Addressing the drama – does every media publication have to go through this?

SethLui.com would like to address the recent feedback and concerns raised on social media via a Facebook post by Yang Charlene Yan regarding our services. We value the opinions of our customers and the wider community, and are committed to transparency and addressing any concerns promptly.

On the evening of Thursday, 5 Oct 2023, our communication with a potential client containing confidential business information was published online by that individual. This post has generated discussion, some critical of us and some supportive.

We apologise for any confusion or frustration that the individual’s post may have caused. Our intention has always been to provide valuable services to the F&B industry, and we appreciate the opportunity to clarify our approach.

SethLui.com uses social media and Google ratings to discover new and trending places. Our team of writers then has one job: to eat at as many of those places as possible and write about them honestly. We employ a strict methodology for our ratings and writers try the fare before putting finger to keyboard.

The misconception from the post is that we randomly pick eateries and send them proposals. That is patently false. If it were true, the biggest names in F&B would top all our lists, squeezing out everyone else. Read our reviews and you will see for yourself that that’s certainly not how our lists work.

In this case – as with every other time we have sent a proposal – we heard good things about this F&B outlet through our circle. We followed up with our research and discovered that they have a 4.7-star rating from almost 140 reviews.

Our pre-screen verifies that 4.7 stars is a solid rating and certainly warrants a potential recommendation to our readers. We reached out to said business for a potential sales collaboration as with any media company providing advertising services.

In a client collaboration, one or more members of the team would have visited them, understood more about their story, tried the food, and then written about it. If the food quality is far below average, we would still drop the client so as not to mislead our readers.

In summary:

• Our priority is to ensure a fair recommendation to our readers and to discover new food spots.
• The majority of reviews and features are paid out of our own budget, especially for hawkers and small businesses.
• Whenever there is a paid entry, a disclaimer for branded/sponsored content is placed clearly at the end of those articles.
• Every SethLui.com review expresses a genuine opinion; we have had companies threaten to sue us because of our opinions.

Our goal is to empower and increase the discoverability of F&B brands. As a business employing almost 20 staff members, we also need to balance our execution with sales opportunities in this competitive market.

In this regard, we place great value in community feedback and continue to welcome discussions on how we can improve our services further. Your insights are valuable to us.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience or confusion caused and remain committed to our mission of supporting the F&B industry in its efforts to provide excellent dining experiences.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this matter further, please contact us.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.