NJ Monthly Restaurant Poll-More Info

[Rosie]

Now you can vote online for your favorite New Jersey restaurants on the New Jersey Monthly annual Readers' Choice Restaurant Poll. Just go to

http://www.njmonthly.com/issues/Feb02/restpoll.html

to take part in this survey. The entry deadline is March 15, 2002 and the results will be posted in the August New Jersey Monthly magazine and online. Three regions are being represented:

North: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties

Central: Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Somerset counties

South: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, and Salem counties

The Readers' Choice Restaurant Poll is your chance to decide which are the best dining spots in the Garden State. By submitting a ballot you also become eligible for a prize to be awarded by random drawing: dinner for two at the restaurant named Best of the Best in your region.

All responses are confidential. Your name, street address, e-mail address, and phone number are required for your ballot to be counted, and this information will be used to notify you if you win the drawing. Restaurants assisting in the submission of poll ballots and restaurants distributing ballots or magazines containing them will be disqualified. New Jersey Monthly reserves the right to reject ballots that appear to have been submitted improperly.

[Rosie]

Let us know which restaurants you voted for. I would be interested in any sleepers--best undiscovered restaurants-- that you frequent.

[Rail Paul]

Rosie -

I wasn't very impressed with NJ Monthly's privacy policy on information furnished. I get enough spam as it is, without inviting more from them by filling out a survey.

Paul

[Rosie]

Ouch. I'll let them know. Thanks. You can just put in your home address the same way you would with the card that is in the magazine.Or buy the magazine and fill out the card. Leave out your e-mail address. They need a name and address to be sure that the same people are not voting twice.

(Edited by Rosie at 9:58 am on Feb. 5, 2002)

[tommy]

Quote: from Rosie on 7:13 am on Feb. 5, 2002

Ouch. I'll let them know. Thanks. But you can just put in your home address the same way you would with the card that is in the magazine.  Rosie

or you could put "100 Main Street", as i would with the card that is in the magazine.

[Rosie]

Here is the update. You do need to put your e-mail address on the form if you are voting on the internet. This is to prevent fraud. The other option is to buy the magazine and mail in the card. You don't have to put your e-mail on the magazine insert.

[Rosie]

More info. Please do not  put in 100 Main Street.  If that address shows up too many times, the auditors will assume it is fraud, probably on the part of the restaurateurs.  200 Main Street, 150 Jones Lane, are fine.  Also, New Jersey Monthly DOES NOT sell the names of people who respond, nor do they mail to them.  Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. In any case, thank you for your participation in this survey.

[Rachel Perlow]

OK, I finally filled in the poll. What I found the most challenging was that there are no nominations. You can write in whatever you'd like. I think that will really lead to the fairest results possible. However, Rosie's right, if you don't vote, then you can't complain if your favorite place is forgotten.

[Rosie]

Or if the same places win this year.

[Rosie]

Just wanted to remind you to vote!

[Rosie]

I received an e-mail telling me that the same restaurants and advertisers win this poll every year. Here is some information from the promotions director from NJ Monthly.

Every vote in the Readers' Choice Restaurant Poll counts.  Advertisers do win some awards, and many non-advertisers win as well.  We use an outside auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to ensure that all votes are counted and treated fairly.  The auditing team also inspects the ballots for signs of ballot stuffing and other fraud.  So

please vote!

Also, only about 25% of reviewed restaurants are advertisers.  And many of the winners are not advertisers.  In fact, the "winningest" restuarant ever, the Ryland Inn hasn't been in the magazine in over a year!  Some are--such as The Manor, but then the Bernards Inn is often a winner and they aren't a current advertiser.  There are a lot of repeated winners, and I think that's as much a function of the same people voting year after year.

Beth Bressman

Promotions Director

New Jersey Monthly and New Jersey Bride

[Pitter]

I wish I did not have to post this inflammatory message and could email Ms. Bressman privately, and I trust that NJ Monthly has shored up their auditing practices, but please know that for 5 years out the of last ten, I worked for Food Distributors in NJ, and had a bird's eye view of some of the inner offices of restaurants.  On more than one occassion, I visited a chef or owner in their enclosed domain, and saw 500 copies of NJ Magazine piled up on the floor.  Take a guess which issue this always was.  And, no surprise, said restaurants would turn up as winners in their annual poll.  I kid you not, and I would testify to this under oath.

[tommy]

i think it's obvious that restaurants will "stuff the box."  this should come as no surprise.  to me, any type of poll is more of a fun thing than a scientific thing.  hell, if i owned a restaurant i'd be voting many times as well.

[Rosie]

Pitter---That is why it is VERY important for the general public to vote.

[Pitter]

Tommy, I may think it is natural to "stuff the box" but that does not make it fair or moral.  I, too, view surveys as more fun than truth. The big problem here is that people spend money at these places and end up with a mediocre meal.  At the same time, NJ Monthly is invalidated -- I would simply read the winners as places that I must avoid.  And in fairness to some of the ethnic places that never caught onto the scheme, these places might be avoided as well.  Rosie is right -- it is important for us common folks to vote, but in lieu of the gospel of NJ Monthly, thank our blessings that we have computer forums which dish out the real deal. ;)

[tommy]

thank our blessings that we have computer forums which dish out the real deal. ;)

absolutely.  i never trust a stranger's opinion.

[Rosie]

Friday March 15 is the last day you can vote for your favorite NJ restaurants in the New Jersey Monthly Reader's Choice Poll.

Vote Here  NJ Monthly Restaurant Poll