Ribosome biogenesis is a complex process that is facilitated by a large number of assembly factors. In this issue, Andrade et al (2018) provide evidence that a widely conserved RNA chaperone, Hfq, acts as a ribosomal assembly factor in bacteria. Hfq is known to support regulation of stress response genes by small RNAs. Andrade et al (2018) show that the absence of Hfq results in higher levels of immature 30S ribosomes and error‐prone translation, suggesting that Hfq globally affects the quality of protein synthesis when bacteria are under stress.