Review incentives? A Full Disclosure guaranty.
Posted by mike | Filed under Meta
I’ve recently had two different restauranteurs take note of this blog and offer up a free meal in hopes that I might write it up. That has forced me to make a decision: do I accept the meals and write them up, reject them in the interest of maintaining a level of independence. I’m choosing to pursue the latter, but I’m fully documenting that decision here and in any post that reviews food offered up to me. Why? At the end of the day, my goal is to promote the high quality independent restaurants in Pittsburgh that deserve some attention. I view this as a way to expand my reach.
What does this mean for you, the reader? Well, hopefully not much. I’ll eat out, take some notes, and then write up what I think. If you’ve read any of my reviews, you’ll know that even the extremely positive ones are honest and willing to nitpick where necessary. That’s not going to stop because my meal was paid for. Honesty and full disclosure is rule one. If I don’t like what I eat, you’ll know.
The one benefit I really hope to pull out of this experience is the ability to interact with owners and pick their brains a little. I haven’t decided what format I’ll use to present that information (audio? text?), but it will definitely make it to this site for your benefit. From my perspective, that’s a real value add that I can give to little restaurants. The locals papers don’t have time for that kind of attention, but for at least a small set of establishments, I can make that kind of contribution to the information pool.
So far both restaurants have show interest in some sort of discussion/interview.
That said, I have one comment for restauranteurs: I tend to eat light meals that often lean vegetarian. Read back a few reviews, and you’ll find a slew of salads and primarily vegetarian meals. An all beef hot dog or rack of ribs does not fit the genre. I’ll eat the thing you want to promote, but you may be better off letting me pick something veggie. Just food for thought.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:24 am
Two comments:
1. I will gladly take all those free-meat offers off your plate.
2. You should definitely review Franktuary! I haven’t been there myself but have heard nothing but good things. PS – They have a veggie dog.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Hahaha. I Probably should bring a “meat buddy” when I hit up these places.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
And, I went to Franktuary today! I have lots of photos and even carried out an interview with Megan (the co-owner), so you can expect a post on that shortly.