The man is a restaurant critic so it’s not his fault…
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A guy named Brian Freedman is a food critic for a weekly paper in Philadelphia. He most recently wrote an unfavorable review on a relatively new restaurant located in the Rittenhouse Square area. With only one visit in mind, he chose to bash this spot during Restaurant Week. The guy has the right to do what he did, but in the real world of real professionals, a professional critic would understand that Restaurant Week is hardly the time to bash a restaurant. The paper itself should wake-up and apologize. To criticize a business during the insanity of this promotion is in my mind, unfair and inexcusable.
I am not a fan of the Restaurant Week craze and in fact I have characterized it as “the modern version of the two-for-one coupon”, and it doesn’t take a genius to give away money. If the folks return and pay the full price for the dinner, then maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I am not a fan of restaurant critics, but I hate to generalize. There are some very good ones who actually know what they are talking about. Brian Freedman is hardly in this category. If you want to hurt a man’s business, do the right thing. Don’t show-up during Restaurant Week.
And while on the subject (The Philadelphia Weekly), how can the paper justify this particular (edited) response from a reader … “This place is a disaster. The Chef/Owner’s food is weak, his actions are shady and his overall business practices are shameful.”
This is a blatant shot at a respected chef with zero proof of anything. This appeared on the web site of the paper, and they allowed it to be printed. It is precisely why the reader response thing is dangerous. The paper is to be blamed for allowing this on their site. This owner is owed an apology and the entire matter is a total disgrace.
Article link: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/food/reviews/Cichetteria-19.html
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Comments
The fourth point you missed Jaime is the dangerous mentality most operators have of using discounting as a marketing strategy - no matter what the context for it.
I have been involved in ‘Restaurant Week’ events across 37 states and invariably the operators will admit that they receive no economic value from being a part of it but they do so because ‘everyone else is here’ so I totally agree with Bob’s points, and I usually do. There is also a danger of subscribing to the idea of ‘anonymous posts’ on review sites. These are just as dangerous.
As for critics, the only critics that mean anything are the guests you have every time you open for business.
As for feedback, we belive that it is critical for every operator to have a formal Voice-of-the-Guest program in place to garner as much feedback as possible from guests in order to truly measure their ability to create and refine a better guest experience.
As a publicist who works with many restaurants, I agree
Restaurant Week is no time to review a restaurant. You’re seeing the place at its worst. Second, Restaurant Week IS
like two for one and I don’t think it really brings customers who will return. Third, Customer Feedback is one
of the big reasons I hate the internet. Possibly, the owner
could post his own comments refuting it and hope for the
best. At worst, nothing will happen and at best it might
spark an internet fight bringing publicity.
As a publicist who works with many restaurants, I agree
Restaurant Week is no time to review a restaurant. You’re seeing the place at its worst. Second, Restaurant Week IS
like two for one and I don’t think it really brings customers who will return. Third, Customer Feedback is one
of the big reasons I hate the internet. Possibly, the owner
could post his own comments refuting it and hope for the
best. At worst, nothing will happen and at best it might
spark an internet fight bringing publicity.
We’ll there’s Bob being Bob and telling it how he sees it.
I won’t dig in to the merits of the review, but what I find fascinating in Bob’s short post is there are three big topics hit on that all have major impacts on a restaurant’s business…
We all know what restaurant critics can do, though some would argue their power is deflated these days.
Re: Restaurant Weeks - Bob hits on something that I haven’t really seen covered. Everyone tends to be “excited” about what restaurant weeks (and months) have done as they have proliferated all around the country.
But are they just a big discount game that doesn’t provide the intended results (more full-price future customers)?
I’d love to hear some thoughts on this…
And “user-generated” restaurant feedback…we’ll this is the world we are in today with one site after another posting feedback. What and who to trust is a crap shoot for sure. My biggest complaint in this area continues to be the ability for anyone to bash any restaurant regardless of truth. Perhaps that is just the price of Internet and mobile connectedness — I’m always looking for thoughts & opinions on this…
All the best,
- Jaime