Restaurants say online reviewers exploit their power

Restaurant owner Sonny Mayugba was given an offer he almost could not refuse this month.

Not by a local gangster, but by a user of a popular online review site, Yelp.com.

Mayugba said the user threatened to blast the Red Rabbit Kitchen and Bar in Sacramento, which Mayugba co-owns, on Yelp because he believed he and his party got food poisoning from their meals.

Mayugba said it was impossible to prove whether the man got food poisoning from the restaurant but offered to give him a $60 gift card to a restaurant of his choice. The man said he deserved $100. If the restaurant did not pay up, he said he would write a bad Yelp review and report him to health authorities.

Restaurant owners say online websites have changed consumer behavior as many people rely more on citizen reviews than on reviews of professional critics or advertisements. Yelp had a monthly average of more than 71 million unique visitors and 27 million reviews worldwide this year from January to the end of March, the company said.

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Taco Bell's graduation campaign adds social media elements

The Taco Bell Foundation for Teens' Graduate to Go initiative is inviting Americans to "like, share or tweet" to help at-risk teens graduate high school. In return, Taco Bell will give up to $1 million to Graduate to Go to support teen-serving organizations.

The $1 million gift represents the more than 1 million students that drop out of high school each year.

The Graduate to Go social media effort is part of a two-week campaign including a TV ad with Mark Wahlberg and national fundraiser in participating Taco Bell restaurants. From today to June 7, Taco Bell will donate $5 for each of the following actions taken (maximum total donation $1 million):

• "Like" the custom-designed graduation caps created by Boys & Girls Club teens that will be posted on the Taco Bell Facebook page

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Popeyes: LTOs and marketing drove 1Q results

AFC Enterprises Inc., parent company of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, credited a continuing stream of limited time offerings, backed by solid marketing and strong operational performance for a 15.2-percent jump in profit for the first quarter.

The company reported same-store sales growth of 7.4 percent globally and 8.1 percent in the United States. Both global and domestic same-store sales rose by 3.9 percent in the first quarter of last year.

AFC chief executive Cheryl Bachelder said the April 15-ended quarter was the eighth consecutive one in which global same-store sales grew, and the sixteenth consecutive quarter in which Popeyes’ same-store sales growth outpaced its competitors in the quick-service chicken segment. In the most recent quarter, Popeyes’ same-store sales grew 380 basis points, or 3.8 percent, faster than the overall QSR chicken segment, she said.

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Restaurants warned not to ignore social media giant

Restaurateurs should try to recognise and resolve problems with diners immediately or risk their patron's bad experiences spreading through social media even before they've left the restaurant.

That's the message from Restaurant and Catering Australia following new research that reveals almost a quarter of bad dining experiences are communicated on social media by the diner within a minute or two of leaving the restaurant, if not while they are still seated at the table.

A national survey of Australian diners conducted by Galaxy Research on behalf of American Express, has found one-third of Australians use social media to rate their dining experience, with a quarter of Generation Y diners favoring Facebook to share their views.

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Social media networks vital to attracting customers

Business social media networks continue to revolutionise corporate marketing strategy and over the next two years will be the second most effective tool for acquiring new customers, according to research amongst 2500 UK businesses conducted by Regus, the global workplace provider.

But the senior managers and business owners in the poll say that face-to-face networking is by far the best way of generating new business compared to all other on- and offline marketing techniques. Their views sound a warning to firms ploughing their marketing budget into sophisticated digital tools: don’t forget the personal touch.

Online advertising will retain its favoured standing within the marketing mix but significantly lags business social media. Looking at other important ways of finding new customers, public speaking at key events emerged as highly regarded and businesses believe that its importance will rise further over the next two years — again pointing to the renewed emphasis on face-to-face interaction with customers and prospects.

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