Say it ain’t so, Doc! Your Cantina disappoints

The review wasn't in the CJ which has a much higher circulation and online audience which would have hurt the business even more. I guess they can count their blessings for that.

Actually, that's not true. The CJ used to have that kind of influence, but its shrinking circulation and failing overall interest have pretty much flushed it. Or is this a troll?

+1

The review wasn't in the CJ which has a much higher circulation and online audience which would have hurt the business even more. I guess they can count their blessings for that.

Actually, that's not true. The CJ used to have that kind of influence, but its shrinking circulation and failing overall interest have pretty much flushed it. Or is this a troll?

Robin - Do you evidence to support that the Courier reviews aren't highly impactful to a restaurant?

Local restaurant owners seem to disagree.


Re: Anoosh opening second restaurant
by Susanne Smith » Fri Jul 17, 2015 3:17 pm

We are fast becoming quite the little "Restaurant Row" here in our shopping center. The response from the Courier- Journal article ( sorry you haters) several weeks ago from the self titled, "Burger Heaven" article, that quite subtly endorsed Shady Lane as the best Burger in town, has been unbelievable. We have had our share of good publicity, but nothing to ever match the enthusiasm this article has garnered. What was a really busy place, we have now become a line out the door, day after day kind of raucous fun place, serving goodness at a pace that challenges even my veteran battle scared grill skills. And now with Anoosh opening three doors down, and the beloved Germanic folks picking up the slack, Brownsboro shopping center is fast becoming the happening place to be. We welcome Annosh, and look forward to trading out meals if we ever have time. Bring em on!

Suzanne regularly posts on Hot Bytes forums and gets a ton of coverage from here as well. Unless they are asking each diner what motivated them to come in (and given how busy they always seem to be with lines out the door I kinda doubt there's much time for that) there's no reliable answer to that question.

I sold advertising for LEO Weekly for years. MANY times I got clients because they had done exit polls in their business ("Where did you learn about us?") that told them dozens of people had seen their ad in LEO. Great! Except they had never run an ad in LEO. With so many of their diners obviously reading it however they thought they'd go ahead a run an ad. My point is that people are so flooded with input data they seldom remember where they heard or had seen anything.

[Robin Garr]

[Robin - Do you evidence to support that the Courier reviews aren't highly impactful to a restaurant?

Bear in mind that I was the Louisville Times' restaurant critic from 1984 until the papers merged, then for the CJ until I fled the premises in 1990. I know what the critic's impact used to be, and I know what the quality of the newspaper used to be. There's no comparison between then and now.

Since we opened this roadhouse in 1994, I have tons of anecdotal information, and when you combine HotBytes online with our partnership with LEO Weekly in print and online, I'd say we get at least as many eyeballs as the CJ's column, and I'd assert that, based on longevity alone without even getting into the quality debate, we get the respect. In my experience, either medium can send a flood of diners to an eatery on any given week; but yeah, I think we're stronger.

By the way, the article Bill refers to (using his wife Suzanne's identity) was not the restaurant critic's work but a feature on the section front page. And good for them for getting the publicity and the business.

I wasn't trying to be a troll Robin. I was just stating something I think to be true. I'm sorry as I didn't know it would offend you. I do believe what I stated to be true. I'm sure with some quick googling that the circulation and web hits of both publications could be found online. I like the LEO and this site but pure common sense leads me to the conclusion that the CJ has a bigger audience. I may be wrong but like I said some quick research could answer the question. Maybe I'll do that when I have some time.

When it comes down to it, I don't see Doc's being on the regular rotation for locals. I only went to the Tumbleweed twice; once when I first moved back to town and once when I had guests in town for the weekend. We went more for the view than the food.

[Robin Garr]

I wasn't trying to be a troll Robin. I was just stating something I think to be true. I'm sorry as I didn't know it would offend you. I do believe what I stated to be true. I'm sure with some quick googling that the circulation and web hits of both publications could be found online. I like the LEO and this site but pure common sense leads me to the conclusion that the CJ has a bigger audience. I may be wrong but like I said some quick research could answer the question. Maybe I'll do that when I have some time.

You're talking about overall circulation. I'm talking about the impact of the restaurant columns. Different things entirely. Also, the CJ's circulation has plunged over the past two decades.

[Robin Garr]

Hey! Everybody! Did you see the article about Doc's in this morning's CJ? Do you think it's a coincidence?

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/li ... /83817092/

Hey! Everybody! Did you see the article about Doc's in this morning's CJ? Do you think it's a coincidence?

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/li ... /83817092/

I couldn't decide if that was a review or a paid advertisement! It seemed a lot more like a paid advertisement because there really wasn't much discussion about the food or service. It was about them bragging about how good everything it was how they were trying to duplicate what I had it Doc Crow's! I love how he started talking about how they were trying to re-create traditional Mexican food and then goes on to say that it's their take on it. Not the same thing!

Hey! Everybody! Did you see the article about Doc's in this morning's CJ? Do you think it's a coincidence?

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/li ... /83817092/

I couldn't decide if that was a review or a paid advertisement! It seemed a lot more like a paid advertisement because there really wasn't much discussion about the food or service. It was about them bragging about how good everything it was how they were trying to duplicate what I had it Doc Crow's! I love how he started talking about how they were trying to re-create traditional Mexican food and then goes on to say that it's their take on it. Not the same thing!

Don't be confused by the fact that it's written by the CJ's restaurant critic. It isn't a review and clearly wasn't intended as such. It's just a traditionally reported newspaper story, or what passes for that at the CJ these days.

Robin, how common is it for critics to contribute non-review pieces like this?

[Robin Garr]

Robin, how common is it for critics to contribute non-review pieces like this?

I think the Binghams pêre et fils are spinning in their graves. Sadly, though, the strong wall between journalism and public relations seems to be falling, and the Gannett chain that bought the CJ pretty much led the race to the bottom.

Even CJ circulation numbers are pretty bogus. I live in a condo complex that regularly gets unpaid for, unsolicited CJs dropped off at the front of the building. I see them every morning as I go to work and there they will be in the evening when I get home, no one having picked one up. Every couple of days we collect them and pitch 'um.

[Robin - Do you evidence to support that the Courier reviews aren't highly impactful to a restaurant?

Since we opened this roadhouse in 1994, I have tons of anecdotal information, and when you combine HotBytes online with our partnership with LEO Weekly in print and online, I'd say we get at least as many eyeballs...

This retired actuary, to whom numbers are everything, is having trouble following your logic.

The most recent published daily average C-J circulation number that I could find was from 2012. Monday-Friday average was 154,053. LEO's website cites a 2014 audited average circulation of 25,120. I'm pretty certain that C-J has decreased in the intervening four years and LEO may have increased, but still...

The C-J-s Facebook page shows 60,769 "likes" where LEO shows 12,862 and HotBytes 2,025.

Based on this, the logician in me says that the C-J gets about four times the eyeballs as LEO/LHB.

The quality of information provided by LEO/LHB is unquestionably better than what's currently in the C-J (in my mind, at least), but as a numbers guy I'd have to be convinced that the quality overcomes the advantage of numbers as regards influence.

I agree with your logic Mike. Thanks for looking up the numbers. That's not even including web visits which I'm also certain the CJ has many more.

The CJ had 2.6 million monthly visitors from Jan to June 2015 based on Google Analytics.