Prices in New York

[Miami Danny]

To go from specific challenges to a blanket dismissal of all statistics collected by the Zagats is untenable. This all-or-nothing view of the reliability of statistics is unrealistic. When you have a large sample size and you're seeing clear trends from year to year over a period of many years, that information is worth looking at, even if there are flaws in the data.

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Worth looking at, yes. Fun to talk about, definitely. Reliable or believable? Open to debate. This is not a specific numerical challenge or two. I believe all of their data is tainted. If one uses their guides simply as informational, most of this doesn't matter. We accept the fact that these guides are just fun items for our amusement. However, if one relies on their conclusions, based on their faulty data, to assess trends or adjust marketing, etc., that's like putting your tooth under the pillow at night, and, when it's gone in the morning, replaced by a dollar bill, believing, because there is no contradicting evidence, that teeth become dollars overnight when placed under your pillow. Or that there is a tooth fairy.

[Fat Guy]

Wait a second. There's no tooth fairy?

[Miami Danny]

Wait a second. There's no tooth fairy?

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Well, maybe you're right about the tooth fairy, but I can tell you right now, you're only getting three cents more than you did last year.

Edited October 21, 2007 by Miami Danny (log)

[weinoo]

And, imo, the stake the industry has in denying inflation is that it will keep people going out to eat - people think they have the same buying power they did 3 years ago, and that the prices in restaurants seem to actually be lower, they're more apt to continue dining out at their favorite places.

This theory depends on a number of unproven assumptions: 1- that the Zagats are shills for the industry (I submit they are more aligned with the consumer and would have no issue with calling "inflation" if their numbers demonstrated it), 2- that the industry is making false anti-inflationary claims (I have not seen any examples of such), 3- that people would dine out less if they thought prices were rising (unsubstantiated -- they may just change ordering behavior, or go to different restaurants), 4- that the Zagats are talking about same-restaurant figures (when they are explicitly saying that many same-restaurant figures are up but that newcomers and other forces are holding overall prices down).

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Well, back to Tim and Nina, the unproven assumption #1 seems to be agreed upon by one fairly heavy - hitting restaurateur...

See my post here.

[Fat Guy]

There's no way to tell what that quote means.

[Miami Danny]

There's no way to tell what that quote means.

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It could mean that Drew thinks Zagat is a shill for the restaurant industry as a whole, or perhaps a shill for some specific restaurants. Either way, 'shill' is a pretty strong description.

shill /ʃɪl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[shil] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation Slang.

–noun 1. a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.

2. a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.

–verb (used without object) 3. to work as a shill: He shills for a large casino.

–verb (used with object) 4. to advertise or promote (a product) as or in the manner of a huckster; hustle: He was hired to shill a new TV show.

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[Origin: 1920–25; orig. uncert.]

Edited October 25, 2007 by Miami Danny (log)