Digital signage and experience platform Raydiant announced the launch of a new initiative that petitions small business review platforms to stop allowing users to leave negative reviews for issues caused by third-party delivery providers.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies of all sizes to adapt their operations to stay in business. Arguably, one of the businesses most affected by the pandemic were restaurants that were forced to close their in-location dining and shift to options such as delivery and curbside pickup.

As part of this shift, many restaurants began using third-party delivery providers such as UberEats, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Postmates. These delivery providers serve as a platform to connect independent delivery drivers to deliver meals to the delivery app customers.

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Issues related to the delivery experience, such as order delays and poor driver communication, are outside the control of restaurants. Yet, many of these restaurants continue to receive negative reviews from users on platforms such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Google for third-party delivery app issues that happen after the food has left the kitchen.

One restaurant owner who asked to remain anonymous said, “We’re getting roasted on Yelp because of DoorDash- and Postmates-related delivery issues. Their drivers take too long to deliver food or are rude, then they go to Yelp and leave us a bad review. We’ve requested to have reviews like this taken down but have never heard back.”

Raydiant’s new initiative called Karen’s Killer Reviews aims to petition the review platforms to develop a solution that ensures these reviews are quickly removed. The campaign features billboards, taxi signs, and other outdoor media in San Diego, San Francisco, and New York City.

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Bobby Marhamat, CEO of Raydiant, said, “We’ve been on the front lines with our brick-and-mortar and restaurant partners since March and the idea for this initiative came after speaking with several restaurants and hearing them complain about the problem they were having with reviews caused by third-party delivery issues. Most of them were too afraid to publicly complain about this but as a company, we, fortunately, don’t have to worry about the impact that can come from receiving negative Yelp reviews. So we decided to do something about this. We believe deeply that restaurant owners and their staff work way too hard to have their business put at risk by unsympathetic reviewers and review platforms that care more about making money than they do serving and supporting business owners.”

The campaign aims to attract 100,000 signatures which will be mailed directly to Yelp. Since launching last week, the initiative has been signed by over 9,400 people.

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