The 2012 Tork Report, titled The Sustainability Gap, examined hygiene issues in restaurants and how likely consumers are to share information regarding restaurant cleanliness with others. Ninety-six percent of unhappy restaurant patrons are “likely” to share a complaint with family or friends and, of those, 65 percent are “very likely” to do so.
Many of those unhappy patrons are complaining via social networks.
Other findings of the report include:
• 60 percent said they were at least somewhat likely to share that complaint with their social media networks while 65 percent said they are at least somewhat likely to share a complaint on a restaurant review site;
• 32 percent of patrons would bring up issues with poor quality product or food;
• 25 percent of patrons would bring up issues regarding poor service or issues with employees;
• 50 percent of those surveyed say when selecting products, a business or a restaurant to patronize the topic of sustainability at least sometimes influences their choices.