Gerard Leary, owner of Sweet Avenue in Sunnyside, Queens, has been in the bar and restaurant business since the beginning of Yelp. At this point has seen it all:
- Yelp reviews left for his business that were clearly about a different restaurant.
- When told there was a wait for a table, people have threatened to leave him a bad Yelp review if they weren't seated immediately.
- And, of course, Yelp has relentlessly tried to contact him in myriad ways to try and get him to pay to claim and manage his business listings.
No doubt this same stuff is happening to all bars and restaurants. So what do you do about it? Gerard has come to a simple, elegant solution: ignore it. All of it. Spend your time on other aspects of your business.
Here are some key takeaways from our conversation about Yelp: