“Shame on you, Mahoning Matters,” Stone Fruit Coffee owner Josh Langenheim says in this video. Click to view.

By Dan Pecchia

The online kerfuffle sparked by a story in the debut edition of Mahoning Matters last week points up the power brands can harness if they develop their own communication channels.

Two local restaurant operators mentioned in the eyebrow-raising article say their social media networks helped them get clarifying messages out quickly and on their own terms, and both say they’re pleased with the results.

Here’s what happened

The Mahoning Matters story, published Wednesday, detailed the violations noted by Mahoning County Board of Health inspectors at the 10 restaurants with the most 2019 violations. The same day, several restaurant owners and dozens of their fans reacted on Facebook (see some excerpts below).

On Thursday, Stone Fruit Coffee, the site for a Mahoning Matters “meet-and-greet” event scheduled for Friday, called off those plans, citing the Wednesday article (which did not mention Stone Fruit). The event was moved to another location, and Mahoning Matters published a column defending the story. Here’s an excerpt:

There’s a dirty secret about such reporting in the Valley: This is not done. Most established media would rather avoid doing real restaurant reviews, let alone publish these types of records. A fear of a backlash is what silences many media members from reporting thoroughly on business interests throughout the Valley. Yet, it’s that fear that has contributed to the erosion of public confidence in the media.

Also late Thursday, Stone Fruit’s owner, Josh Langenheim, published a polite but pointed admonition of the digital news site.

Here’s some of the social media reaction

Jack Kravitz, owner of Kravitz Delicatessen, which also was not mentioned in the article, made it clear Friday on Facebook that he stayed home from Thursday’s Mahoning Matters launch party at the Doubletree Hotel as a result of the article.

Here are some other snippets of the social media reaction (all are from Facebook, as Twitter had little discussion on the topic):

Here’s why Bogey’s and Lightner’s decided to speak up

Principals of the establishments posting responses on Facebook said they were motivated to address the inaccurate impression they believe the article left with readers.

Although the information itself was not inaccurate, the length of the citations, and the fact that they were in a news story, created a sense that the establishments may be unsafe, said Mel McKee at Bogey’s Bar and Grill and Will Lightner at Lightner’s Fresh & Smoked Meats. Also, the word “critical,” a term the health department uses, overstates the nature of some relatively harmless situations, especially if they’re corrected right away, the business owners said.

McKee said no one from Mahoning Matters contacted Bogey’s. The fact that health department violations, including “critical” ones, are usually corrected right away and then later confirmed by the inspectors, was a missing element of the story and created a false impression, he said.

“Any place is going to get violations at times, but the article made it seem like the violations were significant,” said Lightner, one of the family members who own Lightner’s, in Struthers. “That prompted me to put that [Facebook] post out so that people know we’re a clean shop and that we have good, quality food.

“I was confident putting something out would be a good idea. I felt like if I didn’t put anything out, some people might think the tone of the article was true. I knew my customers would react positively to what we posted.

“We’re actually really encouraged, because the comments on our page were 100 percent positive and people coming in agreed with us — some were even upset for us that we had to post something. Struthers and the communities around us love our store. We were encouraged.”

Lightner’s has maintained a Facebook page since it opened in early 2018 and uses it to promote specials, showcase its meats and prepared foods and interact with customers. More than 1,800 people “like” the page.

Bogey’s, in Coitsville, has had a Facebook page for about five years and uses it in similar fashion. It has more than 4,000 likes.

“The reason I chose to respond is that the look isn’t good,” said McKee, one of the owners at Bogey’s. “I don’t think a lot of people took the time to read the whole thing, and when words like ‘critical’ are thrown around, it sounds super-serious. For someone who’s not in the business, or not up to speed on how restaurants operate, they think based on what they read that things are unsafe.

“The story wasn’t complete. It was lazy journalism … cut and paste from the inspections. I wanted to explain and educate people. It bothered me all day, so I decided to respond.”

McKee is glad he did.

“The outpouring of support was amazing,” he said. “People know our place is kept up very well and is clean inside and that we take pride in our work and want to make sure every dining experience is perfect. We have a cool brand, and an excellent reputation, and I want to protect that.”

Here’s some commentary from Pecchia Communications

This relatively pedestrian story ab0ut local business people defending their turf has a couple profound lessons for leaders of all organizations who care how they’re viewed by their customers, prospective customers, employees, supporters and others.

• First, it’s up to us to tell our own stories.
• Second, we have new and useful ways to do that.

In years past, mass media outlets were unique in their ability to reach many people with quality content.

And while some media vehicles are still viable options, brands now have tools to publish their own content and rely less frequently on mass media vehicles.

No one can beat the mass media at reaching the masses, but most organizations really need to reach only a sliver of the mass media audience. Many brands know their customers, and their top prospects, and their best influencers, and can develop effective ways to stay in touch with them.

New digital tools make it easier for organizations to reach their most important targets (read about the “digital power trio” here). These tools also make it easier for brands, with some professional assistance, to develop and distribute high-quality content that rivals what mass media outlets generate.

More than ever before, almost anyone can truly be a publisher and can scale their publishing efforts as low or as high as they need to be, based on the resources they have and their communication priorities. This is one of the most important advantages of operating in the digital economy.

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Dan Pecchia is the founder and president of Pecchia Communications, which helps businesses and organizations develop and distribute content cost-effectively.