Are Restaurant Reviews Important Local Newspaper Content?

On the drive from Minneapolis to Fort Wayne, IN today, I had a short discussion with Jeremy where we discussed the declining circulation numbers of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the largest daily newspaper in Minnesota.

When I look at large dailies, the biggest problem I see is summarized by rew in the comments on MNSpeak:

". . . they're so reliant on wire services now that all the papers are 50% the same."

I'm not interested in wire stories in my local daily since it's redundant content to me. I've already read it online.

I look to my local paper for local information. In the case of the Minneapolis paper, I read local news, sports, business, events, and opinions. I tend to skip national and international news, since I get that type of news from other sources (usually online, and before the paper arrives), and I turn to yet additional sources for hyper-local news, such as neighborhood newspapers.

The trend here is a diversification of news sources based on interest. In the above example, the diversification is based on geographic relevancy of content, but the same things happens regarding depth of news coverage.

One area where I'm particularly surprised by the Minneapolis Star Tribune's behavior is their handling of restaurant reviews. They've recently scaled back the number of restaurant reporters working for the paper. Restaurant reviews are exactly the type of content local newspapers should be able to dominate at. A database of professional reviews of local restaurants is extraordinarily hard to replicate. And the reviews are extraordinarily relevant to the appropriate market.

However, as I thought about it more, it dawned on me that the largest growth areas for daily papers in the Twin Cities are the suburbs. And suburbs don't have restaurants worth reviewing. It's not like you're going to send a reporter out to the latest TGI Friday's or Applebee's in the 3rd ring suburb to compare it to the TGI Friday's or Applebee's in the first and second ring 'burbs.

Maybe newspapers are just following the money to the burbs and abandoning the foodies in the urban core?

In response, the urban core is taking care of itself by blogging their own restaurant reviews. Here are a few examples:

If people are passionate enough to write about an issue, they're certainly passionate enough to read about it. In fact, they'd probably write about what they read.

Do you think restaurant reviews an important piece of locally produced newspaper content?

Reviews in publications are important because the reputation of the publication should provide some credibility, per se. Of course, the ultimate credibility belongs to the reviewer, whatever medium, blog, website, etc. the review appears in. Often the best credibility is reserved for regular joes. That's why we encourage restaurant reviews by anyone who wants to go to the trouble to register. So far there are over 2000 of those on The Rake's restaurant page.

Reviews in publications are important because the reputation of the publication should provide some credibility, per se.

I don't trust any of the reviewers over at the Star Tribune. They have routinely proven that they are nearly incapable of matching any experience I have found at the same restaurants even days later (see El Patio in Lakeville). I would guess that the second a table orders several dinner entrees per person the kitchen staff knows what's coming and does its best to prepare.

The "regular joes" are the best at coming down to the level of other visitors to those restaurants and that's why they should be given far more weight than someone who is so absorbed in eating out at every restaurant in the area that they have forgotten what real food is supposed to taste like.

Comments

1. Posted by: John Golden on May 1, 2007 8:27 PM:

As one of the blogs you refer to in your article (thanks by the way), I think that newpaper reviews are important. I frequently refer to online articles the paper posts about restaurant closings and openings. The newspapers provide a reliable (even if you don't agree with the review) resource to know which places are new and hot. I will often go to a new restaurant right after it is reviewed by the paper and review it myself. I find the hype around the new reataurant will drive more traffic to my blog through search engine type in traffic and feed readers.

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