The Bridge Room is an excellent dining restaurant located at ground level, 44 Bridge Street in Sydney NSW, Australia (“The Bridge Room,” n.d.). The restaurant delivers personal and highly attentive service in which all the details of the service from the beginning to the end of each activity is bespoke. The Bridge Room’s exclusive restaurant hire gives the clients the opportunity to take over the space of their activities. The restaurant has a standing capacity of fifty clients and a seating capacity of sixty-six customers. The restaurant hires also give the client the opportunity of working directly with the team and Ross to help in tailoring an experience that a clear reflection of the customer’s needs (“The Bridge Room,” n.d.).
Ross, who is celebrated as one of the best and the most original chefs in Australia offers the best menu for ‘The Bridge Restaurant’ (“Best Restaurants of Australia,” n.d.). Ross’s menu has a strong focus on seafood and vegetables with an attractive, bold flavor that is imparted by grilling and smoking in his Robata-led kitchen. Perhaps ‘The Bridge Room’s’ operations are centralized on lunch, dinner, tasting, pre-theater services, and beverages.
Customers Reviews
Ramanathan et al. (2017) argue that the bottom-line to the success of a given business entity depends on its ability to pay attention to the trends in its services and marketing strategies which can only be realized by being careful with the way it analyses customer reviews posted on social media. ‘The Bridge Room’s’ success perhaps depends on an analysis of customer reviews posted on social media platforms such as ‘TripAdvisor.’ Based on TripAdvisor, ‘The Bridge Room” can be rated on excellent, good, average, poor and terrible metrics (“TripAdvisor,” n.d.). For the company’s growth and change of operational strategies, the terrible, poor, and average metrics deems necessary.
Average Reviews: 10% of the total 539 views concerning the restaurant encompasses the average score (“TripAdvisor,” n.d.). On the average rating, customers raised the following concerns;
1. Although the female waitress was excellent and welcoming, there was a rude male waiter
2. Most food, especially duck was overcooked. However, the Wagyu shoulder, mushrooms, and house of bread were excellent.
3. Services were excellent in quality but too expensive
4. The employees aren’t fast, and the front desk person isn’t friendly to customers.
5. Meals are good, but the physical appearance of the restaurant is astonishing
Poor Reviews: 4% of the total 539 reviews entail a poor score for ‘The Bridge Room’ (“TripAdvisor,” n.d.). Customers raised the following concerns;
1. The staff appeared to be new for instance the waitress did not know the menu, and the staff were uninterested in their work
2. Hotel temperatures were extremely then blasting cold due to open windows at night
3. The food quantity was too small
4. High prices that do not reflect the value of the food and services
Terrible Reviews:
2% of the total 539 reviews were those who gave terrible remarks concerning the value and services are given by ‘The Bridge Room’ (“TripAdvisor,” n.d.). The customers raised the following concerns;
1. The restaurant is too noisy and congested
2. Waiters and waitresses are unfriendly, and they are extremely slow in delivering services to customers
3. Highly under seasoned food, bland and uninteresting meals
4. The restaurant has an enticing menu, but the facilities are incredibly disastrous. Perhaps customers believe that the waiters and waitresses acted as though they were doing a favor to serve customers and not their daily duties.
5. Waiters are not time conscious, and they don’t respect their schedule
Report to Ross
A concise analysis of the customers’ reviews is a subject of paramount importance to a business entity. According to Sparks and Bradley (2017), positive customer’s feedback strengthens the business entity and fosters confidence in delivering services to customers. However, negative feedback may sound detrimental, but it should be taken as an advantage to the business entity. As Dabirian, Kietzmann, and Diba (2017) argues, negative feedback points on the failures of the business, and can be used to improve the restaurant’s effectiveness by formulating and implementing strategies to address the customers’ concerns.
TripAdvisor’s account of the restaurant customers’ reviews is significant to the management of ‘The Bridge Room’ restaurant. From the average, poor and terrible reviews, the customers address three significant concerns, i.e. the quality of food about their prices, the quality of services as far as the staff is concerned, and also the value of the services and the food regarding both quality and quantity. Ross has to perform the following to ensure that these negative feedbacks wouldn’t be given in future.
1. The management should closely supervise activities to ensure that employees are working as required
2. A favorable business culture built on customer service, teamwork and hard work need to be instilled in the organization.
3. The staff to be trained in public relations
4. The organization to renovate its structures, cover the windows effectively to avoid night cold and install cooling fans
5. The business entity to upgrade its menu, and employ quality chefs
Part B
Managing Customers’ Reviews
A ‘Triple-A’ typology for responding to negative feedbacks from customers concerning the services given by restaurants, hotels and other hospitality and tourism providers remains critical for the future success of these business entities (Sparks, & Bradley, 2017). Often it is difficult for many managers to effectively manage and respond to the negative customers’ feedback posted on social media platforms. Sparks and Bradley (2017) draw on the service of justice, electronic word of mouth, and recovery to develop a typology that managers need to follower while responding and managing negative customer reviews. Therefore, ‘The Bridge Room’s’ management team need to follow ‘Triple-A’ typology to respond to the negative customer feedbacks on TripAdvisor as follows;
Negative Review: Syd Elsbeth says:
Unfortunately, I can't rate the food as they lost the booking. When we arrived, they did not acknowledge the booking and accused us of not confirming via email. When we followed up by forwarding our confirmation and asked to be on the waitlist, they did not even acknowledge the email. This was on our list but no longer. We'll stick with Quay, Sepia, and Aria (“TripAdvisor,” n.d.).
Managers Response: It is mandatory that the response should meet the three requirements of the ‘Triple A’ typology by Sparks and Bradley, i.e. acknowledgment, accountability, and action. Therefore, the manager’s response to the negative review should be as follows;
“Thank you, Syd Elsbeth, for your review. We are very sorry for the bad booking experience you had upon your visit to our restaurant. We promise to better our booking services and our communication to best suit our customers’ needs in the future. Thank you”.
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