Some thoughts on restaurant blogging in general:
It's the slamming of other places that really get to me.
It "used to be" that critiques would only come with newspapers, and if you wanted a good critique, you had to purchase some form of advertising from the paper. (Well, in Vancouver, anyway) Many operators leave the whole scenerio alone, and only the very aggresive restaurants make the "top 10". Granted, some of these establishments do earn the right for good reviews with good product and service, but it really irks me that many do not, the food is poor, but the marketing excellent.
In the last 5 years however, it seems like everyone and their dog is writing a blog about their restaurant experiences, and these blogs are read by far more people than a newspaper could ever reach. The rules for fair critiquing are along the lines of : Critique without any pre-determined attitudes, stay sober, know what you're eating/drinking, and write without any baggage. Many blogs do not follow these rules.
Now I'm not stuck in the past, the future is here but I don't know quite how to deal with blogging and people's views on restaurants they visited. I've had both positive and negative feedback from blogs. One member from E-gullet loudly blogged on the building I'm located in--had a lot of negative thigs to say about the building, but only put in a passing work about my chocolates and pastries.
In the end, I guess people will take to heart only what the "professional restaurant critiques/bloggers" write and not what Joe Schmoe writes, then again alot of people will not. A Chef with links to professional bodies and a slick website may be considered as such a professional.
Vancouver is home to many celebrity Chefs. Most media darling Chefs don't last more than 5 years and then quicly loose the command they had on the general public. The ones who do last, usually follow the "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it" rule.
How we deal with bloggers--use them, avoid them, fight them, or love them, will probably figure in the outcome of how succesfull our busineses are.  |