New ways to deal with disgruntled diners

The Restaurant Blog at smartbrief.com has begun a three-part series on “Winning Over That Disgruntled Customer.” The writer of the series, John Foley, says restaurant complaints are a lot more potent these days, thanks to social media such as Twitter and Facebook. In the old days, an unhappy patron had basically two options: Write a letter to the restaurant owner or manager, or make a phone call.

There was another option, too. The adage was that a happy restaurant customer tells five of his friends. An unhappy customer tells 50.