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The U.S. is Gettin’ Bizzy

January 27th, 2011

All Chapters

In less then three months, Mountain View based start up, Bizzy, has registered almost 120,000 local business favorites in the hopes of providing YOU with business recommendations for everything from a lunch spot to a mechanic.

We can all go to Google or Yelp and type in “lunch in San Francisco” or “sushi in Soho” but the thing is, we are all going to get the same results. Even if you like upscale fusion sushi and I like the all you can eat buffet. Bizzy, Bizzy.com, is changing that with their personalized local business recommendation engine powered by people with similar tastes to you.

The favorites that have been shared on Bizzy thus far have been used to make over 650,000 local business recommendations and with every new shared favorite, the recommendations Bizzy makes are getting that much better. So sign up and share Bizzy with your friends and family to get the scoop on where to eat, shop and play.

Bizzy has released lists of the most favorited local restaurants in the top 10 cities gettin’ Bizzy including San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, Seattle, Shreveport, La., Boston and Austin, Texas. Visit http://blog.bizzy.com/the-bizziest-cities-in-america to see the lists.

Top 10 Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area
1. Absinthe Brasserie & Bar
2. Pizzeria Delfina
3. Little Star Pizza
4. Yoshi’s San Francisco
5. Nopa
6. Cafe Borrone
7. DishDash
8. Coupa Cafe
9. La Fondue
10. Tied House Brewery & Cafe

Are some of your favorites in that list? Head to http://www.Bizzy.com and enter your favorites to start getting personalized local business recommendations. If you end up trying Bizzy and their recommendations, let them know how it goes! You could win $500 with their “Rec Check Challenge! Oh, and yes, there is an app for that: Bizzy.com/iPhone.

Tags: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, DC, dinner, eat, Google, Los Angeles, lunch, New York, play, recommendations, restaurants, San Francisco, shop, Washington D.C., win, Yelp
Posted in All Chapters | No Comments »

A Case Study in the Power of Social Media: The Restaurant Biz Responds to Yelpers

August 18th, 2010

All Chapters, Los Angeles

Meredith Davis Williams

During a panel discussion at the Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo in Los Angeles this past weekend, a Los Angeles chef brought up the topic of Yelp reviews. While this chef was in mid-sentence, Yelp’s Business Outreach Manager Luther Lowe happened to be walking by and stepped into the room to join the conversation.

An interesting discussion ensued, focusing on issues related to negative reviews by Yelpers with no restaurant or culinary training and the increasing need for chefs (and other local business owners) to join the Yelp conversation.

With over 12 million user reviews and approximately 33 million views per month,* the power of Yelp’s word of mouth loud speaker is having a significant impact on local restaurants. Yelp has given millions of users the power to review restaurants’ chefs, menu items, wine lists, drink specialties, service, and ambiance and publish to an audience of millions of viewers – a power that was once reserved only for professional food and wine writers working for traditional publications.

As a result, Yelp is changing the way restaurateurs and chefs interact with their customers, as well as the way they must handle both their formal and informal public relations and marketing efforts.

On the positive side, Yelp is making the world of restaurant reviews a more democratic process rather than an elitist one. This process allows local restaurants which might not have received attention from traditional print or online food writers to receive a new type of media attention that can be a powerful force in generating new customers. In addition, Yelp allows restaurateurs, chefs, and front-of-the-house managers to receive real-time customer feedback that they can use to quickly evaluate and adjust everything from their menu choices to hiring choices.

On the negative side, for many chefs and restaurateurs who have amassed years of training in the culinary arts and whose restaurants are the result of considerable blood, sweat, and tears, Yelp’s democratic force in the world of reviews means that reviewers with no understanding of or training in the restaurant industry or the culinary arts can slam a chef for one off night or because they don’t understand what a particular dish is supposed to taste like.

Also problematic is the fact that the democratic masses of reviewers are not part of the traditional institution of journalism, which carries with it principles of responsible reporting (in theory at least…). An average Yelp reviewer is not likely to research the chef, his or her past experience, or the background of a particular menu’s cuisine influences before writing a good or bad review as would a traditional food critic.

The power of Yelp, however, is a reality that restaurants and other local businesses must now take into account in their business practices. As Yelp’s Lowe emphasized, businesses have an important voice on Yelp. Yelp provides businesses with the ability to take ownership of their listings by unlocking them on the site, allowing businesses to put information out there for the Yelp audience. Yelp also provides businesses with the ability to respond to reviews both publicly and privately, giving them an equal voice in the conversation and a means to reach out to customers who had negative experiences.

Lowe also emphasized Yelp’s efforts to maintain the integrity of the site’s reviews. As he explained in a follow-up conversation, Yelp employs a filtering technology to help ensure (to the best of its ability) that only trustworthy reviews end up on businesses’ pages. **

While it can be overwhelming for chefs, restaurateurs, and other business owners to have an endless parade of critics to contend with, social media outlets such as Yelp are here to stay and will continue to play an important role in influencing consumer decision-making. Only restaurants and other businesses that take a proactive approach to social media, incorporating this new force into their marketing plans, will be able to take advantage of its benefits.

* See http://www.yelp.com/about

** For more information about Yelp’s filter system, watch this: Yelp\’s Review Filter

Meredith D. Williams is on the executive board of Girls in Tech LA and writes for girlsintech.net on topics ranging from wine technology to the intersection of law and technology. In her day job, Meredith is a partner at Miller | Williams LLP, an employment litigation and counseling law firm. She helps businesses handle employment issues, including legal compliance, hiring, discipline, terminations, sexual harassment, workplace policies, disability accommodations, medical and pregnancy leave, and wage and hour, counseling them on a day-to-day or situation-by-situation basis and defending them against employee lawsuits. Follow Meredith: @MerEsqLA and caemployersresources.com

Tags: Chefs, food critics, girls in tech, Los Angeles, Luther Lowe, marketing, Meredith D Williams, public relations, real-time customer feedback, restaurants, social media, traditional journalism, user reviews, Yelp
Posted in All Chapters, Los Angeles | 5 Comments »

Online Resources for Women to Ring in the New Year

January 5th, 2010

All Chapters

Adriana Gascoigne

As we venture into 2010, I can’t help but get excited about new and innovative internet tools and resources that will launch this year, which will help us become more efficient, effective and productive, both professionally and personally. In 2009, there were certainly a lot of cool tools that served as fantastic resources for my very active lifestyle, and I’m sure that they will continue to be useful in the coming years. Check out my list and please comment on sites and web resources that were useful to you this year!

Be a Better Networker

Organize Your Finances

LearnVest

Mint.com

BillShrink

Find That Perfect Vacation

Entertain Yourself

Yelp

Craigslist

DapperUp

Bargain Shop Online

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, BillShrink, Chitopia, Craigslist, DapperUp, facebook, GiltGroup, girls in tech, Kayak, LearnVest, linkedin, Mint, Ning, Online resources, Polyvore, RUBA, Sale.com, Shopittome, Squidoo, Tripadvisor, Tripcart, TripIt, Tripwiser, twitter, Weardrobe, women, Yelp
Posted in All Chapters | 11 Comments »

Girls in Tech Welcome “The Women of BD”

April 6th, 2009

All Chapters, San Francisco

Tina Tran

In conjunction with the Web 2.0 Expo last week, Girls in Tech organized a special evening panel on “The Women of BD” featuring the heads of Business Development from Yelp, AdBrite, Bebo and CBS Interactive. The event was a standing-room only, smashing success with well over a hundred people in attendance!

A week earlier, I learned about the Girls in Tech event through a friend. Having six years of BD experience, I was intrigued, and my very first GIT event did not disappoint. The panelists talked candidly about their experiences in BD, discussed how the BD role has changed in today’s challenging economic environment, and gave advice on how to make a career transition to BD.

Afterwards, as the panelists stuck around to chat with attendees, I stole one-on-one time with Sonia Survanshi McFarland from Yelp who gave me insightful advice when I asked her, “What should I be doing to move up in my company?”. She prefaced her tips by advising, “You should be doing the job that you want for a while before expecting to get the title that comes with it.” (ie, in order to be promoted to VP, you should already be preforming at a VP level before asking for a promotion)

Sonia’s Tips on Moving Up

1.) Make yourself indispensable. Position yourself to be strong where your boss may be weak, and offer to step in and handle aspects of the job that your boss hates doing.
2.) Be visible and take credit for your work! Women tend to be modest about our achievements, whereas men generally don’t have this problem. It’s important to shine and celebrate our achievements.
3.) Be in the know. Know how changes in the industry and overall economic environment affect your company. Take a thought leadership position, proactively contribute ideas and provide creative solutions to problems.

The Women in BD event delivered exactly what i was hoping to see — women having fun and helping each other. By the end of the evening I was certain I wanted to be a part of Girls in Tech.

A big thanks to Jessica Alter (Bebo), Sonia Survanshi McFarland (Yelp), Lucy Jacobs (AdBrite), and Jennifer Vescio (CBS Interactive) for sharing your BD experiences with us, and to Peter Pham (BillShrink) for moderating the session!