Yelper exposes Long Beach brunch spot for serving Popeyes chicken http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/...ent=sfg_hp_zonec_hold_v1&ipid=sfghpholdreccos
California high court: Yelp can’t be ordered to remove posts Online review site Yelp.com cannot be ordered to remove posts against a San Francisco law firm that a judge determined were defamatory, a divided California Supreme Court ruled Monday in a closely watched case that internet companies warned could be used to silence online speech. (Associated Press)
Yelp adds health inspection scores for restaurants, and restaurateurs are not happy Starting Tuesday, Yelp is expanding across the nation a controversial program that pulls health-inspection data from government databases and places it directly on a restaurant’s page on the user-generated review site. Yelp is calling it a win for consumer food safety. Some restaurateurs are calling it a misleading ploy to draw more people to Yelp. (Spokesman-Review)
Someone Is About To Get Torched On Yelp (DealBreaker) If you’re wondering what’s behind the particularly blistering review of investment bank Evercore by Yelp user “SQNhedge,” be advised: Yelp, the review site for restaurants and local businesses, has hired Evercore to help defend the company against an activist investor, who recently called for a board shake-up and potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. Hedge fund manager SQN, which owns 4 percent of Yelp shares, released a presentation on Jan. 16, about the company’s “significant under performance,” and said that based on its own research “an immediate sale to a private equity firm could yield a $47 to $50 stock price.” The shares are currently trading at $37.59.
Yelp swaps restaurant phone numbers with Grubhub’s to boost referral revenue According to a Vice report, Yelp is “screwing over” restaurants by secretly removing their direct phone numbers under the “Delivery or Takeout” tab and replacing them with Grubhub’s referral line to justify charging a marketing fee. According to the report, Yelp started prompting customers to call Grubhub phone numbers in October 2018 after the 2 companies announced a “long-term partnership.” But restaurant owners claim they were never notified of the switch. What does it all mean? Grubhub offers a “marketing” service to restaurants, which includes being listed on the Grubhub platform, for between 15% and 20% of each order total -- they call it a “referral fee.” Basically, it’s free money. Also, the perfect swindle: If a customer is transferred to Grubhub (albeit unknowingly), why not opt to order through the company’s physical delivery service? But, delivery through Grubhub bills yet another 10% fee to the restaurant. “It’s not fair because this is our customer who called directly into our restaurant,” says Mohammad Zaman, an owner of a Brooklyn kabab and grill house. “It’s a trick.” Is it time to finally call a spade a spade? Earlier this year, Yelp avoided a Blackfish-esque takedown after snatching up the domain for the website Billion Dollar Bully, a crowd-funded documentary of the same name that takes aim at how the company extorts small business owners for advertising fees. And Grubhub isn’t a stranger to the shade either: In June, The Verge reported that Grubhub bought as many as 23k domain names that resemble some of the restaurants on their platform in order to upcharge customers with commission fees. @ Me Anything Wes Schlagenhauf, News Writer at The Hustle @wesschlagenhauf My review of the Yelp/GrubHub partnership thus far: “That’s one eh-shady meat-uh-ball-uh.” Show this thread Talk about the perfect fusion