Staff at an Aberdeen bar have claimed they have been forced into falsely advertising its new takeaway fronts.
Workers at student hotspot The Bobbin have been tagged in a chain of messages instructing them to write five-star reviews for two new dark kitchens providing takeaway food.
A relatively new concept, dark kitchens – or ghost kitchens – can involve established businesses setting up separate online shopfronts on apps such as Deliveroo or JustEat in a bid to sell their food under another name.
On Tuesday, The Bobbin – which is owned by the Stonegate Group – launched online restaurants called V Good Burger and Sammies Sandwiches.
Prior to the launch, management at the King Street venue ordered staff to write positive reviews to build up traffic and promote the business.
And in the string of texts, seen by The Press and Journal, they were told: “Action will be taken against those who don’t follow the rules” and complete their review.
‘This is not an optional task’
Initially, staff were divided into two groups, with some being assigned to review Sammies Sandwiches and the rest scheduled to write up on V Good Burger.
In a message, staff were told: “The dark kitchen will be launching on Tuesday. In order to get the exposure we need on the first day, we’re going to need everyone to place an order and leave a five-star review.
“Keep your receipts and bring them in, and it’ll be expensed. Everyone has been assigned somewhere to order from so we can ensure we get all the reviews we need for each place.
“Everyone is going to have to take part in this as we need those initial reviews on launch day.”
However, the Competition and Markets Authority prohibit businesses from “falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer.”
Staff at The Bobbin were told in a follow-up message that “This isn’t an optional task at all.
“Lots of you have seen this post and not many have responded. Please get on it.
“You need to just do it.”
‘Overzealous misrepresentation’
In the messages sent to The Press and Journal, staff at the King Street location were reminded a final time that “action” would be taken against those who hadn’t taken part.
Stonegate Group insisted there had never been any intention to misrepresent the services on offer, which they say have been launched to diversify after a “challenging” couple of years.
A spokeswoman suggested the messages sent to staff were an “overzealous misrepresentation” of their plans for the launch and that action has now been taken to rectify the situation.
A spokeswoman for The Bobbin said: “After a couple of challenging years, we have been looking at ways to adapt our business. One of which is through the dark kitchen route.
“There was never an intention to mispresent the authenticity or quality of our products and service.
“Team members were asked to give feedback as we trial the system, and there was an overzealous misinterpretation of this guidance, which has now been rectified to ensure honest feedback ahead of launch.”
