Restaurants threaten to sue food bloggers

A premier trade body wants certification for restaurant reviewers, and is threatening legal action against those who post bad reviews

The hospitality industry is threatening legal action against bloggers who ‘defame’ restaurants.

According to Sanee Awsarmmel, chairperson of Pune-based trade body Hospitality Industry of India, only 25 per cent of food bloggers are ‘genuine’.

The anxiety underlines the uneasy relationship between restaurants and bloggers. Also involved in this shuffle are PR professionals, whose brief is to liaise with bloggers and the media and ensure good publicity for the restaurants.

They know it all

When a restaurant invites a blogger over, it ensures that everything from hospitality to food is top-notch. The idea is for the bloggers to go back happy and generate good press.

Zomato is known as the Google for food. It’s a platform where people post about restaurants— evaluating taste, service, and pricing.

Some regular posters become reliable sources of information, and customers looking for new dining experiences often bank on their advice.

Restaurants and their PR teams see this as an opportunity for publicity and invite them over.

Bloggers use Instagram, TripAdvisor and even Google to share their experiences at a restaurant.

This eventually earns them a reputation as ‘social media influencers’.

But, say PR firms, many of those bloggers cheat: they buy followers. Restaurants give them food on the basis of their inflated numbers, hoping to get the word out.

The problem, say restaurants, is that many bloggers get used to the privileges, and put out bad reviews the moment they are denied free food and special treatment. Their nasty words can and does affect business.

A planned strategy

PR professionals and restaurant managements have a list of food bloggers and influencers.

The invitations are dished out in a hierarchy: the first to be invited are those who write for popular platforms and print publications.

The others are the ones with a large fan following on social media. Within the industry, they are called “the announcement guys”.

Some PRs lay down a condition: you get invitations only if you promise positive feedback.

Some influencers have turned into guest managers, offering to bring along Page 3 regulars so that the party gets talked about. They charge anywhere between Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 to share a list of people “who bring nothing else to the table but themselves, only to freeload on unlimited food and drinks,” says a PR professional who did not want to be named.

Is blogger licensing the answer?

Restaurateurs believe bloggers help increase business, PR executives need bloggers to spread the word, and for bloggers, it is a job. The three communities need one another.

The Hospitality Industry of India is talking about certification for food bloggers, and its threat of defamation against reviewers could drive out genuine, honest food reviewers.

It is not clear who certifies bloggers, and what happens to bloggers who write honest and unflattering reviews.

Giving away freebies and special privileges in expectation of positive press are in any case a bad practice.

The answer may be simple: bloggers abiding by good journalistic principles and following guidelines set by their own guilds. If they are dishonest and vindictive, they can be reined in with the help of existing law