Eating at the "Spice Fusion" restaurant in SM Cebu, I was happily clicking away at the food when one of their staff came up to me and told me that taking pictures was prohibited. WTH??
So I said, "Excuse me? I paid for the food, I am going to eat it, its mine...why are you saying its not ok to take close-up pics of the food?" With matching eyebrow-raising on my end...
Minutes later, when I sat down again, she comes back and goes into an explanation of how their chef doesn't like it to be done, because they had experience of people taking pics and saying bad things, etc. etc.
to be fair, she was smiling and nice about her explanation, and she even sort of backtracked saying they did notice Koreans blogging about their food and saying good things about it...
but honestly, why is it here in the Philippines something like this happens more often than we like?
and this is a pity, because Spice Fusion actually has good food - they have a variety of South East Asian Fusion dishes w/c is not that expensive...and I've eaten a couple of times at their original branch in BTC and being "prohibited" from taking food pics has never happened...
1. to their saying that their chef doesn't like close-up pictures of food - I said w/ photo editing software and powerful cameras these days, even if I take a picture from afar, I can cut and crop it to be like a close up view
2. to their saying that sometimes "pinaniniraan sila" - I said if you have a good product, maybe there will be some bad things said or written about it, but there will be an equal number...or even more people who will praise it
anyway, I just said, you ought to be happy people blog about your place...I blog about places I eat, I don't get paid for it...and its marketing for you...why would you stop something w/c in the long run is more advantageous to you than detrimental?
1) its not as if it was a cake w/ some fantastic looking garnishes :-)
2) the dishes were what you would find common in SE Asia...I will post some pics later...nwalan ako ng gana actually to take pics after....though not sa appetite coz I was really hungry (we ate around 4 pm for the lunch)....buti di ako masungit in terms of my conversation...though my eyebrow was twitching madly...
the reasons I cited above as per her explanation...
and then, when I was probably glaring like a basilisk from Harry Potter universe....she said I could continue to take pictures kung di lang daw ako that obvious and not yung close-up sa food....
(my god, nobody wants to see the pores of the cauliflowerettes! mwahaha!)
So I said, "Excuse me? I paid for the food, I am going to eat it, its mine...why are you saying its not ok to take close-up pics of the food?"
ReplyDeleteWith matching eyebrow-raising on my end...
Minutes later, when I sat down again, she comes back and goes into an explanation of how their chef doesn't like it to be done, because they had experience of people taking pics and saying bad things, etc. etc.
to be fair, she was smiling and nice about her explanation, and she even sort of backtracked saying they did notice Koreans blogging about their food and saying good things about it...
but honestly, why is it here in the Philippines something like this happens more often than we like?
and this is a pity, because Spice Fusion actually has good food - they have a variety of South East Asian Fusion dishes w/c is not that expensive...and I've eaten a couple of times at their original branch in BTC and being "prohibited" from taking food pics has never happened...
1. to their saying that their chef doesn't like close-up pictures of food - I said w/ photo editing software and powerful cameras these days, even if I take a picture from afar, I can cut and crop it to be like a close up view
2. to their saying that sometimes "pinaniniraan sila" - I said if you have a good product, maybe there will be some bad things said or written about it, but there will be an equal number...or even more people who will praise it
anyway, I just said, you ought to be happy people blog about your place...I blog about places I eat, I don't get paid for it...and its marketing for you...why would you stop something w/c in the long run is more advantageous to you than detrimental?
I agree, quality sells.
ReplyDeleteHow come this seeming paranoia?
ReplyDeletemaybe the chef is worried others may imitate his creations...
ReplyDeletehi Doc Philip,
ReplyDeleteIMHO -
1) its not as if it was a cake w/ some fantastic looking garnishes :-)
2) the dishes were what you would find common in SE Asia...I will post some pics later...nwalan ako ng gana actually to take pics after....though not sa appetite coz I was really hungry (we ate around 4 pm for the lunch)....buti di ako masungit in terms of my conversation...though my eyebrow was twitching madly...
the reasons I cited above as per her explanation...
ReplyDeleteand then, when I was probably glaring like a basilisk from Harry Potter universe....she said I could continue to take pictures kung di lang daw ako that obvious and not yung close-up sa food....
(my god, nobody wants to see the pores of the cauliflowerettes! mwahaha!)
if there is one thing I learned even before business school chuva-chuva-chuk-chak-chenes...it is that...
ReplyDeleteit is all in marketing :-)
well, ok QA and other factors are good, but sometimes, nasa marketing talaga yan na people flock to the place...oh well...
am just a poor blogger, what can I add?
Absolutely! And word of mouth is one of the most effective.
ReplyDelete