Posted by molasses on February 24
Posted on February 18, 2016 -Chef Dakota Coburn (Centro Latin Kitchen) Day 1: The First Bite As it was, Alison and I had to fly in on the red eye to Cancun, rent a car, then drive an hour and a half south to our destination in Tulum. Let me tell you, this sounded great when we first plannd it, but it was one hell of an adventure driving on no sleep in a country you don’t know too well. Renting a car in a language you speak mediocre at best is also slightly difficult. And I highly recommend making sure you get the car rental from the place at the airport (I somehow managed to find one just outside the airport, and it was a bit tricky getting in touch with them at 6am). Upon arrival at our hotel around 9am we found out we were unable to check in until noon. We walked straight to the beach in our clothes and fell asleep for an hour to recharge. When we woke up it was time to find some grub. Feeling pretty hungry, we walked to the closest restaurant we could find, a beach front restaurant at a hotel, no idea the name (Tia Tulum?). We started off with 2 Micheladas and some Guacamole. Perfectly fried chips arrived at the table along with a generous portion of smashed avocados seasoned simply with salt, pepper, lime, garlic and a little cilantro and… [ Read More ]
Posted in: Uncategorized | Comments (12)
Posted by molasses on February 19
For the California restaurateur Andrew Gruel, poor online reviews demand rapid responses. One of his new Slapfish restaurants, serving sustainable seafood, was hit this year with dozens of bad reviews that complained about its prices (too high) and portions (too small). So Mr. Gruel pulled out all the stops. He sent emails to customers begging them to come back. And he rejiggered menu prices, increased portion size and even introduced combo meal deals. Quickly, those one-star reviews shifted into five stars. “You can get buried by bad reviews,” said Mr. Gruel, whose fast-casual restaurants serve food like fish tacos and lobster burgers. “So it’s a race to stop the bleeding.” The payoff, he added, can be tremendous. Turning around one-star reviews creates lifetime customers — and better reviews draw more customers. Mr. Gruel’s extreme approach to bad reviews may sound like overkill. But studies show that consumers overwhelmingly choose businesses based mainly on star ratings. Even a decline of one star, on a scale from one to five, can hurt revenue and send a business into a slide. So tracking a business’s online reputation is a critical part of building a thriving company, experts said. “Star ratings persist forever,” said Daniel Lemin, author of “ManipuRated: How Business Owners Can Fight Fraudulent Online Ratings and Reviews.”“Meanwhile, actual reviews can fall off the first pages of review sites. And consumers rarely read reviews older than three months.” After problems are addressed and solved, he added, there’s a high chance… [ Read More ]
Posted in: Uncategorized | Comments (9)
