Yelp is a site where anyone can write a review on a local business. Nimbus founder Storm Williams is quite the Yelper! The biggest subject that is Yelped about is restaurants and some restaurateurs in the know fear Yelpers.
But in an unexpected turn, one restaurant has banned yelpers.
An owner of a San Francisco Bay Area cafe [...] has posted signs in his two coffee houses that read “No Yelpers!!”
Why? Apparently the cafe owner wants to discourage any (more) customers from writing bad reviews of his businesses on the site. I’m pretty sure that’s not the way to do it.
But more importantly, it seems like that first homemade sign in a coffee shop means Yelp has come up in the world, if only a wee bit. It’s joining an esteemed list of cafe no-nos: no cell phones, no skateboards, no bare feet, no Yelpers.
From a public perception point of view, once you start banning critics, it gives the critics credibility. Currently Rooz Cafe of Oakland has 4 out of 5 stars as rated by Yelpers. Not bad… actually, very good. Why Rooz began banning Yelpers is a puzzler. If the criticisms were invalid… the ones likening the Rooz staff to Nazi’s was clearly over the top. The smart play would have been to INVITE Yelpers to come in - challenge the insane reviews.
As a business, it is always better to embrace your customers than shun them.
