When positive press comes along, most businesses see it as a good thing. After all, a lengthy story in let’s say The New York Daily News or a 2-minute slot on CBS’s The Early Show can do wonders in terms of public image and the bottom line. And who doesn’t like that?
Turns out—the “Soup Nazi.”
After a six-year absence, the man who inspired the Soup Nazi episode of “Seinfeld,” Al Yeganeh, is back. He reopened his original soup stand doors this month in Manhattan, and the media started slurping it up.
Yet come opening day, Yeganeh (now known as The Original Soup Man) was nowhere to be seen.
Add that to The Wall Street Journal article that published a list of rules for interviewing Yeganeh, including:
- No tabloids
- No use of the word Nazi
- No personal questions
- No follow-up questions
Plus, the fact that Jerry Seinfeld has had trouble in the past getting through the door, according to a recent NPR story. Yeganeh has dismissed the “Seinfeld” episode as an unfair character assassination. Once saying on CNN, that his product didn’t need “that clown” Jerry Seinfeld—that it spoke for itself for a quarter of a century.
For Yeganeh, it really does seem like “No PR for you.” Yet, we wonder, with all this media attention centered on his anti-PR ways, could that be his strategy?
Either way, at $20 for an extra-large cup of crab bisque and a line topping 100 eager customers, it looks like media attention is paying off.