The Blogosphere Impacts Every Business, Whether You’re a Multinational or a Local Pizza Chain

We blogged recently about Starbucks’ run in with a number of Chinese bloggers who object to the presence of a Starbucks store inside the Forbidden City.

But the blogosphere can have the same impact on much smaller-scale businesses. Pagliacci, Seattle’s own gourmet pizza parlor recently ran afoul of some commenters on the West Seattle Blog. Apparently, Paggliacci has a particularly odd delivery area in West Seattle, about which one commenter wrote, “I have often suspected that the delivery area for Pagliacci was set up based on the perceived affluence of the neighborhood. They have never articulated a reason for their circumscribed delivery area.”

The controversy sparked a column by the Seattle P-I’s Robert Jamieson during an admittedly slow news week.

What I find very interesting is that unlike their competition (Garlic Jim’s) Pagliacci did not respond directly to the bloggers. Instead, they elected to speak through Jamieson. They explained that their odd circle of delivery in West Seattle adheres to a “seven minute rule.” If they can’t get from the store to your house in 7 minutes, they won’t do it. Anything more and their pizzas would arrive cold and soggy.

This was met with some serious skepticism from the West Seattle folks. I wish that Pagliacci had reached out to the bloggers directly rather than using the traditional press as a mouthpiece. Some intelligent outreach on their part might have resolved this issue before it became newspaper fodder.

Many thanks once again to Byronicus Maximus for pointing out this interesting kettle of fish.