Successful Restaurant Websites

The Web Marketing Association presents its annual restaurant website award. The entry deadline is May 31, 2008.

“As the standard of excellence for web sites continues to increase, consumers (and WebAward judges) are increasingly picky about what they consider to be an effective web site,” said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association, Inc. “Restaurant Web sites are enhancing the customers experience even before they step into the restaurant. Web sites are creating the environment that the user will experience if he or she visits the restaurant which reflects in the high design scores of this industry. Content such as online reservations, directions, nightly menus are just some of the added value restaurant Web sites are offering their online users.”

Web Marketing Association Web Award

Quince gets pretty much everything right - manageable amounts of information, clear navigation and elegance without being flashy (or Flash-y).

Quince

“Papa John’s and rival Domino’s Pizza Inc (DPZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are both encouraging consumers to order via the Internet. People who order online tend to order more, adding chicken wings or a dessert to their orders, Travis said.”Restaurants Turn To Menu Changes, Online (Reuters)

A new NYC wine bar brings interactivity into the ordering experience.

“While the decor of the 72-seat restaurant features hues reminiscent of burgundy and chardonnay, Adour’s 4-seat wine bar is constructed from gold and bronze and covered in luxurious goat skin. Built-in interactive technology from Potion Design helps patrons choose a wine by allowing them to browse Adour’s complete wine list by wine type, country and varietal. Computer menus are projected from the ceiling onto the bar, and patrons make their choices by pressing on the bar’s surface.”

Old Wine In New Bottle (FohBoh)

Freshness. Taste. Aroma. Comfort. Drama. Prestige. Relaxation.   Your website’s photography directly contributes to the perception and appeal of your brand, which can lead to more business.  Strong, high-quality photography can elevate a website from mediocre to great.  It’s not necessarily expensive, nor is it reserved for fine dining establishments.   Whether creating a photo gallery, or providing rotating image details of dishes throughout the site, check out how some of these websites use photography to enhance their brand, while providing customers with useful information about the dining experience.

Bread and Roses

Bristol

Clio

Cottonwood Grille

Elizabeth on 37th

Fifteen Cornwall

Layang Layang Restaurant

Oasis Cafe

Roy’s

‘wichcraft

“Unknown to Beckwith, however, an unofficial cadre of Yale alumni took action as soon as they bore witness to the Doodle’s fate. Within two days, the Yankee Doodle restaurant officially had a website ( www.thedoodle.com), a presence on myspace.com and its own profile on facebook, the social-networking favorite of many a Yalie. More than a month later, Beckwith is working on a plan to occupy a new home around the corner, hang a refurbished 1950s sign and fire up the charcoals again. “I never dreamed selling a burger to a Yalie would make such a difference,” said Beckwith, who knows a grill far more intimately than a keyboard. “There is a massive amount of support. I’ve had to literally answer 1,000 e-mails.”

 In New Haven, A Dandy Rescue  (Courant.com)

Chowhound’s passionate contributors don’t hold back when it comes to expressing their opinions.  A number of discussion threads pertain to customers’ sentiments on restaurant website design.   Below we’ve captured some key points in their own words.   To sum up: When designing your website, keep in mind some of your potential customers’ pet peeves – lack of current menu with prices, weighty use of Flash, musical intros, and complicated navigation. 

“I have absolutely no interest in flashy sites, seeing the decor, or knowing that the table I might sat at were once used as doors in the old Trappist monastery that mysteriously went up in flames one winter night in 1918.”

“I just want it to be right there and simple so I can see what’s available. And I want it in simple language.”

“The first thing I look for is the menu, with prices. …As for the interface, the simpler, the better. No clip-art, please, or annoying club-like music.”

“The 2 main things I would prefer to see on a restaurant web site is a photo gallery of the food and definitely the prices.”

“Both aesthetically and for ease of use, I prefer uncluttered design, minimal scrolling, and no frames. No flash, no music.”

Your Favorite Restaurant Websites and Why? (Chowhound)

“I absolutely hate it when restaurant website menus don’t have prices.”

“It would be interesting to see the relationship between the quality of a website and the quality of the restaurant.”

Lame Restaurant Websites (Chowhound)

Touchscreen tableside electronic ordering devices are being tested around the world.   Imagine.  A touchscreen computer is installed at a restaurant table.  There, diners can view photos, prices, nutritional information, make special requests (hold the anchovies!) and place an order when they are ready.  Shortly, a server brings the food to the table. Is tableside e-ordering a passing fad or will the efficiencies (and novelty) become incentive for your customers’ return visits?

“At one e-Menu table, Gil Uriel, an information technology worker, and his young family were enthusiastic as they looked at pictures of the food and argued over dessert.

“We can still choose, we can still argue, but it’s much easier when you can all see it,” Uriel said as his children clicked away furiously on a games function between courses.”

A skeptical customer says:

“I don’t believe in screens - I believe in humans,” said Yoash Torkman, a businessman lunching at Frame. “I’ll wait for 15 minutes for a waitress instead of using this. It’s a gimmick and gimmicks have very short lives.”

E-Waiter, Where’s My Food? (International Herald Tribune)

In this amusing piece, a New England restaurant owner-turned-dot-commer-turned journalist gets very specific about the information she wants from a restaurant’s website.   While some of her points aren’t exactly universal principles, she makes some astute observations:

“A restaurant Web site doesn’t need lots of moving parts made with flash technology, nor does it need music unless it’s easy to turn it off before it drives me nuts, but it does need some basic information. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to a site and couldn’t find the phone number. That’s just crazy. There are certain things I do want to see. I’d like to know a bit about the restaurant in terms of what kind of food I might be getting myself into. Like, “We’re a family spot you can bring your kids to and no one will get upset.” I saw one restaurant site where they actually came out and said that kids under 8 years old wouldn’t be welcome. It’s good to know that ahead of time! It would also be good to know if the place is so fancy I have to drag out my tiara from storage.”

Hungry For Dining Websites (Seacoast Online)