Earlier this month, Goodfellas Pizzeria co-owners Eric Boggs and Alex Coats experienced a small business owner’s version of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
The details are widely known, but here’s a recap: On the evening of October 8, a scathing video review posted by an influential online media outlet went viral, and within minutes people from across the country piled on negative comments to the business’ social media feeds, sending Goodfella’s ratings and online reputation into the tank. “This is a really tough pill to swallow,” Coats said several days later. “It's amazing that so much hard work can be destroyed in a couple of hours.”
Boggs and Coats started Goodfellas in 2006 with a little bit of money and lots of help from family and friends. With no outside investors or plans to franchise, they’ve grown the business to include two locations each in both Lexington and Indianapolis, as well as two Cincinnati-area locations (with another set to open), and new outlets also slated to open soon in Louisville; Bloomington, Indiana; and in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
While Goodfellas is consistently rated among the top pizzerias in each of their markets, and “Pizza Today” magazine ranks the brand as the No. 17 independent pizzeria in the nation, “we don't really know what the full effect of the aftermath is going to be,” Coats said of the unexpected attention. Businesses are left with little recourse when it comes to navigating a flurry of negative online comments, but the manner in which Goodfellas’ owners have chosen to respond offers a positive course of action.
Be first to know; last to act.
Boggs and Coats were aware that Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports was in Lexington and likely to visit Goodfellas to film one of his “One Bite” pizza reviews. “We gave warning, we gave instructions and we gave pictures of who's coming and said, ‘Here's our protocol: It needs to be the best pizza you’ve ever made,’” Coats said. “But obviously that mark was missed.”
On the evening the video review posted, Coats had just sat down for dinner with his wife and two children when his phone began pinging with text messages and alerts. Even though he knew it was coming, there’s no way to prepare for the emotional response. “There was no more anger at that point,” Coats said. “It was more just nerves and panic and feeling sick to your stomach, knowing that there's nothing you can do but watch all the hate-filled comments come in.
“We tried to formulate a game plan on how to combat it, and there's not really much you can do because you don't have an argument at that point.” In the light of day—and after a long, sleepless night—Boggs and Coats called together their public relations, marketing and managerial teams to formulate a plan.
Own your mistakes.
Rather than assign blame or try and parse exactly where things broke down, the owners immediately accepted responsibility for the miss and began discussing how to respond.
“We own it. We're embracing it.”
“We own it. We're embracing it,” Coats said. “The situation is we dropped the ball and served a guest, regardless of his status, a cold slice of pizza, which is unacceptable at Goodfellas. It's something that we earned … and something that we're always going to remember and learn from. We've got to be precise with our performance and our product at all times.”
Respond with sincerity.
The following morning, Boggs and Coats issued a statement, which read:
“So, yesterday was not our day. The Yankees took a big L, and so did we. One day you’re an 8.1 [referring to a previous “One Bite” review of Goodfellas’ Indianapolis location], and the next you’re a 0.0.
We hate that the Pres got a cold slice and a cold welcome, and we are working on making it right. Our customers deserve better. We’d love the chance to show him what Goodfellas and Kentucky is all about.
However, one review doesn’t define Goodfellas. We are a family business built from the ground up. 13 years ago, we started in a 650 square-foot building and have done nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe pizza from that day forward.
There is nothing we take more pride in than what we serve our customers. We hope you’ll let us prove that to you. As for the rest, sometimes you just gotta brush it off and fuhgeddaboudit.”
“We had to do in a Goodfellas fashion, and also something [Portnoy] would pick up on,” Coats said of the response.
Mine a negative situation for positive results.
Nearly two weeks later, after allowing time for the initial online firestorm to die down and to process the situation internally, Goodfellas issued another heartfelt message via its social media channels. Accompanied by a photo of an employee wearing a "Goodfellas 0.0" shirt and holding a hot, fresh slice of pizza on a tray, the message represented a trifecta of best practices when recovering from a bout of very public negative press.
The message first thanked fans and the local community for its support, again acknowledged the mistake and lapse in service, and ended by saying that the community reaction had "reignited our purpose" and that Goodfellas would commit to ongoing training for its staff to "get back to basics—delicious, hot slices and exceptional service."
Soon after Goodfellas posted the statement, Portnoy responded via Twitter, saying: "This is stunning. I’m now rooting hard for @GoodfellasPie."
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