Yelp = "fear propaganda and blackmail." Ignore it.

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 he's seen it all:

• Bad Yelp reviews left for his business that were clearly about a different business.
• 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 get him to claim and manage his business listings (i.e. pay them).

You've no doubt had the same or worse happen to you. So what do you do about it? Gerard has come to a simple, elegant solution: ignore it. All of it. Spend your time and money on other aspects of your business.

Here are some key takeaways from our conversation about Yelp:

• When deciding whether to engage with Yelp in any way, you've gotta weigh the pros and cons.
• That's the most obvious thing ever. But Gerard's perspective is noteworthy because he explicitly calls for a holistic accounting of those pros and cons: It's not just about whether you can afford it or if it could pay off with sales.
• Equally—if not more—important: Do you really have time for it? And most important of all: is engaging with it it worth it emotionally?
• Gerard's pro/con accounting led him to an absolutist position: ignoring Yelp completely, from responding to reviews to contact from their sales team. That's generally the position he recommends for bar and restaurant owners, though of course there is nuance.
• And despite that Gerard's built multiple successful bars and restaurants in his career. No matter that Yelp claims otherwise, Gerard is living proof: you truly don't need to engage with Yelp to become successful.

Check out the interview clips for more about how Gerard decided to totally ignore Yelp:

(And if you've got a Yelp horror story that you'd like to share, please reply to this email with the story!)

The last two weeks we ran a survey of Brave New Bar readers to see what topics they wanted to learn about. (If you haven't taken it, feel free to get your voice heard by taking the survey now.)

First, thanks so much to everyone who completed the survey—it was super helpful.

Second, here's a ranked list of what you want to learn about most (the number is the % of survey respondents who said they'd want to learn more about that topic):

1. Marketing (53%)
2. Pricing/dealing with inflation (44%)
3. Dealing with competitors (41%)
4. Staff training (38%)
5. How to stay on top of the latest trends (37%)
6. Staffing (34%)
7. Cultivating regulars (31%)
8. Inventory management (29%)
9. Dealing with Yelp, review sites (26%)
10. Managing finances, cash flow, etc. (26%)

Well you've spoken pretty resoundingly: marketing it is! We've already started putting out feelers to marketing experts, so you can expect many more marketing how-tos toward the end of spring and summer.

And for those of you interested in the other stuff, don't worry—we'll cover it all.

• With MLB games moving at a faster pace, at least 4 teams—among them the Minnesota Twins, the official team of this newsletter—are extending beer sales into the 8th inning. Historically beer sales ended after the 7th inning.
• Yahoo Finance interviewed Constellation Brands CEO who reported that inflation is affecting beer prices and sales in a worrying manner. Like many others, Constellation is planning to increase prices by 1%-2% to offset their increased production and transportation costs.
• And finally, since it's hard to ignore: Last week I mentioned a ridiculous "protest" of Bud Light by a small-minded former music star because of its association with a transgender influencer. Well, that "protest" mushroomed over the last week as more creeps decried "woke capitalism." Here's hoping this ends soon.