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Dr. BBQ:
My husband & I own and operate Rivertowne BBQ in the small town of Ozark, Ark., pop. 3800. We started this restaurant in 2000 with no restaurant experience and we are total hands-on–in other words we put in 12-13 hour days five days a week (no manager). The reason I am contacting you is I hope you can give me some pointers on what avenues to pursue to get our restaurant the recognition it is so deserving of. I have contacted Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Mobile Travel Guide, Southern Living Mag, The Splendid Table — all to no avail… I had to be very, very persistent to get “Arkansas Times” to finally check us out giving us 4 out of 5 stars. When I type in “AR. food critics or reviewers” on the Internet-nothing much. I am not asking for anything other than some suggestions. You can check us out on Google & our website www.rivertownebbq.com. I hope you can help me out with this. Thank you,
Pamela Doyle, Rivertowne BBQ
Hi Pamela,
Well, I can get you in Fiery Foods & BBQ Magazine and on www.fiery-foods.com and I have. This is a common situation. It seems all the writers, etc. keep going back to the same old places, or even worse just writing about them without even going. There are many great BBQ joints like yours in America that aren’t on the short list, and I love to visit them. I think you are doing the right thing by telling us all about it, and hopefully the word will get around. The good news is that it seems your locals know about your food and that’s good. The other option is to hire a Public Relations firm to get you some media exposure. It does work and restaurants do it all the time. But if the lines are long, it seems like a waste of money to me. I hope to visit you soon.
Dr. BBQ
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