shop. 

As the latest online casualty struggles to gain back its lost rapport and reputation, we speak to Delhi's hospitality industry on the impact of the digitally connected customer. Social media managers are expected to differentiate between the online fakers and the followers, especially when years of positive publicity can come down with one trend-worthy hashtag.

DT scrutinizes the changing power roles in the hospitality industry which have led to everyone going into overdrive to keep a check on what's being said about their restaurant and brand online.

What started as means of sharing feedback, is being used as a means of vendetta or self-promotion: Timescity

According to Sidharth Jalan, business head, Timescity, "The online space has gradually developed into a very dangerous space because anyone can go on to a website like Timescity or use their social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, etc to write anything they want to and once the review is out here, it has a life of its own.

What started out as a means of sharing feedback, both positive and negative, about your food experience, is being used as a means of vendetta or self-promotion. The online space in the food reviewing industry is a double-edged sword.

At Timescity, we have seen that negative comments are more and get more attention too. Through Dineout, our new service, we're trying to tackle the problem of the fake reviewers because only people who've booked tables through Dineout, can review that place after they've been verified as customers."

We could never go back to same footfalls after that one post

Ex-manager of Lemp Dipak Sharma, who was a part of the management at Lemp when crisis hit them in June 2013, is now the general manager of the new property, The Liquor Warehouse, running from the same location. The brewery, which at that time was one of the most popular names in Gurgaon, could not recover from the damage caused by a blog post written by angry consumers that went viral. 

The property has since then been sold off and a new management is hard at work to convince consumers that the place is not Lemp anymore.

Dipak says, "Our business was very badly affected with that one post and we could never go back to the same footfalls. We did some major events at that time, the Chennai Express team had visited us, Arif Lohar performed, but nothing helped in bringing up sales. Lemp was an international name and we couldn't afford the royalty anymore and finally closed operations. The place was bought by a new management and we're now slowly getting back to our feet. Social media is being tracked well now and every minute detail is looked into."

You can't ignore what's being said about you online: Hospitality industry reps

The first time a group of wronged consumers decided to share their experience online, the place had to shut shop and disappear from the online world altogether. The threat, industry reps say, is larger today with every comment having the power to go viral and cause permanent digital damage.

If you're angry, at least 5,000 people should know about it

Chef Manu Chandra, partner at the Monkey Bar franchise, tells us, "The fact is that there is still no clarity about what happened at the Keya incident, yet people have passed their judgments on it. It's the customer's word against the owners', but sadly nobody wants to listen to what the latter has to say. We used to spend crores on promotions and advertisements and now all of that can be reversed in just 140 characters."

"Consumers have become outrage experts. These days, if you're angry, then you have to share it with 5,000 people at least and since people can do that from the comfort of their homes, they do without any thought on the repercussions and the impact on a property and the livelihood of its many employees."

We get threats from people, it's our job to be prepared

Joy Singh from the management at Raasta, Delhi and Gurgaon, tells us, "We're at a stage when every user knows they have the power to damage the reputation of every restaurant they walk in to, while we can only just hope to provide consumers with a good experience. We have a very strict profiling policy at the gate and people who're denied entry sometimes threaten us by saying they'll write a bad review for us."

"It's unbelievable but it's true. We take every bad review personally and the management responds to them and takes necessary action. Sadly, these online portals have been reduced to being complaint centres instead of complete experience sharing portals which they were initially promoted as."

Social media engaing is an asset, but you have to be prepared for consequencesAccording to Rahul Singh, CEO of The Beer Cafe, social media profiles should be treated like assets, but with attached risks. He says, "There was a time when we would outsource our digital media profiles, but now it has become so important that we have an in-house expert handling our pages with the top management looking in all the time. I feel all our social media pages are an asset to the company because all the likes there, the positive reviews, the picture comments, they're helping you build a good name."

"But like any other asset, you have to approach it warily because it can go horrible wrong also. You can't hide online, you cannot not have a Facebook page and you cannot not reply to a bad review that has the potential of going viral. In recent times, we have social media posts leading to online mobs of sorts and the only way we can deal with them is by being prepared to accept faults when those happen and keeping a close check on what is being said about you online."

Restaurant owner Priyank Sukhija adds, "The online mechanism is quite powerful, but instead of fearing it, we try to use it to our advantage. Appreciation and criticism both go hand in hand. Going online is right now the strongest way to get your voice heard. Sadly, people don't understand the power they have and upload things in a fit of rage or on a whim. I feel people should check all the facts before posting anything online because every review and tweet has an impact on someone's livelihood."

"We, for all our restaurants, make sure that all posts, positive and negative, get a reply. You can't put it all under a blanket bad umbrella because this is a great way for engaging with consumers, putting your word out there and keeping us on our toes." 

Damage is done while you're coming up with a response

Umang Tiwari, who owns The Vault Cafe in Connaught Place, says, "Even with a social media management team in place, you can't really monitor all that is being said about you on all the different digital platforms every day. Nobody can keep a track of all that. These posts are made in a rush, shared within minutes without any process of verification. So while the restaurants go back to their staff, verify the claim and come up with a suitable response, the damage is already done."

"Even in the current case, people retweeted, shared, websites picked up the story and shared it even more but nobody went back to the restaurant to hear their side. This is really damaging for the property owner because then we will have to bend down to every demand of the customer or he will post a bad review. The industry can't work like this." 

Riyaaz Amlani from Hauz Khas Social, who is also the president of National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), says, "There is a difference between customer feedback and smear campaigns. The current incident turned into a feeding frenzy with hundreds of people retweeting the story without any clarification. I saw people retweeting "oh so shameful etc etc" and I asked them were you even there?"

"In a situation like this, every person whose ever been denied entry and not made to feel welcome joins the bandwagon and makes a huge deal over a conversation between two people. Dil ki bhadaas nikaalne wali baat ho jaati hai. No restaurateur will ever take a step that is detrimental to the image like what is being said here."

"When there's sensible feedback coming in from a source, we do take them seriously and respond. But in a smear campaign of these levels, I think it's advisable to stay quiet because every comment by you will get 10 other comments by these enthusiasts and there's no end to this." 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com