S’pore Café Gives Savage Replies To 1-Star Google Reviews, Claims They’re Defending Innocent Staff

Grain Alley Café Gives Savage Replies To One-Star Google Reviews

Running a food business is no easy task. Café owners especially, often have to take on multiple roles such as the business’ marketing manager, human resource consultant, and press relations officer.

The last one, in particular, tends to entail a lot of patience and pleasantries, to maintain a positive image. However, the person who monitors the Google reviews page of Grain Alley, a café in Orchard Central, doesn’t seem to feel that way.

Posting savage replies to one-star reviews, the café has come under fire from netizens.

While they’ve decided to ‘cancel’ the business by leaving a barrage of one-star reviews, the café remains unfazed and has its explanation for the responses.

Café allegedly replies to one-star Google reviews with “name-and-shame” tactics

On Sunday (24 Apr), a Reddit thread was started on the Singapore Raw subreddit that exposed Grain Alley’s savage replies to its customers.

According to the post, Grain Alley would hurl insults and often resort to “name-and-shame tactics” when it comes to reviewers who leave one-star reviews about the café on Google.

A quick look at the café’s Google Reviews section shows proof of such allegations.

One reviewer lamented how the café used to be a good spot to get some work done while enjoying nice drinks, but the business has since changed its policy, banning anyone from using their devices to work in the café.

To this, Grain Alley made some unsavoury comments about the reviewer.

They start off by telling the reviewer to not come back to the café and calling him or her “petulant”. They also labelled the reviewer an “insolent kid” and proceeded to tell the user to take a shower because he or she “smells”.

Grain Alley then negated the reviewer’s words by saying it is of “no consequence to us”.

This is just one of the many controversial replies that Grain Alley has dished out to its one-star reviewers. There is also one particular reply from Grain Alley in which they allegedly sent the one-star review to the reviewer’s employers.

You can read the rest of them here. Sort the reviews by “Lowest Rating” to see how the café responds to such reviews.

Netizens band together to get back at cafe’s savage replies

In light of the scathing replies, netizens have banded together in hopes of ‘cancelling’ the café. The top-voted comment broached the issue of the café’s alleged rewarding of customers who leave five-star reviews.

Another Reddit user, who allegedly worked as a part-timer at Grain Alley also shared her experience. The netizen said the café defaulted on its promises of overtime pay after she worked extra hours on New Year’s Eve.

Grain Alley believes in “first, the customer must be right” motto

In response to MS News queries, a Grain Alley spokesperson who identified as the person “in charge of answering reviews” provided a summary of how things unfolded from their point of view.

According to the representative, customers who left reviews did so “in the spirit of freedom of speech”, and accordingly, should expect to receive some form of reply.

The spokesperson also said that doxxing refers to “the release of private information publicly”. They went on to say that addressing a person by name or contacting their employers do not constitute doxxing.

Instead of following ‘the customer is always right’ motto, Grain Alley believes that “first, the customer must be right”.

The basis behind this is the café’s apparent belief that its staff should take precedence over customers.

The spokesperson explained that the café only managed to survive the pandemic thanks to its employees, who’ve shown “extreme loyalty”.

Given the apparently high attrition rate in the industry, the fact that their staff have chosen to stay on is an indication of how “safe” they feel working at the café.

Despite the recent controversy, morale among its staff is apparently “higher than usual”, while its sales have “risen dramatically” thanks to the “ongoing publicity”.

Ending the statement, the spokesperson hopes that customers can instead channel their energy towards more constructive and helpful gestures.

You can read the response in full here, as well as two subsequent Instagram posts here and here:

Natural that netizens get triggered by such straightforward responses

While it’s admirable that the café is extremely protective of its staff, such blatant responses are surely going to ruffle a few feathers.

Having said that, we hope netizens will be truthful when it comes to rating the café, and will only pen reviews only if they’ve visited the establishment.

What are your thoughts on the café’s stance? Share them with us in the comments.