How should vegan restaurants brief a critic or press dinner without coaching green claims?
Quick answer
Send a one-page plated-dinner brief before anyone sits: material-connection line for the comp, a must / may / must-not kit for the kitchen, photo freeze that matches the card, and a human review before publish. A press dinner is a comped plate with a claims kit, not a hotel night and not a Google owner reply. Do not coach carbon-neutral dining, eco restaurant, or climate-friendly tasting. Do not invent a coverage lift. Hotel nights live in hotel press stays. Product creator captions live in influencer FTC disclosures.
Vs other Intelligence guides
| Guide | Job |
|---|---|
| Hotel press stays | A comped night, kitchen vs property. Not a plated dinner. |
| Influencer FTC disclosures | Product UGC captions and gifted SKUs. Not a tasting menu. |
| Press kit media page | Public /press assets for product brands. Not a dinner itinerary. |
| Plant-based review replies | Owner copy after a diner writes. This page is before they sit. |
| Vegan vs plant-based labels | Dish tags on the card. The brief must copy those tags, not upgrade them. |
| Seasonal menu claims | Festive eco-friendly card freeze. Do not coach those adjectives at the table. |
| EmpCo hospitality copy | Site, menu, GBP, OTA crawl. The brief must match that freeze. |
| Menu CO2e | kg on the card. Do not invent a kg for the critic. |
| This guide | One-page critic or press-dinner brief, no coached green claims, review before publish |
Composite operator guidance. Not legal advice on endorsements, hospitality comps, or EmpCo. A critic, blogger, and creator dinner use the same brief. Fill [guest_type].
Three jobs. Do not mix the kits.
| Job | Object | Kit |
|---|---|---|
| Product creator | A SKU in a caption | FTC caption kit |
| Hotel press stay | A night, a room, a kitchen | Stay brief |
| Critic / press dinner | A plated service, a card, a photo of the pass | This brief |
Do not paste the hotel must-not list onto a dinner and call it done. Carbon-neutral night is lodging. Carbon-neutral tasting is dining. Eco lodge is property. Eco restaurant is the room. Keep both kits if the guest is also filming a hotel stay after the meal.
Steal this one-page plated brief
One page. Send it with the invite. The guest signs that they received it. FOH and the pass get the same PDF.
| Block | Fill with | Kill |
|---|---|---|
| Material connection | Comped covers, wine, photographer, or fee. Plain first-line language for any social post | Hiding the comp because they are press not an influencer |
| Kitchen must | Kitchen type that is true. Named dishes on the card. Allergen sheet URL | 100% vegan restaurant if pastry or wine is mixed |
| Plate may | Named farm, named mill, named oil, if the invoice is this dish. Cert ID if the license covers the kitchen | Eco restaurant. Climate-friendly tasting. Planet-positive menu |
| Must not | Carbon-neutral dining, plastic-free restaurant, homemade badge, a kg without a dish LCA, medical detox food | Coaching make it greener in a WhatsApp after service |
| Photos | Plates that match the card and the pass. Garnish that actually fires | Staging a climate garnish you do not serve |
| Review | Caption and on-screen text before publish when the dinner is gifted | Fixing it in comments after the Reel is live |
Run leftover adjectives through the green claims calculator before they go in the brief. EmpCo still applies to EU-facing copy the restaurant publishes. Guest UGC that overclaims still attaches to you. Diet tags copy the menu matrix. File proof in the substantiation folder.
Print vs banned (dinner copy)
| They may print | They must not print (and you must not coach) |
|---|---|
| Kitchen is vegan / vegetarian with named vegan plates. What they actually ate. Honey and wine per the policy URL | Eco restaurant because the tasting was vegan |
| Named cert, ID, year, kitchen scope on the policy page | Certified sustainable restaurant with no file |
| Named farm or mill on a dish if the invoice is that plate | Local and seasonal as climate proof. A kg from a competitor burger |
| Personal opinion of the service, noise, welcome | Healing, detox, cure. Invented cover or occupancy numbers |
| The card as printed. Vegan vs plant-based as tagged | Upgrading plant-based to vegan in the caption |
If the folder cannot support a line, the brief says omit. Do not tone it down in a third chat. kg print waits for a dish LCA: menu CO2e. Festive eco-friendly headers stay off: seasonal menu claims.
FOH and the pass get the same freeze
| Surface | Freeze to | Kill |
|---|---|---|
| Invite | Comped covers, date, kitchen type, brief attached | Eco press dinner as the booking name |
| FOH card | Kitchen type, allergen path, what is not claimed | Welcome to our green restaurant |
| Pass / chef | What is on the card. Honey and wine per kitchen policy | Chef will veganize climate-friendly if they ask on camera |
| GBP / Instagram | Unchanged by the comp. Same freeze as the EmpCo crawl | Pasting their Reel caption into the listing |
| Owner reply later | Review playbook after they write. Review replies | Arguing purity in a Maps reply because the critic missed a tag |
Go / no-go
| Call | When |
|---|---|
| No-go | No brief, coaching make it greener, carbon-neutral dining, hiding the comp, FOH off-kit, inventing a coverage lift |
| Go | One-page brief sent, kit matches the card and folder, disclosure line for social, review before publish, FOH card printed |
| Partial go | Honor a dinner already booked. Send the brief today. Kill leftover eco-restaurant coaching. Do not add a second gifted seating to use the content |
Score unpublished drafts that failed the kit, live posts that still say eco restaurant, and whether FOH used the card. Do not publish a PR ROI percentage.
A comped plate is not a climate brief
They already have a free dinner. They do not need you to invent a greener sentence. Give them the card, the policy URL, and the words you will also say at the pass.
Template fields and 7-day run
| Field | Fill with | Do not invent |
|---|---|---|
[guest_type] | critic / journalist / creator / blogger | Press so we can skip disclosure |
[comp_scope] | covers, wine, photographer, fee | A mystery extra course on camera |
[kitchen_scope] | vegan kitchen / vegetarian with vegan plates / mixed with named plates | 100% vegan restaurant if pastry is mixed |
[may_print] | Named farm, cert ID, with filenames | Eco restaurant as a vibe |
[must_not] | Carbon-neutral dining, plastic-free restaurant, homemade badge, invented kg | A softer synonym that means the same thing |
[policy_url] | Kitchen policy or menu matrix URL | A Maps-only answer |
[review_owner] | Who signs captions before publish | Fix it in comments |
- Day 1: Export live menu H1, last three gifted dinner captions, and GBP description. Mark kit / unknown / banned.
- Day 2: Fill the fields from the substantiation folder. If a file is missing, the line is omit.
- Day 3: Write the one-page brief. Same sentences as the card. No greener coaching appendix.
- Day 4: FOH and pass card. Booking name is not eco press dinner.
- Day 5: Send brief with the invite. Material connection in the email, not only the PDF.
- Day 6: Review draft caption and on-screen text. FAIL stays unpublished.
- Day 7: Score leftover eco-restaurant lines. Hotel nights stay in press stays. Owner replies stay in the review playbook. Do not recook either kit.
Frequently asked questions
How should vegan restaurants brief a critic or press dinner without coaching green claims?
Send a one-page plated-dinner brief before they sit: disclose the comp, freeze must / may / must-not for the kitchen, match photos to the card, and review captions before publish. Do not coach carbon-neutral dining or eco restaurant. Do not invent a coverage lift. FOH gets the same freeze.
Is this the same as the hotel press-stay brief?
Same idea, different object. That kit is a comped hotel night. This page is a plated dinner. Do not recook the stay guide to cover tastings.
Can we skip disclosure because they are a critic, not an influencer?
If value changed hands, social posts still need a clear material-connection line. A print byline is a different format. This is ops, not legal advice.
Can we ask them to call us an eco restaurant if the tasting is vegan?
No. A vegan kitchen is a kitchen fact. Eco restaurant is a climate claim. Brief the plate. Omit the adjective if the folder cannot open it.
What do we measure if not PR ROI?
Kit incidents in drafts, live posts that still say banned lines, and whether FOH used the card. Do not publish a coverage conversion percentage.