We recently wrote about the controversy surrounding online ratings site, Yelp. Well, San Francisco pizza shop, Pizzeria Delfina is taking their own approach to dealing with negative reviews from the site. The pizzeria has recently changed its employee’s uniforms to t-shirts featuring some of the most memorable one-star ratings from Yelp about the restaurant (“This place sucks!”, for example).
Self-deprecation always seems to make the bad things people are saying about you seem not as harsh. By choosing to face these negative reviews head first, Pizzeria Delfina is making a commitment to their customers and generating some positive buzz on the back-end.
Think about it, they wouldn’t wear a shirt that talks about how greasy and gross the pizza is if it really was greasy and gross, right? They are really making a stand to address their negative feedback on the most direct level possible – how’s that for honesty?
We at MGH WOM love this tactic, and the buzz that it has created has not only helped me decide what I am having for lunch today, but has also guaranteed one new customer next time I’m in SF.
By the way, Pizzeria Delfina does not receive many negative reviews, in fact they have a four-star rating consisting of over 600 customer reviews on Yelp.
