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That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:16 pm
by Jenise
From Grubstreet:

Small-time London food blogger Paul Turner wanted to review the £150-a-head Michelin-starred Gauthier Soho, so last week he emailed the restaurant: "[I] would love to visit Gauthier Soho soon so I can write a positive review … I was wondering if you would want to feature and arrange a review meal?"

Thing is, Gauthier Soho is a real restaurant that does not serve comped meals, or prearranged "review" meals, and head of marketing James Lewis is tired of being asked. So he tweeted a screenshot of the email, which included Turner's contacts, and that violates Twitter's terms. Lewis's account, along with several others that retweeted him, got suspended. (The karmic blowback against Turner forced him to take his blog, the Hungry Londoner, offline as well.)

Thankfully, this didn't turn into an all-out chef-Twitter bullying war, like the one that London chef Claude Bosi and his peers waged against a blogger who dared to write a blasé review of his two Michelin star restaurant in 2012. Lewis defended himself in the Independent, saying the average Gauthier diner "[has] checked us out in four of five difference places, including newspaper reviews, a smattering of blogs, Google itself, which is now linked to the Zagat Guide, and on Twitter." Of course that means "everything is intertwined," but Lewis doesn't seem daunted...that restaurant personnel accept that rooting out spurious requests and reviews is now just a routine part of their daily workload. "Thankfully, if people are trying to abuse this area," he says, "they can't do it for very long because they will be exposed."

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:31 am
by Jeff Grossman
Who knew Twitter had terms?

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:10 am
by Tom NJ
Jeff Grossman/NYC wrote:Who knew Twitter had terms?


*snort*

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:28 pm
by Jenise
I was just flabbergasted (shouldn't have been, in retrospect) at the idea of people overtly offering a positive review in exchange for a free dinner. Wonder how often it worked.

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:03 pm
by Karen/NoCA
So much for the credibility of Paul Turner.

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:16 pm
by Mark Lipton
Jenise wrote:I was just flabbergasted (shouldn't have been, in retrospect) at the idea of people overtly offering a positive review in exchange for a free dinner. Wonder how often it worked.
r

Jenise, Jenise, Jenise. "Pay to Play" in restaurant and wine reviewing is as old as the hills, I fear. Some of RMP's early claim to fame was his insistence that he pay his own way (an insistence that fell by the wayside as the years wore on). And think of all the grumbling over the years about the high ratings for wines that advertise in the Speck. It's no great surprise that some bloggers hope to get in on the act.

Mark Lipton

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:20 pm
by Jim Cassidy
Dear Sir Richard,

As a freelance travel writer, I would love to ride your spaceplane so I can write a positive review... :lol: :roll:

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:11 pm
by Jenise
Jim Cassidy wrote:
Dear Sir Richard,

As a freelance travel writer, I would love to ride your spaceplane so I can write a positive review... :lol: :roll:


My brother works for him, I might be able to arrange an introduction. For a price, of course. What ya got? ;)

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:15 pm
by Jenise
Mark Lipton wrote:Jenise, Jenise, Jenise. "Pay to Play" in restaurant and wine reviewing is as old as the hills, I fear.


I get it--that's the "shouldn't have been" part.

Re: That's one way to get a free meal!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:10 pm
by Jim Cassidy
Jenise said:

For a price, of course. What ya got?


Well, it would evolve into a documentary... Get me a ride on the spaceplane and you're the Executive Producer! 8)