This is a personal lifestyle site. I’m not a professional food critic, wine critic, movie critic or any type of critic for that matter. I have however invested a lot of time into learning new skills such as studying wine with WSET, attending cookery classes, food styling classes and studying digital marketing. I write about my interests and all posts are an honest and true reflection of my experiences. Where I have been asked to something as a guest I will indicate it should I choose to write about it.
I don’t have an issue accepting an invite to be a guest at a restaurant. I always make it very clear that it does not automatically mean I will feature the experience on my site. Complimentary meals do not under any circumstance automatically earn positive reviews. That is a waste of time for everyone involved and quite frankly makes bloggers look like spongers and restaurants lose their credibility. My policy is: positive reviews are earned solely by the hard work of talented chefs, professional staff and quality food regardless of who covers the cost. If featured it will always be made clear that I was a guest. I’ve turned down way more meals than I’ve accepted and that is with good reason.
In general I tend not to write about poor service/food I have experienced. Why? because that is my time (which is valuable to me) I’m using up creating content. Instead I tend to use that time constructively and email the relevant contact and give them feedback from a customer point of view. I strongly believe anyone can have an off day in their business and they should be given the opportunity to rectify it off-line rather than be slated online. I am very much of the opinion that everyone with a voice on the internet, no matter how small, has a responsibility to use it appropriately and with respect.
Site Advertising / Affiliate Links / Sponsored Posts
Writing content, editing photographs or researching articles takes a considerable amount of time. I do it at my own expense and in my own free time, because I enjoy it. You will notice that my site does not have any advertising or affiliate links on it. There are also currently no sponsored blog posts either where I was paid, hired or employed to promote a product. This was an initial decision I made when I started the blog. That said, with the right fit I am happy to discuss collaborations, which is the case with an Instagram only sponsored campaign I took part in with Avonmore.
If you do like the site and you would like to pitch a collaboration idea to me, I’m happy to read it. My email is at the top of this page. Anything considered would need to be in keeping with my own content, audience and interests. They do say if you work for free you will never be idle. To be clear, I would rather be idle than rewarded with exposure. I can’t eat exposure unfortunately.