Yelp adds vaccine status to the restaurant platform. Buckle up your belt.

What a crazy time to be a restaurant.

From the lingering economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic to labor shortages and rising costs across the board, the restaurant industry has been on a rollercoaster 18 months and not just any mountains. Russian; like the one in Six Flags which is in a dark building, so you have no way of seeing what to expect. You thought it was all going to be fun and fun, but now you’re just looking for some light.

But, this is not a ride in an amusement park. These are lives, livelihoods and careers.

Yelp is trying to help. Perhaps. On Thursday, the company announced that it is launching two attributes that allow restaurants to clarify the pandemic precautions they are taking (or not taking).

“Proof of Vaccination Required” and “All Staff Fully Immunized” have been added to the business platform for foodservice, foodservice and nightlife businesses. Users can filter searches by these two attributes.

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We all know that anyone with a keyboard can practically wreck a business, especially if they can get a small army behind the effort, which is called “bombardment review,” like when there was a argument over Vietnamese coffee at Toast that resulted in a bombshell of bad reviews for a Brooklyn-based roaster.

In a statement, Yelp explains, “With the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the Delta variant, we are seeing a growing number of companies implementing new security measures to protect their employees and communities. Unfortunately, this has also led to an increase in “review bombings” when a company attracts public attention, in large part because of people’s differing positions on the pandemic. ”

So, to counter the “review bombing” based on a restaurant’s position on the vaccine, Yelp will monitor all business pages on their platform that activate these attributes.

Despite the data that shows vaccines are good for business, especially catering, there is a tug-of-war between personal freedom and the good of society that is played out in the dining halls. And no matter how much they throw their hands up and scream, restaurants can’t get off this merry-go-round.