Person who owns restaurant’s Facebook page refuses to give business control

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — It’s lunchtime at North 29 Grill in Kannapolis.

The fryer, the grill, and the talk are all heating up.

But one thing this eatery doesn’t have is the original “North 29 Grill” Facebook page.

The restaurant’s owner, Melissa Riffle, told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke she bought the business about nine months ago but didn’t get the Facebook page that went with it.

She says the person who created the Facebook page for the previous owner still owns the page. Riffle says she asked for it, but the person said no.

“So, I messaged the page, thinking I was going to get ahold of some nice lady, she was going to be helpful, but that’s not how it turned out,” Riffle said.

In fact, that person posted to the page: “Do not own restaurant but I do own this page.”

“It was so freaky. It was just such a weird … just (a) weird situation,” Riffle said.

Stoogenke exchanged messages with the person who owns the page. It’s not clear what she wants for it. She told Stoogenke, “If (Riffle) would have approached me a little differently I would have given it to her.”

Riffle says she isn’t sure what that means. But she started her own Facebook page with the same name, but with a picture of her crew.

“We definitely feel the love from the town,” she said.

Advice from Action 9

When a business changes hands, both sides should talk about who gets the social media accounts, like you would any business asset. In fact, the contract should spell it out specifically.

One twist: some social media platforms may not let the seller transfer ‘ownership’ to the buyer. In that case, perhaps the seller can make the buyer the administrator of the account and then the buyer can change the password to have full control over it.

If this is starting to sound like something you may want a lawyer for, you may be right.

VIDEO: Lagoona Bay developer sues two private citizens over critical social media comments

Lagoona Bay developer sues two private citizens over critical social media comments

©2023 Cox Media Group