It’s a great Saturday to hang out indoors at a coffee shop. It is 107 degrees today. Maybe ask for an iced drink! I wanted to talk just briefly about comments. I’m not sure how best to approach this so I’ll just explain the situation. There have been a few cases where someone would stumble across a post about a coffee shop and leave a comment critical of some aspect of the shop. I’ve usually just left these up on the site since I think some criticism is good. It forces innovation and improvement. Here’s where it gets tricky: Coffee shops are businesses and their owners have bills to pay, families to support, and lots of competition. It doesn’t help them when a negative comment shows up on an internet site and thus on searches. So I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that coffee shops are businesses and sometimes an innocent comment that criticizes a coffee shop can be viewed as a serious public relations issue by a coffee shop. Then I get calls and emails from the owner. All I’m trying to say is this: Criticism is ok (hey, we’re going to do more of it when we start doing reviews), and please think twice before you say something negative or maybe consider rephrasing how you say what you want to say. Thanks!
Thomas Chapin Ah yes… Freedom of speech is a tricky thing… My opinion is that coffee shop owners need to lighten up and realize that if people are saying things on the internet, they’re probably saying them double as much to their friends in real life. And if what people are saying is negative, then the coffee shop owners should take these comments and try to learn from them, not suppress them. 0 Reply June 4, 2006
steve Leighton Hi Chris I agree 100% I’ve seen some things in the past on other sites that really don’t have a great basis. I think the only time real negative things should be published is when they have approached the owner/manager and not got the positive response they expected. So easily people will make harmful throw away comments about people’s livelihoods without even telling them, or thinking of the consequences. I also question the ability of some people who leave very negative comments, how are they qualified and what is their background to come to their negative conclusions. But I also agree that if we want to raise the bar of true quality this information should be shared, but lets just think about it before we speak. Great Blog keep up the great work Steve 0 Reply June 4, 2006
Jason To me, it seems that the shop owners should deal with such comments — if seen on a website with open comment forums — with a comment themselves. There is nothing new about people being vocal with their opinions and it typically is the group that has a problem that try to talk the most. I have been talking on behalf of Cafe Evoke in Bozeman Montana at public meetings and have had people stand up and interrupt me to yell and scream. The ones that were for our ideas only came up to me after and in private. I think that all comments should be directed to the owners directly but if there is a problem, let the owners comment as well. ..be bold 0 Reply June 5, 2006
Chris Tingom Thanks everyone for the comments. As you can see, there is a little bit of disagreement on this topic. We’ll just play the cards out and see where things go. Thanks! 0 Reply June 6, 2006
