Benihana is a popular Japanese cuisine chain that strives to use its social media tools and customer reviews as an extension of their customer service. How does their social media team manage to achieve this?
Founded by Hiroaki Aoki in 1964, Benihana boasts over five decades of success and the Doral, Florida-based American restaurant company now owns over 100 Japanese cuisine restaurants around the world.
The restaurant states on it’s official page that, “at Benihana, it’s not just a meal, it’s an experience,” and their social media team ensures that this message translates into a fantastic customer service experience. You need only glance at Benihana’s social media pages to realize that they have been carefully created with a strong focus on customer care.
Benihana boasts almost 200,000 Facebook likes on it’s page and currently has 1,500 people talking about them. They try their best to create social interaction by responding to customers comments, both good and bad, and encouraging their followers to send in pictures of the restaurant, which they post and tweet their customers Twitter handle alongside the post.
This is a smart way of creating fan interaction and making their customers feel like they are valued. In fact, the time and attention that the social media team take to respond can be viewed as an extension of their customer service.
Take this post sent in by a customer on April, 19. Which shows a Benihana feast, not only does this post show off the food that is on offer, but it’s also encouraging the restaurant’s customers to share their experience with them.
Benihana also have a picture promotion program, in which guests receive one complimentary digital photo per group per visit, to document their special occasion. And they have also decided to take their fan interaction one step further to celebrate their 50th anniversary with the Passport Challenge promotion.
Benihana has launched an initiative on their website that encourages customers to visit as many of the restaurants locations as possible in 2014 and add a digitial photo of the experience to their “passport”. The customer who visits the most location within the U.S this year, will win an impressive prize… a trip for four to Tokyo as well as a $1,000 Benihana gift card. And there are plenty of other prizes for those who are the runners up.
The company doesn’t just reward its loyal customers though, it also intends to give back to the community by being a proud supporter of childrens charity St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. On Children’s Day, May 5, the company is holding a kids coloring contest as well as donating the total sales of every Kabuki Kids meal that they sell in their restaurants on Sunday, May 5th.
Being socially responsible is important because it creates trust with the public and creates a positive brand image and a good reputation. And while it truly is something nice to do, it’s associated with a company’s growth and earning potential because it inspires new potential and opportunities.
Benihana does not only use their Pinterest account to show off the mouth watering food that is on offer, it also very cleverly offers further information about the Chef’s specials, as well as the promotions and events that the restaurant chain is offering.
Benihana’s Twitter page is filled with updates, but their main focus is creating a clear line of communication with their customers. If it’s someone’s birthday, then they want to know.
@needketchupstat Birthday time! Hope Liam’s living it up at #BenihanaNYC.
— Benihana (@Benihana) April 25, 2014
While most of the feedback is positive, of course there are negative remarks to also be shared, and if someone’s unhappy, then they’d like to fix that. Benihana’s Twitter team respond to any complaints efficiently, by not only apologizing to the customer but also asking them to share their feedback so that they can rectify the problem. Take this post made by an unhappy customer on April, 24. They wrote, “Well, 3 strikes & yur out. @Benihana #buckhead 3 times n a row horrible service 2 a weekly regular. I will never go 2 this location again” (sic) To which the company responded quickly and effectively with, “@jinx0488 Oh no! Please share some feedback so that we can improve: http://www.benihana.com/contact/”
@jinx0488 Oh no! Please share some feedback so that we can improve: http://t.co/kvkHWlBRDV.
— Benihana (@Benihana) April 25, 2014
Another customer’s experience was also less than pleasant and she tweeted, “Bad dinning experience @Benihana . But it’s okay. I try never to cry over spilled milk.” (sic)
Benihana do not let a complaint go unnoticed and they were once again fast to respond and their responses, while they follow a protocol, are far from robotic.
@ExcellentAnn Do you have a moment to share your feedback? We’d love to follow up with you: http://t.co/kvkHWlBRDV.
— Benihana (@Benihana) April 25, 2014
However, it’s not just negative comments that they reply to. For example, did you know that world renowned DJ Steve Aoki’s father founded Benihana? One fan took to the Twitter page to share this fun fact, and the company was pleased to comment on their rich history.
@DanielNoelD Yep! You can learn more about our amazing 50-year history here: http://t.co/FRStsNRZUt.
— Benihana (@Benihana) April 25, 2014
While Benihana is a restaurant chain, for each store there will be a different review rating, but review sites such as Yelp and Trip Advisor offer their customers a way of communicating both their compliments and their complaints.
Take a look at the Benihana Anaheim, CA. Yelp reviews for example. The company scores 3 out of 5 stars based on 310 customer reviews.
And the customer reviews appear to be mixed. While some customers are rating the company 5 out of 5, such as this customer who stated on April 15. “They can make anything delicious with their great touch of hand.”
To another customer’s review from April, 5. who was rather less impressed and said, “Well, this place was such a spoiler. It was too cramped and noisy. Food was average.”
And the Benihana Restaurant in New York City has far more rave reviews. As it earns itself a solid 4 out of 5 stars based on 194 reviews on TripAdvisor.
Although, it should be mentioned that more than one customer complained about the poor service at the restaurant.