Yelp To Include Health Grades In Restaurant Scoring Program
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- When it comes to choosing where you're going out to eat, social media sites like Yelp have become a go-to place.
"I like opinions from other people," says Michelle McIvain, from Hopewell Township.
But when it comes to whether a restaurant is a clean restaurant is dependent on the health department sticker on the front door. Green, you are good to go. Yellow or Red – no so much.
Allegheny County considered a letter grading system, but it didn't make it past the discussion stage. Enter Yelp and its computer contractor, which will soon start adding a health score to its online restaurant reviews.
Board of Health Chairman Dr. Lee Harrison, who was a grading system advocate, likes the Yelp plan.
"The idea behind a grading system is to synthesize the data and come up with a easily comprehensible score," Dr. Harrison said.
The contractor has developed a computer bot that will scan the restaurant ratings already available on the ADHD website looking for serious violations and repeat offenders over the past two years.
Dr. Harrison says, "The score is going to be weighted towards critical violations and repeat violations."
But restaurant owners are not happy about the plan.
Priory Hospitality CEO John Graf says, "I think there's a lot of unfairness to the restaurants. I think there is subjectivity woven into the process."
Specifically he says the "violations" are subjective conclusions of the inspectors, then interpreted by a computer which brands the restaurant. Graf says all based on an inspection, "It's a snap shot in time, it's one day for two or three hours, so that letter grade may hang on the restaurant for years."
Yelp says the computer will do daily checks of the ACHD site and update scores as circumstances change.
Those heading out to eat on Thursday offered these comments on Yelp's plan:
"I think that's a great idea."
"Cleanliness is a big thing for me."
"It's a good idea 'cause I don't want to go to a dirty restaurant."
"If they are getting bad ratings, it kind of makes you wonder."
"For me that would be a deciding factor."
"I might want to look at Yelp more if they do something like that."
"If you got a bad rating on cleanliness, you definitely won't get my business."
The information the computer bot will be trolling is available all the time on the Allegheny County Health Department's website at this link.
No date has been set for adding the Health Score to the Pittsburgh area restaurants on Yelp.