Google reviews for restaurants: asking when the bill lands on the table

When is the best moment to ask a guest for a review?

Ask when the bill arrives and the guest is still at the table. The meal is over, the verdict is formed and the phone is already lying next to the plate. An email sent the following day reaches a guest whose head is somewhere else entirely.

In hospitality the bill is the natural end of the visit. The guest waits a few minutes for the card terminal, and those minutes are the only calm seconds of the whole evening.

So put the request in the bill folder or on the card that travels with it. The waiter who sets the folder down adds one sentence, and the asking is done.

At the table: "Was everything to your liking? If you enjoyed it, you are welcome to say so on Google. The code is in the folder and it takes twenty seconds."

Where does the QR code belong in a restaurant?

Put it where the guest is already waiting: in the bill folder, on the table stand or beside the card terminal. A code on the door or in the window barely earns a scan, because anybody on the way out already has their coat on and their phone away.

How do you answer a review that says the food was cold?

Answer within the day, acknowledge the fault in one sentence and say what you are changing in the kitchen. A short, calm reply is written for the hundreds of readers who come after the complainant. Then offer a phone call, so the rest of the story stays off Google.

Fair complaint: "Thank you for the honest message. A lukewarm plate has no place with us. We have changed the handover time between the kitchen and the floor during busy services. I would gladly welcome you back, do call me on 03 xxx xx xx, Kris."

The tone of your reply counts for more than the complaint itself. A reader who recognises a short, human apology books a table anyway.

The article on answering negative reviews goes through the three cases in depth: the fair complaint, the misunderstanding, and the writer who never ate with you.

How do you handle busy terrace weeks and a quiet winter?

Ask harder during the busy weeks, because that is where the volume sits. A terrace in June brings more guests in one weekend than a grey Tuesday in February. Lock the routine in place in May, so that November still delivers a steady trickle of reviews.

Google shows your average and your most recent reviews side by side. A profile whose latest review dates from eight months ago looks closed, even while the room is busy every night.

• Set a weekly target for the summer, ten reviews for example.
• Keep the same rhythm in winter with fewer guests, three a week for example.
• Put the QR code with every bill, quiet days included.
• Check every Monday how many new reviews the previous week brought.

In Boom, Mechelen and Lier the pattern repeats itself: the waterside terraces fill up from April to September, and the profile of a place that only asks then falls silent afterwards.

Who owns the routine when the team keeps changing?

Give the asking to whoever brings the bill, and put one owner or floor manager above the routine. Hospitality runs on rotating shifts and students, so the agreement belongs in the briefing and on a card by the till, ready for whoever starts tomorrow.

1. 1Write out the one sentence the waiter says and pin it by the till.
2. 2Add that sentence to the briefing for every new starter.
3. 3Agree who reads and answers the reviews, usually the owner.
4. 4Review the count and the tone on the first Monday of the month.

The article on asking customers for reviews gives the wordings that work on the floor, from the waiter at the table to the owner behind the bar.

How do you reach takeaway and delivery customers?

Put a card with the QR code in every takeaway bag and on every delivery box. Those customers never see your dining room, so that card is your only point of contact. Anyone paying through your own ordering site also gets a message an hour after delivery.

Takeaway and delivery weigh heavily on turnover for many places in the Rupel area, and yet that group rarely turns up in the review profile.

• Print the card on firm paper, because a sticker peels off a warm box.
• Add one sentence explaining what the customer is about to see.
• Name the business, so the customer knows which place it is about.
• For delivery, send the message an hour after the order.

Orders through a platform run outside your own system, so there the card in the bag stays your best chance. The article on QR codes for Google reviews covers size and finish.