A bad review is going to happen to every just about food truck on the road today, no matter how hard you try.

Of course, the good reviews are the ones to aim for, but it’s the negative feedback you need to pay particular attention to. As a food truck owner you need to carve out time to respond to online reviews. There are two ways to reply to a bad review, publicly (on site where the comment was posted) or privately (contacting the poster directly).

We recommend starting with a private response and apologizing. It’s also great to start by thanking the reviewer for the feedback then go straight into the apology.

Often posters are surprised to actually hear from a human in response, when they think they’ve posted a comment that likely will not be read by the anyone but a computer program.

Private responses are best to start with to resolve issues without drawing more attention to them.

Public responses can work if there’s an inaccuracy in the review. First, publicly apologize to the review writer then point out that actually, their information is incorrect.

After this, users have the option to alter their review or even remove it, but you shouldn’t ask for this. At the very least, you will have pointed out the mistake and it will leave an overall better perception of your brand.

By posting publicly, you’re not responding to the reviewer any more, but you’re showing you’re in touch with your customers and on top of things, and that you care enough to respond.

If you are incredibly short of time in your day, you should still try to make time for this. Sort reviews by their importance and address the most negative reviews first.

There’s one other thing food truck operators can do to help their reputation and that’s by visiting biz.yelp.com. You should build out this site by telling your story and upload photos since this will give it a professional and authentic look.

Positive reviews should be your goal, and can mostly be left untouched.

It doesn’t hurt to send a short note privately to thank reviewers. I would do it privately because if you do it publicly it can look like you’re a little too obsessed with your Yelp! page.

If you have any additional tips for dealing with negative reviews on Yelp, please feel free to add them in the comment section below.