We hire Mystery Shoppers and pay them to tell us the same things that the complaining guest tells us for FREE. I suggest that you take advantage of every complaint. We need to welcome demanding guests and go out of our way to please them. Remember, the guest is always right and by pleasing them, we are forced to focus on ways to raise our standards of operational excellence.

Guests go out to eat expecting to have a good time and even if the complaint is entirely "off the wall", you can learn from it. Keep a record of all guest complaints and add suggestions for improvement to review at a later time. These periodic reviews will help you to run a better operation.

The flip side of complaints is compliments. Every one like to hear compliments from guests and you have a responsibility to give a written response to every compliment if you have the name and address of the guest.

The message you want to convey to the guest is "Thank you. I appreciate your response." It is important that the guest knows that you are listening and it will strengthen the "bond" between you when you take the time to write to the guest. Always reward the guest for their compliment.

You can include a "Bounce Back" and perhaps increase the frequency of a satisfied guest. Be sure to share all compliments with your crew especially the employees who are directly involved. Don't let the compliments go to your head. Be humble. Tell the guest: "Thank you! We work really hard at trying to please our guests. Our employees want the 'very best' for the guest. It's nice to know that you noticed and that you appreciate our employees' efforts. Thanks for your positive comments. I hope that you will feel equally free to tell us when something goes wrong and when we fail to meet your expectations."

Properly handling "compliments" and "complaints" are a big part of restaurant marketing.