The Ledger, Issue No. 3 · September 2, 2026
What a Yelp star did to Seattle's tax records
A Harvard study put a number on it.
The stat
Harvard Business School's Michael Luca, in "Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com" (Working Paper 12-016, 2011, revised 2016), matched Yelp ratings against Washington State tax records and found that a one-star increase means 5 to 9 percent more revenue for independent restaurants. Chains showed no measurable effect. The lift belongs entirely to places like yours. Worth saying plainly: it is one city's restaurants, Seattle's, and the data is now more than a decade old.
The idea
Reviews compound. Every reply you write is read by hundreds of future customers, and a profile where the owner answers looks alive. You never need to buy or beg for reviews (and you shouldn't; the platforms punish it). You just need a habit of asking happy customers at the moment they're happy.
Try this week
Reply to your five most recent reviews, including the good ones; two sentences each is plenty. Then pick your three happiest customers this week and ask each one, in person, for a review while the experience is still warm.