Successful Restaurant Websites

farmerbrown

As a car-free city dweller, the gas crisis does not figure as prominently into my day-to-day life as those in other areas.  However, this article discussing how gas prices affect Americans’ leisure time made a couple of interesting and promising observations.  Not only does it suggest that there is trending toward online shopping, thus saving costly driving trips to stores, but this practice may also extend to restaurants.

“Although debt managers advise their clients to dine in more often, data from the National Restaurant Association suggests few may be heeding that advice. April 2008 was a record month nationwide for restaurant sales, says Hudson Riehle, the NRA’s senior vice president of research.

Convenience appears to trump cash flow. “Consumers now incorporate restaurants into their daily lifestyles on a central basis,” Riehle says. Still, mindful of the gas crisis, some restaurants across the country are stepping up efforts at cell phone and online marketing and food delivery services.”

We can infer a number of things from this article.  Potential customers are more likely to patronize nearby restaurants to save on the costs of driving.   They are cutting back on leisure driving so they may look to map more direct routes to their dining destinations.   There is a greater incentive to plan their driving trips in advance.  In the interest of completing multiple errands at a time, customers may be combining a visit to your restaurant with trips to other local businesses.  They are foregoing big vacations in favor of indulging in special plans closer to home.  Customers may prefer food delivery to takeout or dine-in service.  Finally, they may be more aware and responsive to deals and promotions, particularly those that emphasize convenience and ease.

Poll:  Gas prices causing people to cut visits to family, friends

Smart soundbites from this year’s National Restaurant Association gathering:

“With email, blogs, YouTube and a plethora of other consumer-driven content exploding on the Internet, savvy restaurateurs can no longer afford to ignore the power of their customers’ opinions, says Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking.”

“What’s the first thing people do before they buy?” he asks. “They Google.” Some 60,000 regular folks penned Internet reviews on products or services this year alone, notes Sernovitz, all the more reason that restaurant owners should replace their traditional matchbook give-aways with in-store invitations for customers to post their own restaurant reviews on Yelp or some other popular restaurant review site.

“Your whole economic structure changes when your customers are coming in for free and telling their friends,” he says.

Sernovitz pointed to a host of successful word-of-mouth campaigns that required little investment and yielded explosive results.”

From the Floor:  The Power of Word of Mouth (QSR Magazine)

Of ongoing concern to website managers is the number of sites where customers can contribute their own restaurant reviews.  Many restaurants struggle with how and when to respond to visitor comments online.  Since your potential customers put a lot of faith in the opinions of their peers, recommendations will continue to figure highly into their decision-making process.  The article provides examples of how some business owners face these concerns.

“Studies, such as one done by Deloitte and Touche in late 2007, are finding that 80% of readers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by customer reviews. And 70% of them say they share business reviews with friends and family online.”

Marketing In the Recommendation Age (The Street)

This is a topic we haven’t addressed before, but it’s unfortunately something that seems to come up quite a bit. When there is a food contamination issue, typically in chain establishments, restaurants are using their websites as part of their public relations efforts. I’m not a Chipotle fan myself, but according to their Customer Service Manager, Chipotle is proactive and attentive when it comes to their online presence.

“We don’t typically mess with blogs at all, since it looks like “intervention,” and we don’t wish to look like the big corporate clown in such cases. But in this particular instance, we were concerned about local perceptions, and we wanted to try to disseminate as much of the information we know that we can to hopefully help folks feel a little safer about visiting our restaurant.”

Chipotle Uses Social Media To Combat Hepatitis Scare (Information Week)

In the Restaurant category, the winner was Me and My Bod, a social, promotional site funded by Wagamama.  Bod is a paper doll downloadable from the website.   It’s a sweet but well-worn idea of encouraging site visitors to submit photographs of themselves and their new “friend” Bod, who is featured in Wagamama’s promotions.   Apart from some strategically placed links, there was little relationship between Me and My Bod and Wagamama, except for its fun, positive and youthful tone.  

The People’s Choice award went to Wagamama’s main site, which dedicates almost as much web page real estate to games as it does food.   For a global franchise that is child-friendly, Wagamama has a modern, informative site that is also intuitive.

Interesting article on the pervasiveness of review sites such as Yelp and Citysearch and ways restaurants can approach online reviews.

“The main reason: Studies, such as one done by Deloitte and Touche in late 2007, are finding that 80 percent of readers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by customer reviews. And 70 percent of them say they share business reviews with friends and family online.”

“It’s critical for companies to respond to this trend because you just don’t know what influence that message board or blogger might have if you’re not listening and responding,” says Toby Bloomberg, president of Bloomberg Marketing and a blogger for Diva Marketing. “If you’re not continuing the conversation in a better direction, then people are left to their own conclusions.”

Marketing in the Recommendation Age (MSNBC)

This businessman from Montana is on a mission to assess the websites of his local businesses.  This week, he’s looking at the restaurant scene.  In addition to his frustration over restaurant websites that provide unwanted information about, “the romance of their fireplace area,”  he remarks on how websites are a baseline requirement for a restaurant business.

“Even if all you do is put up a one page site with your location, hours and a map, that is far better than nothing. You wouldn’t likely open a business and not have a phone. You wouldn’t skip on printing menus in your restaurant. If you’re a consultant or service professional, you wouldn’t blow off printing business cards. ”

Not having even a one page website is equivalent to not having a phone or a business card.

Even if your business is busy and doesn’t need more work right now, you need a website. Everything has ups and downs. The time to dig the well is before you’re thirsty.”

Sticking a Fork in Restaurant Websites (Flathead Beacon)

Several startups such as Genbook, HourTown, Booking Angel provide appointment-based small businesses with online reservation services.

“Finally, there’s Booking Angel. It currently only serves restaurants. It plans to expand to contractors, spas, doctors and other appointment-based industries.”

“You can place a Booking Angel icon on your website. Or, Web directories can put a booking link next to your business listing.”

“Booking Angel notifies you of reservations via phone. There’s no monthly subscription. Rather, charges for confirmed reservations start at $1.”

Online Booking Comes To Small Business Owners (USA Today via National Restaurant Association SmartBrief)