Restaurant owners count cost of misinformation

The owners of Jazz Chinese Restaurant faced every business owner’s worst nightmare this summer; negative online attention translating into reduced footfall for their business.

At the end of August, owners Diana and Anthony Chu were alerted on WhatsApp that a viral video had shown a rat running across a roof with the sign for their restaurant visible.

Social media being what it is, it then became construed that the restaurant itself was infested with rats.

In the aftermath of the video being distributed, they said business at the restaurant has dropped by as much as 70% and have had to let workers go.

To their frustration, they say that the rat was never on their premises to begin with.

“We’ve survived recessions and Covid, but this is taking a lot out of us,” Diana told Northside People.

“We still have our loyal customers, but we have seen a major drop in footfall and walk-ins; on weekends, when it used to be busy, it’s now really quiet.”

“It is quite frustrating, to be honest with you,” Diana said.

“We have a reputation where people trust us; our usual customer base is young families, we’ve settled into the community over the years. Our loyal customers have been good to us but in recent weeks it has been hard to get back to where we were.”

Diana noted that a local YouTuber recently visited the restaurant and praised the food and service, but such was the spread of the video, people in the comments identified it as the restaurant from the viral clip.

Despite the damage the viral video caused, the owners said they don’t believe the video was posted with the intent of causing reputational damage.

“In the video, you only see the sign of the restaurant, but obviously then people have that association in their mind.”

Anthony said that despite the drop-in business there is still a “healthy” number of walk-ins, but acknowledged that it would take time for the restaurant’s reputation to fully recover.

Anthony, who came to Ireland in the early 1980s from Hong Kong, said the reputation of the restaurant was destroyed “straight away,” and the last few weeks have been “impossible” for them.

“We have been feeling a lot of anger and frustration in the last few weeks,” he said.

The Facebook page, with over 5,000 followers has been doing giveaways and promotional offers in a bid to drive business again, but they acknowledge only so much can be done in the case of reputational damage.

Their Facebook page has posted six separate clean bills of health from pest control authorities, proving that the restaurant is free of infestation.

“Families and younger people are our brand and main demographic; obviously those are the people who are more likely to consume social media and ultimately come across a negative thing about our restaurant online,” Diana noted.

She said that the local community has “rallied, behind them, and expressed gratitude towards them, but acknowledged the restaurant has suffered as a result of the video.

The restaurant frequently posts updates that the restaurant itself is free of rats and other infestations, but the body blow of one negative review still looms large over them.

Both Diana and Anthony have worked hard to see the positive side of the situation. 

Anthony said that a recent confirmation party was a sign that the restaurant has become a major part of the community.

“I spoke to the mother of the child who made their confirmation and they told me she had her confirmation party in this same restaurant when she was a kid – I think that is a sign of how trusted we are in the community,” he said.