Eat: The PR Folks Archives
Adventures in Marketing: Pop Burger on Facebook
The new Pop Burger on 58th Street, last seen here, is throwing a preview party this Saturday night and is using Facebook to promote the soirée. Now usually preview events are list-only affairs and, really, a total crap shoot. To go with Facebook is a novel idea for the New York restaurant scene, and the reason we're on board is because many key facts about the party, facts usually unavailable, are there for all to see. Such as that 633 people were invited, there are 52 confirmed guests, 50 maybes, and 139 nos. Those numbers don't indicate a total mess. Unfortunately, by way of measuring what the taste-makers think, among the declines are doorman Wass and West Coast celeb blogger Perez Hilton. But, if you do go, you might see hosts Adam Alpert and Zev Norotsky, or the owner of 49 Grove (yes, still open) Aram Sabet. Also, of import in part because it's a Saturday night, the girl-guy ratio looks solid.
When Jennifer Baum starts putting her clients on Facebook, our work here will be done.
· Sneak Preview POP Burger + Lounge [Facebook]
Update: It was fun while it lasted. The event has been removed from Facebook. And now, with incomplete intel, unable to track the girl-guy ratio, we're going to skip it.
Eater How-Not-To Special Update: Steven Hall Has 7 Tips, Too
Just a little while ago, we shared some thoughts on an epically bad party Steven Hall threw at Bun last night. Here now, he responds.
I thought I was done answering your snide comments about the work we do, but since I've been doing restaurant openings much longer than Eater has been in existence here are my seven tips:"You don't like duck tongues and hearts, and you call yourself an "eater"!" >>
Eater How-Not-To: Throwing A Grand Opening Party at Bun
At Bun: Ostensibly, at some point there was food besides half a lime on this plate.
The Hall Company threw a grand opening party at their shiny new Vietnamese restaurant client Bun (pronounced "Boone") last night. This party was an absolute, total, unmitigated, unbearable, unrelenting, horrendous, brutal, horrendously-brutal, brutally-horrendous, wait for it, wait for it some more, we're just about there, shitshow. To be clear, this was not a friends and family tasting, where, sure, mistakes and problems happen. This wasn't even a mid-level opening night horror show. Since there will be many more opening night parties in this town and no one likes to see bad parties happen to good people—though this is quite possibly the last of the Hall Co invites we'll get—here are a couple of party tricks, all from last night, that we'd now like to highlight as things to avoid.
2) If you're throwing a party for a new client, kindly stick around to ensure it goes smoothly. >>Fear the Bald Man: 'Pouring Chocolate Every Where'
Yesterday, we took umbrage at a press release from chocolate-maker Max Brenner that pretended that the "Bald Man" actually exists. (In fact, he's a fictional amalgamation of the owners.) The comment thread on that post made us laugh, but this email to the Eater tipline really tops us all:
FYI Max Brenner is a real ( and bald ) person. the world wide chain of chocolate restaurants is named after him, as his un profitable and amazing choclate stores in Israel were bought out by "Elite" the biggest chocolate factory in Israel and spinned off around the world, starting in Australia where they are very popular. I rmember Max on TV on a cookin g show pouring chocolate every where on the hostm himslef and just loving chocloate. peace.A bounty is hereby issued for this video clip. Please, god, someone upload.
· Adventures in Public Relations: Fear the Bald Man [~E~]
Adventures in Public Relations: Fear the Bald Man
We'd hoped that Frank Bruni's goose-egg review of the chocolate eateries that go by the name Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man would be the last we'd hear from the establishment and its anthropomorphic figurehead. (As a brief refresher, Max Brenner, "the bald man," does not, in fact, walk this earth. As Bruni put it, "[H]e doesn’t even exist. He’s a concept, Willy Wonka as hairless imperialist.") Which is why the press release from Max & Company that landed in the Eater inbox today is so especially appalling.
Adventures in Public Relations: The Case of Central Kitchen (or: "We have three words for you: Bra-sse-rie...")
Central Kitchen at present: never opened and re-plywooded.
The botched opening of the year award surely goes to Central Kitchen, the West Village restaurant owned by Robert Meller and Craig Wilson, meant to be the immediate follow-up to their now-stumbling Tasca. It was announced open—"The Restaurant to End All Restaurants", in fact—in early June, but, to this day, has never actually opened. (If it did open it was for so few days and served such an infinitesimally small number of eaters that we can't possibly give it credit for actually debuting.) Now, the restaurant is behind plywood again (above; taken just yesterday) and it is officially, completely, indisputably a thing of the past. What is so breathtaking about this case is how aggressive its original PR materials were (produced, predictably, by The Hall Company) and, then, how little those PR materials match up to reality.
Adventures in Public Relations: Pavlov's Frog
Further evidence of the mind-melding genius of restaurant public relations guru Jennifer Baum, per an underling's post on Bullfrog & Blog:
Have you heard of Pavlov’s Dog? Well here, it’s Pavlov's Frog: As soon as someone joins the company, they automatically start collecting everything frog. One look around the office and you’d think we lived in a toy terrarium—frog stickers, frog toys, stuffed frogs, frog posters—one of us even has a real dried frog on a mini motorcycle (it’s from Mexico… don’t ask)!Fear not. We won't.
· In Collections [Bullfrog & Blog]
· Who Is Jennifer Baum? [~E~]
Adventures in PR: The Most Annoying/Amazing Strategy on the Planet
For a full year now, we've been receiving barely coherent and entirely amazing press releases from a certain Upper East Side restaurant. We've been enjoying/dreading them behind the scenes thus far, in large part because we wanted to save you from them. Each of these press releases -- actually, let's call them "press releases" -- comes with a unique subject line. Examples include, "[redacted] to host Millionaire Speed Dating Event Today" and "[redacted] Invite You To Celebrate the Launch of the Recently FDA Approved HAIRMAX LASER COMB" and, our fave, "would you like to review or feature this very upscale NYC restaurant/supperclub?" Let's be clear: No we would not like to review or feature this very upscale NYC restaurant/supperclub. But, thanks.
And these are just the subject lines.
The time as come for you to see this blinding insanity for yourself. Here's a snippet from the latest communique from [redacted], which arrived this morning:
Continue reading "Adventures in PR: The Most Annoying/Amazing Strategy on the Planet"Adventures in PR: Okay, We Get It. No, Really.
Is there, perchance, something to watch on television tonight? If the increasingly frantic press releases gathering in our inbox over the past month are an accurate indication, there just might be. Assorted press release headlines, for your immediate edification:
May 9: BRAVO'S "TOP CHEF 3 MIAMI” PREMIERES WITH 15 HOT NEW CHEFS WED, JUNE 13 AT 10:00 P.M. ET/PT
May 29: BRAVO GOES BILINGUAL WITH FIRST-EVER TELEMUNDO PARTNERSHIP FOR "TOP CHEF 3 MIAMI"
June 7: BRAVO PARTNERS WITH NYC & COMPANY AND GREATER MIAMI CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU TO DISH OUT FLAVORFUL "TOP CHEF 3 MIAMI” LAUNCH EVENTS IN NEW YORK CITY ON JUNE 12 AND MIAMI BEACH ON JUNE 10
June 8: BRAVO ANNOUNCES GLAD & TOYOTA AMONG TOP SPONSORS FOR "TOP CHEF 3 MIAMI” - BERTOLLI NAMED EMERGING MEDIA SPONSOR
June 12: BRAVO'S "TOP CHEF 3 MIAMI” SEASON PREMIERE RETURNS WED, JUNE 13 AT 10-11:15 P.M. ET/PT WITH SUPERSIZED EDITION
· Top Chef 3 [Bravo]
Marketing Stunt of the Year: Outdoor Seating as New Restaurant
Old Homestead. One of the oldest steakhouses in the city, long a favorite among the meat set, a perennial go-to for large groups in search of some old school flair. And now, courtesy of one hell of a marketing stunt, the proud owners of an offshoot cafe, dubbed Prime Burger Cafe at Old Homestead. In our universe, a.k.a. reality, this is known as sidewalk seating: a bunch of tables, chairs, and other assorted mood elements set up on the sidewalk, especially during the warmer months. In the alternate reality in which Old Homestead and their PR, The Hall Company, roll, this is grounds to announce a brand new restaurant, "opening May 7th." (By the by, it's fully open now, today, this very moment.)
Adventures in Public Relations: Yo Momma Likes Meat
Mother's Day is a week from Sunday, which means the holiday stunt press releases are starting to come in. If you can come up with a subject line better than Does Your Mom Love Meats?, we'll run your release in full, too:
Does Your Mom Love Meats?
This Mother's Day, treat mom right at Porcão Churrascaria.
Adventures in Public Relations: Blogga, Please
How best to leverage the power of the intertube for a fledgling venue? From the Craigslist job board, here's a new angle:
A new Times Square entertainment venue/restaurant/lounge is looking for professional bloggers. We are focused on getting the word out and continuing the buzz about our location. This is a new, exciting resaurant [sic] and venue that has been getting a lot of press and we are looking to gain even more exposure.Spotlight Live, is that you? Actually, we hope not—blogging for Bubba Gump would be so much cooler. (And for the record, we seriously hope this happens.)
· Professional Bloggers Wanted [Craigslist]
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