Technology

Ovation, Craveworthy Brands discuss guest feedback, cashing in on guest recovery

Photo: Adobe Stock

April 4, 2025

Ten lost customers. That's nearly $30,000 walking out the door, according to Zack Oates, founder of guest feedback program Ovation.

But what if you could not only stop the bleeding, but turn disgruntled diners into your biggest fans? A webinar reveals how embracing imperfection can be a restaurant's most powerful growth strategy.

Oates talked to Gregg Majewski, founder and CEO of Craveworthy Brands, in the webinar titled "You're Restaurant's Not Perfect and Why That's a Good Thing: Harnessing the Hidden Value of Guest Recovery." Craveworthy Brands includes more than a dozen brands including Wing It On, Big Chicken, Dirty Dough, Genghis Grill and Fresh Brothers.

The webinar was sponsored by Ovation and produced by Networld Media Group. It was moderated by Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb.

Oates said Ovations is a guest experience management platform for restaurants that primarily focuses on multi-unit restaurants. Ovation starts with frictionless guest feedback in real time and makes it simple for the guest to chat with operators.

The platform provides one-on-one guest engagement where the operator can bring guests back, activate the happy guests and "then it goes into the operational excellence where we take all that data and we make it easy for you to take action on and attract to make sure that the things that are happening are actually happening through frictionless feedback with your guests," Oates said.

Oates said the three pillars of guest recovery include:

Ask: Take time to understand a customer's perspective.
Make good on issues now.
Fix it forever: Work to create lasting solutions.

Majewski said apologizing and taking action on issues with orders is paramount to success.

"Not everyone is going to like everything you put on your menu," he said. "It's how you take care of them after the fact. You don't insult them, you apologize, you give them the opportunity to want something else — it's hospitality at its finest."

To learn more about guest recovery and Ovation's two-question guest feedback survey, watch the webinar in its entirety.

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Ovation

How Great Restaurants Get Better - Guest Experience Management Platform

Ovation is a guest experience platform for multi-unit restaurants that starts with a 2-question survey to drive revenue, streamline guest recovery, and easily improve operations. Thousands of restaurants, including leading brands like Dave's Hot Chicken, use Ovation to get more feedback, recover guests in real-time, and improve.

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