How to get more restaurant reviews honestly under the FTC rule

The honest way to get more restaurant reviews is to ask every happy guest, at the right moment, in a way that makes it easy. Since October 21, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission's rule on consumer reviews has made fake reviews, rewards tied to a positive rating and hiding negative reviews illegal, with civil penalties per violation. Ask often, ask neutrally, and reply to everything.

Why do reviews matter so much for a restaurant?

Because most people choose where to eat on a phone, and the first thing they read about you is what other diners said. A steady stream of recent, specific reviews tells a stranger you are open, busy and good. A page with a handful of reviews from two years ago tells them nothing.

Volume and recency matter as much as the star average. Ten new reviews a month do more for you than one perfect review a year.

What does the FTC fake review rule ban?

The FTC announced its final rule on the use of consumer reviews and testimonials in August 2024, and it took effect on October 21, 2024. It bans a business from:

• Writing, buying or selling fake reviews, including reviews from people who never ate with you and reviews generated by AI
• Offering a reward conditioned on a particular sentiment, such as "Leave us a five-star review and get a free dessert"
• Posting reviews by staff, family or managers without clearly saying who wrote them
• Running a "review" website you control while presenting it as independent
• Suppressing negative reviews, for example by threatening reviewers or showing only the good ones while implying they are all the reviews
• Buying fake followers or views to look more popular than you are

The FTC can seek civil penalties for each violation. A restaurant that buys a batch of fake reviews is taking a real legal risk, as well as fooling the guests it wants to keep.

Can a restaurant offer an incentive for a review?

Under the FTC rule, an incentive is banned when it is conditioned on what the review says. "A free coffee for any review, good or bad" is not banned by the rule. "A free coffee for a five-star review" is.

There is a second set of rules to check. Many review platforms forbid incentives of any kind, or forbid asking for reviews in certain ways, and they can remove your reviews or flag your page if you break their terms. Read the terms of each platform you care about before you offer anything. The safest approach is to ask without any reward.

How do you ask for reviews without being pushy?

Ask at the moment the guest is happiest, and make it a one-tap job.

1. Train your team to notice the compliment. When a guest says "that was amazing", the reply is "Thank you, it would mean a lot if you told people about it."
2. Put a short link or QR code where people pause: on the check presenter, on a table card, on the takeout bag.
3. Follow up once after an online order or a booking with a short thank-you and a link. Once, not three times.
4. Ask everyone the same way. Do not ask only the guests you think will be kind. Selecting only happy guests to ask can itself mislead.
5. Make it about the food. "Tell people what you ordered" produces specific, useful reviews that help the next diner choose.

How should you reply to a bad review?

Reply to every review you can, and to every negative one. Keep it short, calm and specific:

• Thank them for coming in
• Acknowledge the problem without arguing about details
• Say what you have done or will do
• Offer a way to talk directly

Never offer a refund or a free meal in exchange for removing or changing the review. That is the kind of conditional reward the rule is aimed at, and most platforms forbid it too. Fix the problem because it is a problem, and let the guest decide what to write.

A good reply to a bad review is read by hundreds of people deciding whether to visit. It is advertising you write yourself.

What about reviews from friends and staff?

Under the rule, reviews by your employees, managers, family or anyone with a material connection to the business need a clear disclosure of that relationship. In practice, the cleanest policy is that staff and family do not review the restaurant at all.

How do you turn reviews into better service?

Read them every week as a team. Look for patterns rather than one-offs: three mentions of slow drinks on a Friday, two of a cold side, five of a dish everyone loves. Fix the patterns, and tell the team about the praise. Reviews are the cheapest customer research you will ever get.

Mosey is a platform where people rate the places and the individual dishes they actually ate, with photos, and ratings cannot be deleted by the venue. Wherever your reviews live, the same rule holds: earn them, ask for them, reply to them.

More guides for your business:

• How to cut restaurant no-shows with deposits, holds and reminders
• How to start office catering from your restaurant
• What delivery app commission really costs your restaurant

More in the US guides for food businesses.