Of the 20 bars we read among the businesses someone searching in Milwaukee, WI is shown, not one had answered any of its recent reviews. That is not a trade nobody writes about. The median bar in that read carries 243 Google reviews, the most-reviewed carries 2684, and the median rating is 4.6. The reviews arrive. The replies do not.
Among every business named in this section, the one answering the most of its recent reviews is a restaurant: Cubanitas, which carries 1160 reviews, had replied to 9 of its 10 most recent. The next-best answerer among the 20 restaurants we read was Mason Street Grill, which carries 1381 reviews and had replied to 1 of its 10 most recent. No other restaurant in that read answered more. So one trade holds both 9 of 10 and 1 of 10, and the second of those is the runner-up.
Cafés and coffee shops repeat the shape. Brunch. had replied to 7 of its 10 most recent reviews and carries 2156. Canary Coffee Bar, the next-best answerer in both reads, had replied to 1 of 10 and carries 674. The most-reviewed listing a searcher is shown in either trade carries 6100 reviews. Median ratings sit at 4.5 in both, on median review counts of 126 for cafés and 216 for coffee shops.
Within the six food-and-drink trades in this section, the two with the smallest median review counts also carry the highest median ratings: bakeries at a median of 79 reviews and a median rating of 4.7, food trucks at a median of 40 and a median rating of 4.9. Peter Sciortino Bakery, at 670 reviews, had replied to 3 of its 10 most recent, and The Fatty Patty®-Downtown (Food Truck), at 431 reviews, to 5 of 10. Across the wider set of businesses a searcher here is shown, a typical measured business answered 66% of its recent reviews, on 56 businesses measured. A trade where nobody answers at all, and two more whose runner-up managed 1 of 10, sit well under that.
What to do about it
Answering is not a competitive edge anyone in food and drink here has locked up. In bars, nobody we read had replied to a single recent review, so an owner who replies to their last 10 is doing something no other bar in that read is doing. In restaurants, cafés and coffee shops, one business answers most of what comes in and the next one down answers 1 of 10, which means the bar to clear is low and it is visible to anyone who opens the listing.
The practical version is small. Work the most recent reviews, not the whole history — the 327.5-review median restaurant is never getting a reply to all of them, and nobody expects it. Reply to what arrived this week, start with the unhappy ones, and answer in your own voice rather than a template. On a median rating of 4.6 for restaurants and 4.7 for bakeries, plenty of what you answer will be people who already liked it.
Restaurants
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cubanitas | 9 of 10 | 1160 | 4.4 |
| 2 | Mason Street Grill | 1 of 10 | 1381 | 4.5 |
Cafés
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brunch. | 7 of 10 | 2156 | 4.3 |
| 2 | Canary Coffee Bar | 1 of 10 | 674 | 4.6 |
Coffee shops
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brunch. | 7 of 10 | 2156 | 4.3 |
| 2 | Canary Coffee Bar | 1 of 10 | 674 | 4.6 |
Bars
We read 20 bars businesses here and not one had answered a single one of its ten most recent reviews. The first owner here who replies is the only one doing it.
Bakeries
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Sciortino Bakery | 3 of 10 | 670 | 4.7 |
Food trucks
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fatty Patty®-Downtown (Food Truck) | 5 of 10 | 431 | 4.6 |