Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "yelp"

The influence of Yelp on Sacramento restaurants

2011-11-21T00:35:30Z

With 2,624 Sacramento restaurants reviewed on Yelp, the capital city has thousands of restaurant-goers using Yelp to share their dining experiences with others. A recent study done by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Michael Luca found that local restaurants increase revenue 5 to 9 percent per star they gain on Yelp.

The Sacramento Press wanted to see if this finding held true for restaurants in the central city. Comments and ratings on Yelp appear to make a big difference, but Sacramento restaurant owners and managers say they aren’t so sure.

Luca combined data on Seattle restaurant revenues that he collected from the Washington State Department of Revenue and Yelp ratings of the restaurants in his sample and found that no matter the type of restaurant, as long as it was not a chain, revenue increases correspond to ratings on Yelp.

Sacramento seems to have a mixed bag of restaurant owners and managers who agree and disagree with the findings of the study. Restaurants vary in both the attention they pay to their Yelp scores as well as the significance they believe the scores have on overall revenue and the quality of the reviews themselves.

“We email our customers who leave negative reviews on Yelp. It gives us an opportunity to rectify situations that do sometimes unfortunately happen,” said Mathew Parker, general manager of 58 Degrees & Holding Co. “We have had people sit in our restaurant and Yelp us at the same time. The good comes with the bad on Yelp.... I bet Yelp ratings do affect our revenue, but I am not exactly sure how.”

Sacramento restaurant owners and managers who avidly follow their Yelp scores tend to agree that not every comment and star rating is accurate but there can be helpful critiques that are worth looking at.

“When we first opened, we checked it every day,” said Ryan Pierini, general manager of BarWest. “We definitely pay attention to Yelp and it most often supports the feedback we already get from our customers in person. We do have to take some Yelp reviews with a grain of salt.”

BarWest has made some menu changes since first opening. Fries coming with burgers is one of those changes.

“The complaints on Yelp were consistent with the complaints we had heard in person about fries not coming on the side of burgers,” said Pierini. “Yelp helps support what we already know and so we can make changes.”

Now, burgers at BarWest include fries on the side.

Luca’s study found that, by 2009, Yelp had provided the broadest review coverage of Seattle’s restaurants, supplying reviews for 69 percent of all the city’s eating establishments.

“We know that people are aware of our score and that it affects their perception of the restaurant,” said Noe Hernandez, general manager of Zócalo. “We don’t see people coming in though and telling us that they came to Zócalo based on our ratings or a reviews that they read on Yelp.”

Some Sacramento restaurant owners and managers question if people choose a restaurant based on reviews at all or if customers just hear of a restaurant because they Yelped for places near them with good food.

“We follow our Yelp score, but we haven’t found that it affects our revenue. Rarely do I hear anything about the score of the restaurant, but I do hear about people finding out about us on Yelp,” said Aziz Bellarbi-Salah, manager at Aioli Bodega Española.

Different restaurants have expressed differing opinions on the importance of either star ratings overall or individual comments.

“We typically check up on comments when we look at Yelp, but we don’t pay too much attention to ratings. We pay more attention to individual comments and reviews and take that as constructive criticism,” said Michael Ng, general manager at OneSpeed.

Manager Mathew Parker of 58 Degrees & Holding Co. disagreed.

“The words and star ratings do not always match up,” Parker said. “People can post really inaccurate reviews that have nothing to do with a business and are just looking to complain. Yelp only shows a general trend of a restaurant through star ratings.”

Some Sacramento restaurant owners don’t believe that Yelp makes much of a difference in consumer choice and don’t spend any time looking at Yelp.

“We don’t pay attention to Yelp at all. We don’t really care about it,” said David English, owner and chef of The Press. “We may have guests come in because of Yelp, but how it correlates to revenue and if it makes any difference overall, I don’t know.”

Sacramento restaurant owners and managers are uncertain of the effects of Yelp ratings on revenue, but what does seem to be agreed upon is that Yelp is a force that is difficult to measure, and they are undecided about how important Yelp scores actually are. If Sacramento restaurant managers and owners pay attention to Yelp or not, Yelp is actively growing in both popularity and restaurant coverage.

The Sacramento Press took to the streets to find out when and how people are using Yelp, if they consider the reviews on Yelp to be trustworthy, and whether the website is as influential as some predict in shaping consumer decisions in Sacramento.

Kenny Truong, a 29-year-old Elk Grove resident who works for the California Department of Health Care Services, said that he mainly uses Yelp to identify restaurants before trying them out.

Though he’s never written a Yelp review, Truong said he’d be likely to if he had an extremely positive experience at a business or restaurant.

Truong said he tends to stay away from businesses that get consistently poor reviews, but otherwise his decision to try out a new place is not highly affected by the number of stars on a restaurant’s profile.

“Most of the time I give businesses the benefit of the doubt because people have different tastes,” Truong said.

Amanda Moore, 23, is a human resources administrative assistant in Midtown. While she said she often uses Yelp to find new restaurants, she has also written approximately 15 reviews on the website.

“I’m most likely to go on Yelp when I’m happy with a business or when I’m seriously dissatisfied,” Moore said.

Jonathan Williams said he was inspired to write his first Yelp review after a positive experience with a new veterinarian he found on the website.

Williams, a 56-year-old volunteer at the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center, said he uses Yelp frequently and tends to favor businesses with the most stars.

Williams said he likes to do a lot of research before trying out something new and has found Yelp to be a fairly accurate tool in the process. So far, he said, he’s never gone to a highly rated restaurant or busines and disliked it.

Consumers should be cautious when using information found on the Internet, Williams noted. But he also said he has found most Yelp reviews to be trustworthy.

Clark Paramo, a 22-year-old student at Sacramento City College, said he mainly uses Yelp to see what others have said about restaurants and businesses he’s been to.

“I like to read the funny negative reviews,” Paramo said.

Though he’s never written a review himself, Paramo said he does have friends who use their smartphones to access Yelp and post comments while sitting at a restaurant.

Paramo said he finds that the majority of reviews accurately reflect the quality of restaurants and businesses he’s been to.

Dean Goding, 44, of West Sacramento, said he became familiar with Yelp through his job. Goding works at Mike’s Bikes on I Street in Sacramento, and he said he often checks the website to see what customers are saying about the shop.

While he encourages customers to comment on their experience, Goding said he thinks that others might use Yelp to purposefully hurt rival businesses by posting negative reviews, which decreases the credibility of ratings.

Goding said he also uses Yelp to check out new restaurants and tends to avoid the poorly rated ones. He has never written a review, and he said he prefers to show his support for a businesses in person.

“If I like a place, I’ll go back,” Goding said.

Kelly Priley, 31, is a mother and skincare products saleswoman. She said that she has found Yelp reviews helpful for researching service companies such as spas and salons.

Priley said she uses Yelp both before and after trying out a business, but that ratings don’t necessarily deter her from going someplace new.

“I’m pretty optimistic and open to trying things,” Priley said. “Maybe I’d be prone to go sooner or be more excited about a place with a higher rating, but I mostly use Yelp as a reference.”

Priley said she has submitted a few reviews but prefers reading other people’s comments to writing comments herself. If she likes a business, Priley said, she’s more likely to tell friends and use word-of-mouth advertising to share the news.

Overall, Yelp appears to be a popular reference regardless if a user submits a review. Though some admit to having reservations about the accuracy of reviews posted on Yelp, the simple star rating system helps consumers to at least identify businesses that might be worth a visit.

Is Yelp an effective tool for restaurant hunters and a financial benefit to businesses alike? Do you use Yelp, and if so, does it influence your choices as a consumer? Please share your comments below.

Margaret Hoyer contributed to this article.

Restaurants Are Hungry for Your Business; Social Media is Their Platter

2011-08-14T23:19:56Z

Let’s face it; those of us that use social networking sites are pretty much addicted. Whether you are connected through Facebook or Twitter—or both—you have a pretty good idea of what’s going on around town. Businesses that have been paying attention for the past two plus years are aware of this phenomenon and have leveraged social media to broaden their reach to potential customers. Restaurateurs are no different.

On Tuesday, the Social Media Club, Sacramento (@SMCSac) hosted the “Dining Social: Restaurants & Social Media” at The Urban Hive in midtown to discuss how local restaurants are using social media and the impact it has had on their business. Ashlee Gadd (@AshleeGadd), PR Manager for The Citizen Hotel and Grange, moderated the panel which included local restaurateurs, social media managers, and a representative from Yelp,

The discussion got off to a speedy start exploring which platforms each panelist mostly used, and the consensus was without surprise, Twitter and Facebook. The major differences panelists found in using these two social networks is that with Facebook, most fans have actually been to the restaurant and show more of a true consumer following, while many Twitter followers have never been to the restaurant but may be interested in upcoming events or specials. Karyn Wong, owner of Chick-fil-A in Arden Fair (@cfaArdenFair) mentioned that they have had a positive reaction by using deals on Foursquare. Although not every restaurant uses the deals, many of the panelists agreed that Foursquare has had a positive impact on their business.

When the topic of half off/daily deals arose, Andrea Lepore, co-owner of Hot Italian (@HotItalianPizza) was quick to point out that they have never used a daily deal, and don’t plan to. Some feel it devalues the image of the restaurant while others feel it gets the word out about the business. When addressing how social media played a role in each company’s overall marketing strategy, Gina Funk Nelson, Social Media Manager for Selland Group, which includes Selland’s Market-Cafe, Ella Dining & Bar and The Kitchen Restaurant (@SellandFamily), said they have pulled back on radio advertisements and other traditional marketing strategies due to the long term outreach and engagement strategy of social media. Other panelists have done the same. While balance is still needed between multiple channels, social media may seem to have the upper hand.

While not everyone may use Yelp to rate and review their dining experience, there are many Sacramentans that use it on a regular basis. Mike Costello, owner of the recently closed Brew It Up (@brewitup_sacto) noted that reviews appeared to only be written by those who had an extreme positive or negative experience, but not those in between. Alex Lane, Sacramento Community Manager for Yelp (@yelpsacramento), said that 83% of reviews are positive and the negative reviews are a reflection of overselling and bad experiences. A way to combat those negative reviews is for the restaurants to respond and examine the situation to see if it can be resolved and maybe even turn out a new positive review. While it’s difficult to imagine a restaurant could only have one type of review, most of the panelists agreed that every review should be used as potentially constructive criticism, and not be taken personally. Whether that’s actually done, is up to the restaurant.

Mona Romero, Social Media Director of The Sacramento Press (@SacramentoPress) said that Facebook ads have proved beneficial for the restaurants she works with. She recommends paying the minimum ad fee in the beginning and see where it gets you adjusting, if needed. She suggested using Google Alerts and the Twitter search bar to see what consumers are saying about your restaurant.

There is no doubt that operating a restaurant in a down economy can be difficult—and quite frustrating. What these local Sacramento restaurateurs have taught us is that connecting with the community through social media can not only increase sales, but it can build relationships as well. Social media is not an exact science and it does take time and finesse to really leverage it, but it can be extremely beneficial nonetheless.

In the traditional Social Media Club Sacramento fashion, panelists and attendees continued the conversation after the moderated discussion ended, enjoying food and wine from local businesses. David Cole from James David Cellars (@jamesdavidwine) poured wine and Chick-Fil-A and Hot Italian supplied the appetizers.

The next Social Media Club event will be on September 13th discussing LinkedIn for Business held at Drexel University.

If you would like to learn more about social media and its impact on various topics and industries, visit the Sacramento Social Media Club on Facebook or Twitter.

Disclosure: Kelsey Jacoby is on the Leadership Team for Social Media Club Sacramento

Musical Charis Opens the 2011 Hot Lunch Concert Series

2011-06-04T00:13:13Z

On Thursday, June 2, Sacramento saw the start of another year of the Hot Lunch Concert Series and a new free music event playing at Cesar Chavez Plaza; “Fiesta en la Calle” (Street Party).

The Hot Lunch Concert Series is a collaboration between Hot Italian, Sacramento News and Review and Friends of Fremont Park. Musical guests perform on Thursdays from June 2 to September 1 during the lunch hour (11:30 to 1p.m). Promoter Jerry Perry has put together a great lineup. Fremont Park, located on the corner of 16th and P Streets hosts the event.

Musical Charis was the first band scheduled to perform this year. The weather cooperated and made for a delightful lunch concert. People from around the area brought their lunch or took advantage of being across the street from Hot Italian and ordered their lunch from there.

Musical Charis had already begun their set when I got there and about 100 people or so where sitting in front of the stage. Children were running around enjoying the outdoors on a mostly sunny time of the day.

Locals and others enjoyed the music and company of neighbors and friends. Andrea Lepore, co-owner of Hot Italian took a little time to listen to the band and chatted with Jerry Perry and Tais’ immediate family.

I noticed two outdoor booths from two partners of the concert series; Metro PCS and Sacramento News and Review. Other partners for the concerts include CADA, Yelp, Midtown Business Association and the Sacramento Press.

Blake Abbey from Musical Charis at one point reminded the audience that the Hot Lunch Concerts will be held at Fremont Park. He also mentioned that Concerts in the Park is being held on Fridays at the Cesar Chavez Plaza. Both concert events are free and suited for music fans of all ages.

As they finished playing “Forward”, Abbey said they were going to be playing a few more songs and then a couple of kids from their musical school were going to perform. Musical Charis not only performs but also runs the Musical Charis School for Music. They offer a wide range of music programs including private music lessons, Music 4 Tots (for kids age 5 and below), song writing workshops, vocal boot-camp, recording sessions, recitals and more.

“Anatomy” from their 2009 Electra City Church Bells EP followed as they continued to play in front of the Fremont Park audience.

A harmonica intro started off “Tell Me” from their People People CD. A great mixture of guitar, bass, keyboards, harmonica, tambourines and congas created a great sound as Musical Charis played their set especially when they played their rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

“I Candy” was introduced by Abbey saying, “This song is about the over abundance of bands that moved to L.A. to try to make it but they ran out of make up so they didn’t make it.”

“We’ve been teaching music classes for about two and a half years in Sacramento. We started in Oak Park but we’re now located at the K Street Mall by the food courts. So if anybody has kids or adults that want to learn how to play music, first lesson is always free, and we’re really nice people on the weekends, and on the weekdays too.” said Abbey as he introduced Shawn and Bradley.

Their first song selection included a great acoustic guitar intro as a Sarah Teasdale poem was made into a song. They followed up with “For Sale” and ended their short set.

Musical Charis came back after their short break and played “Passport”, "Catwalk", "Fish" and "Heavy".

Back on the microphone Abbey said, "Promote local music and local art here in Sacramento. It’s a great place for it and encourage the economy to improve by buying some Hot Italian. Thank you again, thank you Jerry Perry, thank you Hot Italian and thanks to all of you."

Musical Charis ended their set with one of their signature songs “The Life”. As people left you could hear a couple of them whistling that same tune. Musical Charis will next perform on June 4th at the Second Annual "Art Happens" benefit event at the Sacramento Arts Complex located at 2110 K Street.

This was a great kick-off to the Hot Lunch Concert Series. If you plan to attend one of the concerts, you can call Hot Italian at 444-3000 and order any pizza and pick it up before going to the park. You can also get the Hot Lunch (a panini or insalata + a drink for only $10, tax included). Below is the schedule for the rest of the season.

2011 HOT LUNCH Line Up
6/2 – Musical Charis
6/9 – The Bell Boys
6/16 - Walking Spanish
6/23 – Richard March
6/30 – Kepi Acoustic with Dog Party Acoustic
7/7 - Shannon Curtis
7/14 – Gerald Pease Combo
7/21 – Island of Black and White
7/28 – Exquisite Corps
8/4 – The Freebadge Serenaders
8/11 – KB & The Slingtones
8/18 – The Nickel Slots
8/25 – Gillian Underwood
9/1 – Larrisa Bryski & Willie Seltzer

The Bee, Sac Press present 'Table Talk Sacramento' April 13

2011-03-23T19:01:04Z

Do you love talking about food? Do you flip to the food section of the newspaper before even reading the front page? Is a trip to the grocery store an excursion? For all you foodies, bloggers and lovers of Sacramento’s restaurants and food: The Sacramento Bee and The Sacramento Press have teamed up to bring you “Table Talk Sacramento: The region’s food community comes together for an evening of lively discussion.”

There will be two panels addressing different topics, including “What Sacramentans Eat” and the quality of local food writing.

Chris Macias will moderate the food writing panel. Macias has served as the Bee’s food and wine writer since 2008. The panelists include:

Niesha Lofing, who writes food and family stories for the Bee as well as a parenting column, Mom.me.
Catherine Enfield, a state worker by day and a local food blogger by night – or whenever she can sneak away to a computer. She is also a food truck advocate and co-organizer of the SactoMoFo mobile food festival scheduled for April 30.
Micah Rousey, who eats out at least five times per week and shares his experience on Yelp. He has contributed dozens of restaurant reviews and been named a member of the “Yelp Elite Squad.”

Allen Pierleoni will moderate the second panel, “What Sacramentans Eat,” which will cover local food trends. This panel consists of:

Rick Mindermann, an internationally known grocer and wine merchant and store director of Corti Bros. Market. He has 34 years in the food and wine business and acts as a personal assistant to Darrell Corti, who has been called “the man who knows the most about food and wine in the world.”
John Paul Khoury, the corporate chef for Preferred Meats, Inc., a premium meat company in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a focus on sustainable husbandry and smaller farm operations. He is also certified as a chef de cuisine with the American Culinary Federation.
Kelly McCown, the executive chef at Ella restaurant and a 1990 graduate of the California Culinary Academy. He was worked in the kitchens of Martini House, Flying Fish, Fleur de Lys, Hayes Street Grill and others, and he has been named “a rising star” and “top young chef” by several magazines, including Bon Appetit and Japanese GQ.

“Table Talk” will be at The Sacramento Bee, 2100 Q St., at 6 p.m. April 13. Source Global Tapas will provide light snacks.

The event will be live-tweeted by @sacramentopress using the hashtag #SacTableTalk.

The event is free, but registration is required. If you do not register, you will not be allowed to enter. Registration is limited to 160. To sign up for “Table Talk,” click here.

Come join the conversation as we discuss Sacramento’s rich food and restaurant culture.

Social Media for the Social Good—Non-profits Explore New Methods of Outreach

2009-11-20T04:17:59Z

Three local non-profit organizations were featured in a Sacramento Social Media Club panel on Tuesday evening hosted by the Sacramento State College of Continuing Education. The panel included Celia Cortez, Projects and Event Manager for the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Jordan Blair, Board Member for River City Food Bank; and Jon Benorden, Program Coordinator for the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Service (CARES). Lesley Miller, Media Director for 3Fold Communication, also sat on the panel. Moderator Josh Morgan, principal at Morgan/Dorado and program director for the Sacramento Social Media Club, focused the discussion on how non-profits are using social media to educate, engage, and build lasting relationships with their communities.

Facebook was the unanimous point of entry into social media for all three organizations. Cortez said the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber selected Facebook because it was the most popular platform among their member organizations; Blair choose Facebook for River City Food Bank because it is the platform upon which he spends the most time. “Facebook provides an easy way for people to connect with causes and non-profits thanks to its one-click ‘become a fan’ feature, “commented Morgan. River City Food Bank, where many of their long-term contributors are past retirement age, is finding that Facebook helps them to engage with the next generation of donors. However some of their loyal supporters are stepping out into social media as well; an 85 year old volunteer joined Facebook just so he could “friend” the River city Food Bank. Benorden said that their “old school” supporters are beginning to mesh with the new people they’ve engaged through their group & page on Facebook but that CARES still has a long way to go.

Both the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and CARES are also using Twitter to promote their organizations and causes. Miller said 3Fold encourages their clients to cross post on multiple social media platforms to increase the traffic among all the sites. For example, use Twitter to remind people the organization is on Facebook or create an event on Yelp and ask people to write a review. I frequently use Twitter to drive traffic to SARTA.org’s website or LinkedIn group where more detailed membership and event information is available.

CARES created both a group page and a fan page for its campaign “Are You the Difference” which strives to eliminate new cases of HIV in the Sacramento region by 2015. Benorden plans to expand the campaign to include other platforms like Flickr and YouTube. On YouTube, CARES wants to personalize and promote their campaign by featuring user generated videos about how individuals can be or are the difference in eliminating new cases of HIV.

The biggest challenge for all of the organizations is finding the time to manage and maintain their social media accounts. Cortez shared that she uses cross posting tools to lessen the amount of time she spends managing each platform the Hispanic Chamber employs. Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic were mentioned as free services for managing multiple accounts and platforms and Radian6 was recommended as a new professional service for this purpose. Benorden prefers to uniquely post to Facebook and Twitter to keep variety in the CARES messages, but he sticks to a common theme. Blair, who in addition to his responsibilities as a board member of the River City Food Bank works a full time job, schedules time on his weekly calendar to tend to his social media chores. When asked if a volunteer could handle the job, the general consensus among the panelists was that most volunteers and interns do not have enough depth or experience with the organization or its causes to determine social media platform content or to respond to questions and remarks received by followers and friends on the sites. For CARES, sensitivity to and experience with HIV/AIDS is a must for anyone representing the organization on its social media platforms.

The panel wrapped up with a discussion on event promotion using Facebook ads and other tools. All of the organizations are considering using Facebook ads and River City Food Bank has budgeted money for this purpose next year. Benorden pointed out that even if no one clicks through an “Are You the Difference” ad, if enough information is included about the campaign, there is value in people seeing the ad multiple times. Miller said 3Fold advises their clients to put nearly as much energy into post event promotion as they do pre event. Blair followed this advice after a recent River City Food Bank fundraiser, uploading event photos long into the night. The post event promotion is a valuable investment in the success of future events and helps those who attend feel more part of the organization—especially if they are featured in a photo!

After the panel ended, participants informally exchanged ideas on how they are using social media and also had a chance to meet the panelists and ask more questions. The event was live tweeted by volunteer Ira Cohen on behalf of @SMCSac using the hashtag #smcsac. The venue provided by Sacramento State College of Continuing Education is well equipped for meetings and seminars and the Senior Program Coordinator, Toni Ramirez shared that the college is considering offering courses on social media in the future.

Social Media Club, an international non-profit organization, brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaborators. The Sacramento chapter was founded in March of 2009 by local users of social media. Free events are normally held on the third Tuesday of each month, but in December, the group is planning a Holiday Party or “holitweetup” in partnership with SacTweetUp on December 10 at Hot Italian in midtown. In January, the normal schedule of monthly panels will resume. For information about the Sacramento Social Media Club and its events, join their groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter.

Photgraphs by Marie Young Photography. For more photos of this event visit her Facebook Page

Sacramento Social Media Club Leadership Team:

Julie Berge, Angela D'Arcy, Laura Good, Suzanne Hopkins, Ronnie Ledesma, Jeff Marmins, Josh Morgan