Botto Bistro, an Italian restaurant in the San Francisco area, claims that Yelp is basically the equivalent of the online mafia. Co-owner Davide Cerretini claims that after he stopped advertising on Yelp their reviews turned negative and a positive review even vanished.
Fed up with Yelp, Cerretini decided to do the unthinkable and aspire to be the worst reviewed restaurant on the site; going so far as to offer 25% off to customers who left a one-star review. Suffice it to say that Yelp is not pleased and has resulted in the online site to send a threatening email. However that has not stopped them. Check out their website it is hilarious, bottobistro.com.
Cerretini said to the SF Gate “I don’t have anything against Yelp. The idea is fantastic, but the blackmailing thing is ferocious,” says Cerretini. “I think I should be the one deciding if I’m on the site or not. At least I can be there on my terms. The only power they have is they make you reliable to them. So, I’m going to be one of the most unreliable restaurants.”
“I want to be the worst restaurant there is in the Bay Area,” he says. “I think this is the best business move I have made in years.”
Some of these Yelp reviews are pretty entertaining.
Thanks for the tip Todd. You can read more here.
BosGuy 