Opineko for Restaurants

For restaurants, online reviews are inseparable from revenue. Diners routinely check Google and Yelp before choosing where to eat, and a restaurant's star rating is often the deciding factor between two similar options. The challenge is that the dining experience is emotional and immediate — a great meal creates a warm feeling that fades quickly once the customer leaves. That is why collecting feedback at the table, before the check is paid and the customer walks out the door, produces dramatically higher review conversion rates than any follow-up method.

Restaurants also face a unique multi-platform challenge. Unlike most local businesses that can focus primarily on Google, restaurants need visibility on Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google simultaneously. Each platform has its own audience: Yelp dominates discovery in many U.S. cities, TripAdvisor drives tourist traffic, and Google captures the broadest search intent. A review collection system that lets you rotate or split routing across platforms — sending some customers to Google and others to Yelp — ensures balanced coverage without requiring extra effort from your staff.

Seasonality also matters. Restaurants that collect reviews consistently through slow seasons maintain their search rankings year-round, while competitors who only collect reviews during busy periods see their visibility drop when they need it most. The restaurants that dominate local search treat review collection as part of their daily operations, as routine as checking inventory or prepping the line.