Samy and Amy
Bouzaglo, the owners of Amy’s Baking Company sought advice from Gordon Ramsey,
host of popular a TV series called Kitchen Nightmares. They believed turning to a credited media
source would fix their problems and turn their failing restaurant into a spectacular
Bakery Boutique & Bistro. After receiving negative feedback on yelp
they were hoping Gordon Ramsey could change the minds of the unsatisfied
customers.
Samy and Amy
did not get the positive reviews they were hoping for from being on the
show. In fact, they got the exact
opposite to the extreme. They were
portrayed on the Kitchen
Nightmares as unable to take criticism, dishonest, having poor customer
service and under cooked soggy food. For
the first time in the history of Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsey walked out
on a restaurant unable to help the owners.
After the episode aired on national
television responses flooded the restaurant’s facebook page. The responses from the public were degrading and
ridiculing. The reaction to the public
from Samy and Amy were unprofessional and offensive. Nasty comments went back and forth until Samy
and Amy announced their facebook had been hacked and police and FBI
investigations were underway. Amy’s FBI investigation announcement received even
more ridicule calling her a liar and a fake.
The unique
responses between the restaurant owners and the public deemed Amy and Samy as
having “The
Most Epic Brand Meltdown On Facebook Ever.”
After the
outpouring media attention Samy and Amy closed their restaurant and reopened
September 1, 2013 and are struggling to keep their business alive to prove themselves.
First of all, you did a great job summarizing this case. This is a crazy story! After reading your post I went to that last site you linked out to. I spent probably ten minutes just reading all their posts back and forth. I was shocked to see how unprofessional it was. It seems to me like other measures should have been taken when they were hacked. Perhaps they could have made that announcement when it first started happening. This was a great example of social media gone wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis is a reminder to any business out there willing to exploit themselves on a reality show, make sure you have public comments shut off on your social media sites!
ReplyDeleteA powerful reminder: Public opinion is viral!
What people say whether in person or online, opinion is the power of persuasion, right or wrong, fair or unjust. At least this restaurant was given a second chance!
Shalee,
ReplyDeleteAfter your pitch and discussion yesterday in class your case caught my attention and I was interested in reading your blog post. I must say that this was a huge eye opener on social media and how it is really used to a businesses downfall.
Often times we think, like this company did, "hey let's get this on TV, YouTube or any other social media outlet and then it will rocket me to stardom." This is a great reminder that we need to take a step back and evaluate ourselves and what we are doing before we go public with information.
It also shows what you should not do when you are given constructive criticism. I'm sure if the owners would have taken his advice this whole situation could have been avoided and they could have potentially been very successful.