Like to Eat: the good and the grief of social media’s effect on the food and drink industry
By Reynolds Rogers
To Cooper Hudson, co-owner of the Athens breakfast staple, Mama’s Boy, social media platforms are a force for good — for the most part. Hudson remembers when people would ‘friend’ Mama’s Boy on Facebook, before the ‘business page’ features people use today.
What started as an avenue for free advertisement, grew into multifaceted forms of communication between business and customer. Once the chef prepares the daily special and the description is on the menu, Hudson snaps a shot and sends it through Instagram for hungry people to see, like, comment, come, eat. She loves it.
However, Hudson has a problem with the platforms that provide split-second potential to strip away positivity and fun: customer-review sites. She is not alone among restauranteurs.
The Good
It’s not a fact that restaurants use social media. Everyone and everything wanting to remain relevant in 2018 use as many platforms necessary to boost their image. However, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aren’t simply mediums for entertainment and procrastination, but tools for marketing and advertising. Feed scrollers like pictures that please and inspire, and modern restaurants create content for these potential customers to see, then come in and eat. In Athens, Georgia, independent restaurants thrive based on the merit of their menu, but most don’t shy away from potential help that social media can offer.
Building a brand is easier than ever these days, what’s harder is maintaining it. Local flavors need to stand out to stay in, and a fast and easy way to do that is through vivid presence on social media platforms.
Independent restaurants around Athens utilize social media in their own ways. The owner of Pulaski Heights BBQ prefers Instagram to communicate with his customers. Chuck Ramsey typically posts signs and memos that tell everyone not to come in looking for food. When the special runs out he chooses to let people know so as to prevent a wasted trip to the restaurant. Wednesday night Ramen is increasingly popular at this bbq joint — be on the lookout for the weekly ‘gram, a picture of a memo saying something along the lines of, “175 bowls. When they’re gone they’re gone.” If one fails to get to Pulaski before 5:00 on Wednesdays, don’t plan on slurping bbq ramen for dinner.
Flanagan’s, Cabin Room, Whiskey Bent, make up the East Clayton Block bars owned by Jason Leonard in downtown Athens. University of Georgia students frequent these establishments, which often correlates to the sense that reputation and word of mouth, and where weekly drink deals are, are all it takes to drive in customers. The bars still maintain a regular presence on Instagram, regardless, to drive in out-of-towners on the weekends.
“Listen, we’ve been on social media since the beginning. Flanagan’s had a MySpace account, if you can believe that,” laughed Leonard from the end of the bar, on a Tuesday afternoon before opening time. Leonard pays a marketing guy to post and worry about social media presence for him, but between some professional photography and the bartenders posting Snapchat stories, there is never a shortage of drinkers being driven in.
Fancy plate establishments and big name brewers tend to use more aesthetically purposed posts because they contract photography for their restaurants and occasionally pay to promote their campaigns.
Leah Kuck, Social Media and PR Specialist for Terrapin Brewing Company in Athens, commented, “if social media disappeared tomorrow, it would be a lot harder to interact directly with fans and drinkers, but people would still buy beer even if they didn’t see it online! We pay to boost posts to raise awareness, not specifically to gain followers. I’d rather people follow us because they like us, and see an awareness campaign in their newsfeed.”
Scrolling through the Instagram of LRG Provisions, the sister restaurant to the Last Resort Grill, one’s eyes will be pleased at the sight of the layout, design, and carefully crafted content. According to Jeneane McGuire, one of the owners, “I do think a well-crafted Instagram account can help widen your customer base and spread the word, but the experience in the restaurant or at a catering event, that’s what gives you returning customers.”
Athens restaurateurs use their platforms in all types of ways and with varying aesthetic and informational strategies. Their social media is not single-handedly keeping their businesses, but rather enhancing the way customers see them and communicate with them. At the end of the day, it’s about service, atmosphere and greatness of taste that draw diners through the doors.
Customers, the backbone and reason for the food and drink industry. They’re hungry and thirsty and don’t feel like cooking dinner tonight. Where do they go? For some people, informational platforms that talk food deals and drink specials, and list menus and prices, are deciding factors.
“Love restaurants on Insta. I follow several for the food pictures and it’s nice when they add in deals and whatnot to give me a heads up. Usually gives me ‘incentive to go.” — Emily, 21.
“I particularly like when restaurants have Insta’s, yes. In fact, it influences my decision most of the time when I can see pics of food and specials, but that being said I don’t really follow them because I don’t want to see it on my feed everyday. So I like to ghost follow restaurants.” — Patricia, 22.
“To be honest, I don’t look at ratings very much. I don’t know why, but probably because I base so much off the social media to begin with, so you can kind of get a feel, obviously. But… I like when Yelp has the menu and prices if you can’t find it on the restaurant site.” — Ellie, 21.
The Grief
The side of social media that people don’t often categorize with typical platforms, is the ratings and reviews feature on Facebook, Google, etc. Yelp, a prime namesake in the critiquing world, holds the answers to potential customers reasonings for visiting a restaurant. Or, the reason not to patron that particular place.
Three stars, four stars, five stars. Do these labels define who and what a restaurant is about? Maybe. But the real question is if these reviews are justified. No one will complain about a good review, however, a bad review can affect an owner in ways people do not realize.
“I’ve tried to start this movement recently where I’ll go into a restaurant and leave a detailed, good review of my time there. I try to boost other places up because so many restaurants have to deal with the negative impact of bad reviews. And the enraging part is, most of these reviews aren’t justified or are totally blown out of proportion,” said a frustrated Cooper Hudson of Mama’s Boy.
The ability to whip out a device and send an attack on a restaurant for the public to see in a matter of seconds is part of the problem. Technology hinders human interaction in that way because people are disconnected from face to face communication and would rather voice their opinions more anonymously than talk to the owner and fix a problem immediately.
The owner of Zombie Donuts agrees, “the other real shame about poor reviews rather than a private message or someone using our public email or our suggestions box is it makes it a lot harder to interact with the customer,” said Tony Raffa.
An example of this according to Hudson: a customer received a straw in their drink, and the piece of the paper attached to the straw fell into the drink. It upset the customer. However, they didn’t tell the waiter about this simple mistake and instead took to their phone and went straight to Yelp.
“She wrote that Mama’s Boy just isn’t the same and has really gone down the drain, etc. and gave us one star,” said Hudson, “all for something that could have been handled face to face and we could have even comped the drink for her.”
Another problem that Nerissa Rajcoomar, marketing consultant for The Pine and The Root in Five Points Athens, has with Yelp is the skewed and unfair aspect of forcing restaurants to buy into their system for good ratings.
“They send us emails saying we can pay them to showcase the best reviews when people Google us. I mean, what? We aren’t going to pay for that first of all, but second of all, that just seems so corrupt,” said Rajcoomar.
“Negative reviews are often an avenue for people to say things they would never say in person, for whatever reason. You could write pages and pages on online reviews. I personally am not a big fan of yelp, etc, though you can usually tell when you read someone’s review if it’s legitimate or just someone having a bad day. And I think most people are savvy enough to read between the lines.” — Jeneane McGuire, LRG Provisions
For the owner of Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods, social media plays a small role in his business. However, the business of customers posting polarizing reviews praising and whining on Yelp does not.
“So what? I’m sorry… get over it — maybe next time you’ll get better treatment,” chuckled an unbothered, but grinning Dexter Weaver from the register, “I don’t have time for the negative. I don’t read any reviews — good or bad. Dorothy, don’t forget to stir that chicken!”
In fact, when a restaurant is basically an historical Athens landmark, likes and comments and ratings do not seem to matter in a world where changing Instagram algorithms play games with businesses trying to gain exposure and remain relevant. It’s all about merit.
Located on Broad Street near the corner of College Avenue in downtown Athens is The Mayflower restaurant. Since 1962 Ricky Vaughn and his family have been feeding locals and students and passersby in their timeless, hole-in-the-wall eatery for early morning breakfasts. The menu is simple and straightforward and doesn’t change. Nor does their marketing strategy. The Mayflower is a famous name to Athenians and people visiting. Word of mouth, and alumni parents bringing their student children to their favorite breakfast place, is what keeps the restaurant going. They don’t have any social media or even a website. They survive on merit and being the “oldest in town.”
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Mr. Vaughn.
