The new restaurant review

In the space of just a few months, hygiene has taken on a much-elevated role in hospitality. Zagat’s newly released Future of Dining Study found that nearly 75 percent of the 6,500 diners surveyed said health and safety were overwhelmingly the most important factors influencing their decision to dine at restaurants in the months ahead. And much like the guest opinions about your service and food that appeared on Yelp and Tripadvisor a few months ago, you can now expect consumers to scrutinize (and comment online about) the cleanliness of their experience with you, whether good or bad. Any additional checks you can put in place to protect your new health and safety policies may help you to both address health risks quickly and manage your online presence. Further, supplementary health and safety checks could become more prevalent in states where virus infections have spiked. For example, the Texas Restaurant Association and the customer feedback firm A Closer Look have partnered with Dallas College to develop a training, inspection and certification program for restaurants. Pyments.com reports that the program includes a mystery shopper-type component that allows a person to answer a three-question survey about the health practices they see at the restaurant. The information is then relayed in real time to the restaurant’s corporate offices – and may at the same time help give consumers the outlet they need to share a negative experience.