“My hypothesis,” he says, “was that the $250 fee was really the functional part of the application.” So he sent off the check, the application, and his wine list. Not long after, the answering machine at his fake restaurant in Milan received a real call from Wine Spectator in New York. He had won an Award of Excellence! The magazine also asked “if you might have an interest in publicizing your award with an ad in the upcoming issue.” This led Goldstein to conclude that “the entire awards program was really just an advertising scheme.”
Just Like the better business bureau or yelp
