Online reviews can make or break a new restaurant and websites like Yelp have muddied the waters regarding the quality of criticism. Negative online reviews can severely affect how a restaurant ranks on a search engine and impact a struggling business’ bottom line.
For quite a few years, we have read stories of how the online reviews system can be weaponised to hamper certain businesses. The horror stories range from competitor businesses systematically targeting a restaurant with bad reviews to put customers off, to straight-up criminals flooding a restaurant’s online review profile with negative comments to blackmail the owners.
Now there is a start-up that is looking to disrupt the online review system, but in a positive way. ‘It’s Good’ is a restaurant review platform, currently in development, that will only allow positive reviews about a restaurant.
How can you trust restaurant reviews if they are only positive? Well, the value lies, not only in the detail of the review, but in the value of the trusted network of users. There is a certain exclusivity to the user base, you will have to be invited, to a network of foodies, chefs, celebrities and influencers, basically, people who care about and love good food and service and once part of the network you can use ‘It’s Good’ to share your tips, insights and experiences about the food places you love.
The venture is backed and co-founded by singer John Legend, who together with tech partner Mike Rosenthal developed the idea throughout the pandemic. The project has grown silently but steadily since, with the two founders taking a long-term approach to building the right user base first, before revenue streams pollute the idea.
The platform will have no space for negative reviews, it is not a place for criticism, but rather a place for recommendations by people who really care. The advantage of having super successful backers as a start-up is that they can take their time getting the user base right, before figuring out how to turn a profit. Future revenue may come from a reservation commission through the platform, or through brand collaboration. Still, certainly the clickbait, digital advertising model will be avoided, removing the potential for toxic behaviour on the platform.
We all have those people in our network that we reach out to for restaurant recommendations. A thumbs-up from someone you know is always more valuable than from a stranger or bot on the web.
“My friends always reach out to me for ‘my list’ of restaurants in the cities I’ve visited. With It’s Good, we sought to create a trusted community for food lovers to recommend their favourite spots and discover new ones through a user-friendly platform that’s easily shareable and beautiful,” writes Legend on the app’s website.
Join the waitlist here.