THIS STORY IS PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TWOCENTS, AN APP THAT ALLOWS YOU TO GIVE HONEST FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO ANY BUSINESS YOU VISIT IN NEW JERSEY – AND YOU CAN DO IT ANONYMOUSLY IF YOU WANT.
At Dan and Day’s Burgers and Shakes on the corner of Valley and Bellevue, co-owner Dan Campeas describes a familiar rush that every small business owner knows all too well.
“Whenever we get any type of review, whether it’s on Twocents or publicly, especially if it’s public, actually… there’s always that, like, ‘what does it say? What does it say? What does it say,’ before you actually open it?”
Dan and his wife, Dayanna Ordonez, run one of Upper Montclair’s most beloved burger spots. And what he’s describing is that instant jolt that hits when a new comment comes in. It doesn’t matter if it’s on a big review site or on Twocents, the free app that lets you leave feedback for any New Jersey business, anonymously if you want. The stakes always feel high.
When Feedback Helps… and When It Doesn’t
Some comments are useful. Others are impossible.
Dayanna laughs as she recalls one review.
“‘It was great, everything was amazing, [but still] three stars, because [they wrote] ‘I wish they had more seating.’ Like…there are only so many seats I can fit in the restaurant.”
Good feedback needs to be realistic. If the issue is something that simply cannot be changed, like inventing more square footage in a Montclair storefront, then it doesn’t actually help a business improve.
But sometimes a comment hits exactly the right spot.
Dan remembers one moment when a tiny piece of feedback made a real difference.
“We had a review once that said that the Chipotle aioli was too spicy.”
At first, it seemed like a matter of personal taste. But something felt off.
“I went downstairs and checked it and it was totally off. We fixed it and we actually even changed the recipe a little bit, to make it less spicy.”
One comment. One adjustment. A better product. That is how feedback is meant to work.
It’s also one reason Dan and Dayanna recently decided to invest in Twocents as a company. They believe in the mission because they’ve lived the value of thoughtful, constructive input.
The Salad That Almost Wasn’t
For a long time, Dan resisted adding salads to the menu.
“It was a big thing for me not to add salads here. I just wanted to keep the menu as simple as possible…”
But Twocents users had other ideas. Respectfully, consistently, they asked.
The feedback became impossible to ignore — not because it was loud, but because it was clear.
“A lot of people are ordering… on top of their normal order… they’re adding it to their family orders. A lot of moms have thanked us. One specifically when we first added it was like, you know, my kids wanted to come to you last week. I decided we weren’t going to go there ’cause there was nothing for me. And she is like, now I can go there more often.”
A single menu addition became a bridge — making Dan and Day’s a place the whole family could enjoy.
Paper Plane: When Feedback Builds a Fuselage
Feedback isn’t just shaping menus. It’s shaping spaces.
On Claremont and North Fullerton, Paper Plane Coffee owner Jonathan Echeverry welcomes feedback like oxygen.
“I tell people… I know how hard it is to tell people that you don’t like something. So for whatever reason, if you don’t like what you get, you let us know and we’ll find your flavor pairing.”
One suggestion didn’t spark a new drink. It sparked a redesign that has become one of the most distinctive features of any café in Montclair: the airplane seating.
Jonathan explains how it happened.
“We had bench seating here before COVID, and what ended up happening is that people working on their computer would essentially take up a table that was a space for two. And so people were like, ‘You should curate a space where there are single seats for people.’ And so the airplane seats were kind of curated as that.”
The result is practical, whimsical, and unmistakably Montclair. The space now includes auditorium seats that mimic vintage airplane rows, salvaged windows from a 747, and a hand-built wooden fuselage created by Jonathan’s contractor, who happens to be a prop maker.
And if you haven’t heard: Paper Plane was just named the best coffee shop in New Jersey by the editors of Mashed.
Better Burgers. Better Coffee. Better Community.
From reducing the heat in an aioli to creating airplane-inspired coworking spaces, Montclair residents have shaped local businesses in meaningful, sometimes unexpected ways.
“So thank you, Montclair,” Farnoosh says in the episode. “Your feedback saved us from overly spicy aioli… created airplane-seated coworking… and made room on a burger-and-shakes menu for the moms who just wanted a salad.”
Dayanna sees it the same way.
“I feel like Twocents has given us, especially uptown, I feel like we have such a community-driven business. That it’s giving them a voice. A voice. A healthy voice.”
