We usually reserve our Nice Sites posts for individual restaurants, however we thought this restaurant group had a simple, attractive site providing basic information and professional photography for each of their properties.
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UK hospitality company Caterersearch.com will announce the winners of its inaugural hospitality website awards on November 17. The nominees for independent restaurant websites are ethical fine dining restaurant Alimentum, Andrew Fairlie at the Gleneagles Resort, and Sam’s Brasserie.
Some quick initial thoughts:
While the Alimentum homepage is cluttered and doesn’t present a clear path through the information, we like how their rotating ‘food for thought’ feature introduces visitors to their values and vision in an informative and attractive way.
The Andrew Fairlie site is sexy but has some slightly confusing navigation elements and is sure to drive visitors completely bananas with its looong intro and soundtrack. Then again, maybe it loads more quickly if you’re in Scotland. A general comment to web designers around the world: Spare me the closeup photos of a napkin rings. They’re just silly.
We thought Sam’s video piece on the homepage gave a really nice feel for the restaurant and took no time to load. We also liked their use of quotes and the prominent contact/map information at the top of the page.
Who do you think should win?
With all of our big talk about online marketing best practices and usability, we sometimes forget to talk about the ssssssexy side of web design, i.e. the VISUAL DESIGN! Abduzeedo provides a wonderful list of well-designed restaurant websites. While each site might not get everything right, it’s a formidable selection that can serve as inspiration for the look and feel of your website.
Looking at the group of websites, one thing I find baffling is the way some restaurants choose to use their homepage to talk about themselves as if they are writing a press release for I-don’t-know-what. I’m referring to phrases like “the food, service and atmosphere reflect and compliment today’s lifestyles where balance and experiences coexist.” Seriously? This type of writing is hardly unique to this website, but it must be stopped.
Dessert Truck
DessertTruck serves high-quality, low-pretense desserts from its mobile New York City headquarters. Their website, as straightforward as they come, provides all key information in one click or less. Still, they manage to integrate with Facebook, offer online ordering, keep the site regularly updated and are building an email list. We find DessertTruck’s website almost as fabulous as their chocolate mousse!
Vindalho Restaurant Website
It is a rare occasion indeed that I come across a successful restaurant email newsletter. We liked the Portland, Oregon-based Vindalho’s straightforward, informative and sometimes funny (”Love me Tandoor”) email newsletter that they have managed to publish seasonally over the past couple of years. Every issue contains information about holiday specials, cooking classes, new cocktails and their Jazz series, not to mention some recent great press from Gourmet Magazine! With such valuable information packaged clearly and simply, Vindalho’s newsletter stands to appeal to both existing and potential customers. In addition, the newsletter link is prominently displayed in the main website navigation. We approve!
Larkspur Restaurant Website
I came across this nice site while planning a trip to Colorado. The importance of having a clear, direct and informative website is potentially even more important for those restaurants in high traffic tourist destinations. Out of town web visitors, researching local restaurants for their trip, may be coming across lots of information, including dozens of restaurants in your area, with little way of distinguishing them. Your restaurant needs to stand out from your competitors in a meaningful way, but also create a clear, informative experience in the shortest amount of time possible. What makes one restaurant more appealing than another to a new visitor when both have lovely decor, great reviews, solid menus and a great location? It’s a restaurant that makes enough of an impact that a user adds it to their list of places to check out on a trip. Having never visited this restaurant, the website visitor will assume that a tastefully-branded, intuitive and special website will naturally extend to their experience at the restaurant.
The Larkspur website has an elegant design while providing the visitor with all key information up front, as well as a gift certificate promotion and a link to a Today Show appearance! The main image, which helps extend the feel of the restaurant’s interior into the website, is unique and memorable.
We get a lot of visits from bakery owners and are delighted to share with you our latest Nice Site of the Week from Anjou Bakery, 2008 Winner of the Gallo Award for Outstanding Bread/Baked Good.
Congratulations to Seattle’s Maneki, one of five winners of the America’s Classic Award from the James Beard Foundation, and as far as I can tell, the only winner of this award with a website!
