Food Businesses and the Social Web
Disclaimer: while I have smelled the donuts, I haven't tasted them. This post isn't about the food. On most of the links in this post, it's important to read the comments to get both sides of the story.
Over the last two weeks, online controversy has raged about a new business operating in the miniscule Strip District location that used to be home to Caffe Intermezzo. It brings up some important questions about the PR side of running a foodie business, business questions of maintaining a personal presence on the web, and the politics of where we choose to spend our money.
Here's the story:
So since I can't have it both ways, I think what I really wish is for business owners to be more responsible for their online persona. Then I wouldn't have to make anti-donut choices. I'm a publicist and marketer by trade, and my first thought on reading Razete's blog was OMG Dude should have deleted this blog as soon as he decided to start a business.* For about 50 reasons.
But I get the other side, too: why should I be expected to build a brick wall between my personal life and my business life? And after attending an awesome Podcamp Pittsburgh 4 last weekend, I've come to this conclusion: You can do anything you want online, but you've got to be prepared for the consequences.
If you want to have separate professional and personal lives on the web, you can do that. Keep your blog private or blog anonymously.** Protect your Twitter updates. Use super-secret security settings on Facebook. Confine conversation topics that could alienate customers to face-to-face interactions with close friends. Generally avoid saying things online that could negatively impact your business. Strive for your product - in this case, donuts - to be the focus of conversations about your business.*** Remove the static about your personal life.
If you want to bare your soul online, you can do that, too. You can, as Ron Razete did, broadcast your political opinions to the world (thanks, First Amendment!). It's totally legal to say things that offend people. But you have to realize that some of those people might be your customers, and that they have no obligation to support your business if you have offended them. If you choose not to compartmentalize your personal life and your business, you can't be angry when others don't compartmentalize it for you. And on the web, your detractors have just as much of a right to say their piece as you had to say yours.
Dear readers, I'm very interested in hearing from you about this (new and rare) intersection of food, business and politics here on Burghilicious. What responsibility do restaurant owners have to maintaining their online presence? I'm particularly interested in how other restaurants and food businesses manage their online presence, and if they think about these issues.
And then we'll be back to our regularly-scheduled navel-gazing gluttony. I'm wondering if homemade donuts might be in order.
*In an unrelated-to-the-political-story tangent, Kevin Sousa did a similar thing recently in a post called Stop Reading Food Blogs. I've interviewed Kevin on this site and gone to some of his private dinners, so I'm making the assumption that he wasn't talking about me, but it was an... interesting... post from someone who is in the process of opening a restaurant. Kevin is on the other end of the popularity spectrum and is basically a darling of the Pittsburgh foodie establishment. The publicist in me disagreed with posting this at all; the Kevin Sousa fangirl cheered another great rant; the food blogger was sad and confused. To feel better, I went and scarfed some Yo Rita tacos.
**The practicality of anonymous blogging, particularly if your blog gets popular, is still up for discussion.
***That's where I really feel for Razete, because by all accounts the donuts are good, and that's where he wants the focus to be: on his tasty donuts. But his personal writings have totally overshadowed his product.
October 19: Post-script: Oh looky, the Post-Gazette chimed in on the issue. And 2 out of 2 publicists agree that publicists rule.
Over the last two weeks, online controversy has raged about a new business operating in the miniscule Strip District location that used to be home to Caffe Intermezzo. It brings up some important questions about the PR side of running a foodie business, business questions of maintaining a personal presence on the web, and the politics of where we choose to spend our money.
Here's the story:
Now, I am certainly in a quandary. I want locally-owned food businesses to succeed, but I'd rather not buy anything from people who broadcast hatred for the GLBT community and say that people with my political beliefs are stupid, evil, un-American and/or immoral. Do I want his business to fail? Not really. But I can't say I'm excited for his success now, either.Ron Razete had blog on which he espoused his political beliefs, alignment with the religious right, and disapproval of homosexuality. Much of the political content was vitriolic. After posting for about 18 months, he opened a food business named Peace, Love and Little Donuts, with the tagline, "Feed your inner hippie." Foodies patronized the business happily for about 6 weeks. But then, some foodies who really liked the donuts but also happen to be gay found his blog.
The gay foodies were pretty upset. They felt betrayed that someone with a hippie-themed donut shop could actually be, well, anti-hippie. They began a public campaign to discourage patronage of Razete's business. The campaign included using the site Urbanspoon to make (legitimate, supported) claims about his beliefs. Razete felt unfairly targeted, and said he didn't think that his political and religious beliefs should be brought into a conversation about the food he makes and the business he runs. He took down the blog and petitioned Urban Spoon to remove negative comments, a move that only fueled the debate.
So since I can't have it both ways, I think what I really wish is for business owners to be more responsible for their online persona. Then I wouldn't have to make anti-donut choices. I'm a publicist and marketer by trade, and my first thought on reading Razete's blog was OMG Dude should have deleted this blog as soon as he decided to start a business.* For about 50 reasons.
But I get the other side, too: why should I be expected to build a brick wall between my personal life and my business life? And after attending an awesome Podcamp Pittsburgh 4 last weekend, I've come to this conclusion: You can do anything you want online, but you've got to be prepared for the consequences.
If you want to have separate professional and personal lives on the web, you can do that. Keep your blog private or blog anonymously.** Protect your Twitter updates. Use super-secret security settings on Facebook. Confine conversation topics that could alienate customers to face-to-face interactions with close friends. Generally avoid saying things online that could negatively impact your business. Strive for your product - in this case, donuts - to be the focus of conversations about your business.*** Remove the static about your personal life.
If you want to bare your soul online, you can do that, too. You can, as Ron Razete did, broadcast your political opinions to the world (thanks, First Amendment!). It's totally legal to say things that offend people. But you have to realize that some of those people might be your customers, and that they have no obligation to support your business if you have offended them. If you choose not to compartmentalize your personal life and your business, you can't be angry when others don't compartmentalize it for you. And on the web, your detractors have just as much of a right to say their piece as you had to say yours.
Dear readers, I'm very interested in hearing from you about this (new and rare) intersection of food, business and politics here on Burghilicious. What responsibility do restaurant owners have to maintaining their online presence? I'm particularly interested in how other restaurants and food businesses manage their online presence, and if they think about these issues.
And then we'll be back to our regularly-scheduled navel-gazing gluttony. I'm wondering if homemade donuts might be in order.
*In an unrelated-to-the-political-story tangent, Kevin Sousa did a similar thing recently in a post called Stop Reading Food Blogs. I've interviewed Kevin on this site and gone to some of his private dinners, so I'm making the assumption that he wasn't talking about me, but it was an... interesting... post from someone who is in the process of opening a restaurant. Kevin is on the other end of the popularity spectrum and is basically a darling of the Pittsburgh foodie establishment. The publicist in me disagreed with posting this at all; the Kevin Sousa fangirl cheered another great rant; the food blogger was sad and confused. To feel better, I went and scarfed some Yo Rita tacos.
**The practicality of anonymous blogging, particularly if your blog gets popular, is still up for discussion.
***That's where I really feel for Razete, because by all accounts the donuts are good, and that's where he wants the focus to be: on his tasty donuts. But his personal writings have totally overshadowed his product.
October 19: Post-script: Oh looky, the Post-Gazette chimed in on the issue. And 2 out of 2 publicists agree that publicists rule.
One thing I'd like to tease out is the idea of Mr. Razete using a deceptive branding/marketing strategy. He's entitled to his homophobic beliefs and he's even welcome to bring them into the marketplace in accordance with local laws, of course.
My objection is that he is using a dinengenuous "peace/love/hippie" message to essentially trick us gay folk and gay supporters into patronizing his store. He wants our money, but labels us an "immoral minority" which is the height of hypocrisy. He won't refuse us service, but he does want to deny us equality.
I don't like being deceived by a business owner. If he had opened Ron's Donuts and done everything else the same, this would have been an old story weeks ago. The fact that he intentionally set out to lure us into his store and then cried foul when we discovered the truth --- well, cry me a river.
Razete has no hesitation about his beliefs. His Facebook page is public and he posts his thoughts on the gay community there for anyone to see. So the idea that he's a poor persecuted small business owner is ridiculous. He's a bigot who tried to play both sides of the card and got caught.
October 16, 2009, at 2:31 PMI have been thinking a lot about this as well, thanks for putting these questions out there! I was one of the people who raved about his donuts before reading his blog / Facebook, and now I will never patronize his shop again. It is a shame, because I enjoyed the donuts, but I just cannot support a shop or a shop owner who actively advocates against who I am, against my very dignity and worth as a human being.
I don't particularly wish ill on Razete, but it is my hope that he will consider the effects of what he publishes on his fellow human beings (and customers!). Donuts are not a necessary item in my world -- there are plenty of other options to satisfy a sweet tooth where I don't feel I have to compromise my values. I don't expect to agree with the views of everyone and every business I patronize -- but if I know that my dollars, by proxy, will go to causes that actively campaign against my personhood you had better believe I am not spending my money there and will ask everyone I know to do the same.
If I had never read Razete's blog, I would never have known and I would probably have happily continued to buy and eat his donuts. But after reading it there is no way for me to go back. Free speech is a wonderful thing and he is free to exercise it, yet when you alienate people, especially groups of people there are consequences. Social media has made it easier to spread the word and this can be good and bad for a business, for better or worse things are changing.
October 16, 2009, at 2:47 PMInteresting piece - I had been vaguely following the Razete donut 'thing' through blogs, etc. and wasn't sure what to think. I also read Sousa's scathing piece awhile ago and wasn't sure what to think of that either. I suppose I essentially chose to ignore both - or simply separate the opinions from the food.
I have not yet been to Peace, Love, and Little Donuts. And I am not in any rush to get there. The guy shot himself in the foot, plain and simple. It will be interesting to see what happens. In this case, when one's views are so controversial, its likely best for them to be kept private. This isn't just for the 'food world' - this is for anyone. I'm pretty sure my employer would also take issue if I was posting similar remarks without anonymity.
I have been to Yo Rita and at one point in time was to attend a Sousa dinner (it was canceled). His rant briefly made me feel uneducated and 'stupid' for thinking I could have an opinion on food (I am an accountant). However, I then felt annoyed - I'm writing about his place, telling others about it, and not getting paid a cent for it, in fact, I'm patronizing his restaurant and paying to eat there! If my blog post is going to affect his life's work, then something must certainly be wrong with my Wordpress stats function. However, I will return to Yo Rita - its damn tasty!
October 16, 2009, at 3:08 PMone thing that is interesting, is if you go to ron's facebook page, he claims in one status update that he "can live with out the GLBT" community's support. Apparently he thinks that this is a very marginal group without friends, relatives, etc that care about them and their existence. Poor assumption, since I had previously bought donuts, but have many GLBTQ friends. Sure, I might give money to bigots every day, but they don't post every thought about their politics, my views, and my friends online in connection to their business.
October 19, 2009, at 10:28 AMI have my own hunch about where the Sousa rant came from, but what cracked me up is that I can't think of a single Pittsburgh food blogger who has said anything that wasn't glowing about the man. So on the one hand, the whole thing could have had that kind of petulant "I am an artiste, how dare you cretins criticize my work?" tone. But then I also have to think that he's got a tongue-in-cheek agenda in there too: every restaurateur can now benefit from sucking up to food blogs as well as to the mainstream media... but they don't have to like it. And the reality we live in now is one in which, yes, every a*hole with an opinion can find an audience for it on the web. So deal with it, bucco!
Anyhow, Sousa's sort of the enfant terrible of the whole Pittsburgh food establishment these days, so he's allowed to say things that more established and/or less talented chefs couldn't get away with. If I were even more skeptical, I might say that his blog and ranting is calculated to cultivate that bad-boy image. Still, though, the man can cook. (Are a*holes with opinions allowed to be complimentary? :) The lamb ragu taco I had at Yo Rita last week was seriously awesome.
October 19, 2009, at 9:01 PMThe name Peace Love & Little Donuts & slogan: Feed your inner hippie is mis-reprentation. One of Razettes blog posts said that "people with causes" were also idiots going on to explain that people with causes for things such as trees or any kind of nature thing. I'm paraphrasing from memory when I read it but that is about 90% accurate.
I don't care about his political beliefs but the angry expression of those beliefs and then not taking credit for getting out of hand angry is what is wrong. Urban Spoon let Razette comment on his own restaurant. He says it is the gays who don't like him because he is Christian. But Urban Spoon will not allow any comment about Razette's blog which is messed up because Urban Spoon exists so that people can decide where to eat.
I posted a very thoughtful post saying I work in the Strip, have eaten the donuts which are cute & okay. Going on to say where I spend my money is one of the most political things I can do and that it was a tough one to support so I would consider money spent at Razettes as money spent towards my own personal growth, practice of peace, & tolerance.
Urban Spoon removed my review. Messed up.
October 20, 2009, at 4:30 PMThis is my review on Urban Spoon. Urban spoon keeps removing my review(s) but keeps Ron Razette's review up along with 'a friend' reviews talking about how 'gays and pro-gays don't like his shop because he is Christian'. I cannot find any contact info for Urban Spoon to see why my posts are being censored. I've reviewed 9 other restaurants and Razette has reviewed only his, in bias. Why is his review still up?
October 20, 2009, at 4:48 PMHere's my latest review that has been up for 1 hour:
I work in the Strip District & have tried the Very cute little donuts packaged in nice little tin trays with see through containers. I liked the cake style.
Too bad I later read the owners blog where he talks about 'people with causes' describing the causes as anything to do with trees or similar environmental concerns as ridiculous. The business name, Peace Love and Little Donuts and the slogan feed your inner hippie is misleading due to the aforementioned and many other factors.
I'm not sure why Urban Spoon is removing posts that mention this. Urban spoon is a website used to help people decide where one wants to eat.
Why do certain people assume and take for granted that being against homosexuality and having the personal belief that the practice of it is immoral automatically mean someone doesn't believe in peace and love? That's what's baffled me about the anti-donut shop people.
So just because someone is against a certain lifestyle and has moral objections to it, he's a hateful person? He is incapable of loving someone he disagrees with? He is violent because he is "on the wrong side" of some sort? Since when is someone who stands against something automatically hateful?
I know many people who claim "peace and love" but rail on conservative people or Christian people, or people of any religion for that matter. So then aren't they hateful and also proclaiming the falsehood of peace and love because they disagree with someone's lifestyle or religious/political choices?
It seems to be a two way street that the anti-donut man aren't willing to own up to.
October 20, 2009, at 6:32 PM@Kelly: I know what you mean. There can be anger and vitriol on both sides of the coin, which is why I didn't choose to focus on the exact beliefs in this post (though it is certainly clear where I stand).
What I'm talking about is how does a business owner's personal beliefs and public image tie to their business? In this case, Ron Razete's beliefs were certainly not expressed through peace and love. For instance, from the inauguration day post: "...The Conservative base of the Republican Party is too well-mannered for that. I'm not, but they are. I believe in the golden rule, except in politics and on play grounds. There, the only thing the Golden Rule gets you is bullied and marginalized with a reputation for being a pushover. My "new tone" would be to return double the pain they dish out. Double the insults, double the rhetoric, double the vitriol."
Now there have been some, like Michelle up there, who have called on people to consider patronizing the donut shop as an exercise in love and tolerance of those with different views. And I can definitely see the benefit of a "turn the other cheek" strategy, as far as personal growth is concerned.
The problem is that I don't think most people view a donut purchase as an opportunity for personal growth. I read through the comments here, and no one calls Ron Razete hateful. They just saw his writings - his freely offered, public, personal expressions - and decided they would rather not patronize his shop.
October 20, 2009, at 7:07 PMNo one is being deceived here. Where the problem lies is in the lack of responsibility in posting his personal views online.
Of all the places we give our money to on a daily basis, do we really know how many of those owners hold views and opinions opposite to ours? No.
Like Lauren said, do not support the business if you do not believe in it. It is that simple in this case. Freedom goes both ways.
November 5, 2009, at 11:56 AM