Overview
An Atlanta-based hospitality brand managing restaurants nationwide underwent a major expansion through mergers and acquisitions. As part of the deal, they inherited multiple restaurant locations along with their existing online reputations.
Unfortunately, many of these locations came with a significant volume of negative Google reviews. Some had ratings as low as 1.9 stars which began to impact not only the newly acquired restaurants but also the parent brand’s overall reputation.
A Tough Choice Between Rebrand and Rebuild
The company faced a tough decision. They could either shut down their underperforming locations and start over with new brand names, or work on fixing and rebuilding their existing online reputation.
Starting fresh could have cleared past issues, but it would come with significant costs such as new branding, marketing, and attracting customers all over again.
They needed a faster and more affordable way to move forward.
The Solution
The company partnered with RetainTrust to execute a structured Google review recovery strategy.
Phase 1: Review Audit and Removal
Our team began with full audit of all existing reviews across each location. We identified policy-violating, fake, and irrelevant reviews that qualified for removal. We built and submitted requests to have them taken down. For the reviews that remained, we wrote thoughtful, professional responses aligned with the brand’s voice to address concerns.
In three weeks, multiple negative reviews on Google were successfully removed, leading to noticeable improvements in average ratings, typically between 0.5 and 1.0 stars increase per location. Despite this progress, some locations still stayed in the 2.5 to 3.0 star range, and it continued to impact customer trust and conversion rates.
Phase 2: Positive Review Generation
To improve star ratings, RetainTrust launched campaigns to capture feedback from satisfied customers. The focus was on encouraging real positive reviews from real customers. The process was standardized across all locations to ensure consistency.
Within two months the average ratings rose to 4.0 stars and above across all locations, with several restaurants reaching 4.5 to 4.8 range.
Phase 3: Multi-Platform Reputation Management
We expanded our efforts across other platforms where customers research and make decisions: Tripadvisor, Yelp, Trustpilot, and Facebook. This allowed us to address feedback more broadly and strengthen the brand’s presence across multiple platforms online.
The Results
Ratings improved dramatically rising from as low as 1.9 to over 4.0 stars, which helped restore customer trust and strengthen overall brand perception. As a result, all restaurant locations saw higher foot traffic, along with growth in online orders and reservations.
Key Takeaway
Mergers and acquisitions often bring hidden reputation risks. However, rebuilding trust doesn’t require starting from scratch.
With the right strategy, even severely damaged review profiles can be transformed into powerful growth assets, quickly and cost effectively.
