Every so often, a tale of social media marketing gone wrong comes along that is just so ridiculous, we simply have to talk about it. And the twisted tale of Boners BBQ and its Yelp-fueled social media meltdown certainly falls into that category.
At the beginning of the month, Yelp reviewer Stephanie S. and her husband visited Atlanta’s Boners BBQ and ate what she described as a mediocre meal in her review. But the response she received from the owner of Boners was anything but mediocre. On the restaurant’s Facebook page as well as in a tweet, owner Andrew Capron fired off the following response: “NOT WANTED! (Stephanie S.) left a waitress 0.00 dollars on a $40.00 tab after she received a Scoutmob discount. If you see this women (sic) in your restaurant tell her to go outside and play hide and go f— yourself! Yelp that b—-.”
Whoa. Naturally, the web exploded with responses to Capron’s super negative reaction to what is described as only a “so-so” review. Stephanie S. told the Huffington Post that she did leave a tip “and my review was not scathing by any means. The response from Boners BBQ has just been astonishing to me, especially since it came from the owner of the business.”
Meanwhile, outraged Atlanta diners and Yelpers have come to Stephanie’s aid and verbally trashed the restaurant on its Yelp page. By Wednesday, Boners’ bad behavior was the subject of many a national news story and the company was forced to put out the raging fire. Capron once again took to social media to apologize. Capron posted “Dear, Stephanie S.- We are truly sorry, it was a boneheaded move on our part. But more importantly- it was rude to you and an inappropriate use of social media.” Capron goes on to say it was wrong to “abuse” her opinion and even offers to refund her money or give her a free meal.
The little Atlanta barbecue joint found out the hard way that playing with social media fire will get you burned. We’re guessing this “boneheaded” mistake is one that Boners won’t repeat anytime soon.
Now, about that name. Boners? Complete with the tagline “Put a Little South in Your Mouth”? Really?
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