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Restaurant Report E-mail Newsletter
For Hospitality Professionals and Food Connoisseurs
Issue #116 August 14, 2000
http://www.restaurantreport.com
newsletter@restaurantreport.com
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_____________________________________________________________________
In This Issue
* Reader Feedback -- Getting on the Internet
* Bulletin Board
(This publication may be freely redistributed in its entirety)
(Back issues are archived on the website)
_____________________________________________________________________
READER FEEDBACK -- GETTING AN INTERNET SITE
_____________________________________________________________________
Last Week's "Talk About It" Question...
"Could someone please provide feedback about the benefits of Internet
listing services and custom development"
**Next Post
This is my field of specialty because for the last two years I have
been webmaster of our restaurant site www.bombaybistro.com. I faced
the same dilemma that most restaurant people face in the choice of
providers for web services and which is the best option.
Let me get to the basics first...
a) It is important for you to register a domain name...
www.myrestaurant.com etc or www.mamasbakery.com etc. because there
may be a day when people searching for you may just go to another guy
who registered your restaurants name and is 70 miles away.
Registration costs around $20 to $35 per year.
b) Find a host/application service provider. The choice for this is
very tricky a lot of diverse industries have got onto this band
wagon. Your local newspaper will do this for you for a fee and include
you in their restaurant's section. Internet companies do this for you,
the cost can be anything from $175 upwards per year.
c) Developing the actual site: You can find the neighborhood kid who
can make a few pages of HTML and give you your website, you can go to
the top of the line webpage designers with software like flash, dream
weaver, photoshop etc. or you can do it yourself. The cost of this
varies from a one time payment to a monthly fee for making changes and
maintaining it.
I never pictured myself as being able to do it after a 12 hour day but
the interest to learn more made me add Webmaster to my already time
consuming titles of chef cum catering director.
What will you get out of being on the Internet - I don't believe we
have reached a stage where the Internet will double or triple your
sales but it has the following advantages:
1.) People who want to come to your place will look for directions,
hours of operation and descriptions of the menu etc. there. This may
save you some time on the phone.
2.) It is convenient for people to tell their friends to look up your
website for further details (Hey I know this nice Indian restaurant
in Fairfax check them out at.....)
3) You will get feedback (this in itself makes it worthwhile.) Guests
will send you emails about their good and bad experiences. This also
gives you a good chance to make up to them. They will give you
suggestions and also give advice offer to help too. Be prompt in
answering the queries and you will have made a customer for life.
4) They will try to arrange catering, ask for quotes and arrange
details. It will be an interesting experience and will slowly change
and convenience your operation.
Good Luck and looking forward to your joining the presence on the web
club.
Shashi Bellamkonda - shapra@netzero.net
**Next Post
Before I begin, let me state for the record that my company is a
listing service, however, this is not a sales pitch.
As a restaurateur, when deciding between contracting a designer to
build a website for your restaurant or to go with a listing service,
there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Many of them are the
same for a publisher.
YOUR OWN SITE
Advantages:
1.Getting your own URL to use on your in-restaurant promotional
materials (matchbooks, t-shirts, etc.) , and in your traditional print
advertising.
2.Having an e-mail address with your restaurant's domain attached.
e.g.:chef@myrestaurant.com
3.Having full creative control over content, look, feel, layout, etc.
4.Publishers can put up chat rooms, searchable archives of past issues
and other features that are not readily supported by a listing
service.
Disadvantages:
1.The responsibility lies with you to make sure that you keep the site
up to date. Have the designer post menu changes. Ask the designer to
add notices when you are having a wine tasting, etc.
2.The designer is not always available when you need changes made and
may charge you for each change.
3. Driving people to look at the site is up to you and it takes a lot
of effort. Use the URL in all of your communications in the
restaurant and outside of it. However, when people are searching for
a new place to dine, they may not find your listing fast enough with
the search engines. Often they prefer to go to a dining guide which
will give them more options more quickly.
LISTING SERVICES
Advantages:
1. They do the advertising of the website for you so you don't have to
worry about driving traffic to the site.
2. If they are good, they will send out e-mail to their members on
your behalf announcing special events like wine tastings, new chefs,
new menus, etc.
3. If they are good, they will contact you regularly to remind you
that they are there and that you should let them know if there have
been any changes to your menu, hours, etc.
4. If they are good, they will send you or give you access to a
regular report of traffic to your individual listing.
5. If they are good, they may offer ancillary services, like gift
certificate sales online, a store to sell your t-shirts, chocolate
sauces, or whatever, and a mail list service to electronically deliver
your newsletter to your patrons.
6. If they are good they will allow you to have your own URL
re-directed to your content on their site. egg:
www.georgetownsaloon.com which you can use on your promotional
materials in the restaurant and in your advertising.
7. You should be able to have photos, menus, wine lists, whatever you
would normally put on your own website, within the listing.
Disadvantages:
1. If they are not good, they will charge you for updates, or limit
the amount of content you can place in the listing.
2. If they are not good, they may only give you some obscure URL like
www.restaurantsite.com/myrestaurant.html
3. Annual service fees vary widely
4. They may only advertise the site locally, omitting travelers from
your audience.
As you can see, if you have time to spend on marketing both your
website and your restaurant, having someone design a site for you may
be a good option. If you are looking for something more turn-key and
less time-intensive, a listing site, carefully chosen, may work out
even better in the long run.
A web presence can be an excellent tool to help build your business
and to service existing business. If you book a lot of corporate
banquets or large parties - having a sample catering menu and photos
of your dining room dressed up for a party make the process much
easier. The web can also be a tool for gaining feedback from your
patrons about the service and food quality within your establishment.
Many listing sites will allow the users to rate and review the
restaurants, and some will pass you that information before it goes
online. Newsletters can also be much more easily managed online than
offline and some listing services will handle the distribution
and list maintenance for you.
I hope this information is useful. If you have any questions or would
like some additional feedback, please feel free to contact me.
Hannah M. Everard - hme@letseatout.com
VP Business Development
LetsEatOut.com
**Next Post
In response to your questions about the differences between listing
services and getting a developer there are a few things to consider.
One is the issue of control of content: Do you want to put up basic
information? Do you want to showcase your contributions to your
community? Do you have any plans to expand your online offerings if
it is a success? Think about how much control you want to have,
generally with listing services, you will have less control.
Another issue is individuality. Generally with a listing service you
are a click away from dozens of other options. And your site looks
just like the others. For most, the best comparison is listing in the
yellow pages.
Cost can be a tricky thing. Listing services may be less money up
front then designing your own site but make sure you compare the
monthly cost of keeping it up during a one year period. Also
consider your long term Internet plans, money may be thrown away if
you decide to expand beyond the capabilities of the listing service.
Up front fees for web design can run as high as $10,000, but if you
just want the average of 7 pages with menu, map and directions, etc.
the price will probably be more around $1,500. Some web designers
will charge as much as $70 an hour to make any changes, while others
will cover most basic changes with a monthly fee. Get a few
estimates. Find out the differences in how they charge you. You have
to ask yourself what is more important to you, and how it fits into
your long term Internet plans.
Whatever you decide the key thing is to promote, promote, promote. If
you are in a high traffic area put it on your sign, inside put it on
your business cards and bulletin board. Your customers will most
likely be the ones saying to their friends, remember that great
restaurant I told you about, you can see it at www.yourrestaurant.com.
Rich Fry
Co-Founder
3Dash, Inc
**Next Post
As an online marketer, I think you're wasting your money to go with a
listing service exclusively.
First of all you need your own URL www.chezjoe.com rather than
www.restaurantlist.com/chezjoe . Like who is going to remember that?
* As you said they all look the same but does your restaurant look the
same as the one across the street and down the block?
* What is their maintenance charges to update your site with a new
menu or seasonal dinners/news?
* Lastly how often do you see advertising for the listing service?
What is their marketing plan?
Here are some questions to ask prospective web designers:
* You might try to find a web designer/developer who has done some
foodservice related sites. Ask a designer for the sites they have done
and look at them and make sure these sites are fast-loading, the links
work, and you like the work. Contact the owners of the sites and ask
them if they were happy with the web designer.
* Register your own URL. Make sure you "own" it. You should be the
registrant and the billing contact.
* Ask the web designer for the FTP information such as user ID and
password. Keep it in a safe place because if your web designer runs
off or goes out of business you have no way of accessing your web site
files.
* A good web designer will ask you for some of your favorite URLs so
they can get an idea of what you like and dislike.
* Forget the bells and whistles and animation unless your target
audience is 15 year old boys.
* Inquire about search engines and if their fee includes online
marketing and if so, what are they going to do. Get everything in
writing.
* Inquire about their maintenance and updating charges in the
beginning.
A restaurant web site need not be elaborate but it should reflect who
you are and the audience you're trying to attract.
Karyn Zoldan
owner and legend in my own mind of
www.bridgemarketing.com
*****
Send newsletter feedback and comments to us at
mailto:newsletter@restaurantreport.com
_____________________________________________________________________
BULLETIN BOARD
_____________________________________________________________________
**Next Post - Re: Owner eating in his restaurant's dining room
Each night here at my restaurant, I sit down to eat in the dining
room. The customers don't seem to have a problem with it, however
recently our staff has been giving me a hard time about doing so,
saying that it's inappropriate for me to eat in the dining room while
we are open. Just recently, I've even started waiting on myself as not
to cause a problem for the waitstaff- prior to that, they waited on
me. Is it proper restauranteur etiquette to eat in my dining room or
not?
- mailto:newsletter@restaurantreport.com
**Next Post - Re: Reservation Systems
I am interested in any computerized reservation systems that other
restaurateurs might be using. In-house systems not online systems.
Preferably something that offers something for guest history.
- mailto:Cassandsb@aol.com
**Next Post - Re: Waiter Schools
I am seeking the names or email addresses of professional waiter
schools. I believe these schools are in France and Sweden. If anyone
can send me information, I would be most grateful!
- mailto:kstone@crww.com
**Next Post - Re: Mobile Kitchens
Does anyone know of any companies which rent mobile kitchens on a
monthly basis? We are renovating our hotel kitchen but want to
maintain our banquet operations. We would appreciate any information
or leads, especially if located in Texas.
Thanks - mailto:mpaz70@yahoo.com
**Next Post - Re: Restaurants in Malls
Have you seen any good sites or articles about restaurants located in
shopping centers?
Thanks,
David - mailto:Dhyman@mghadvertising.com
**Next Post - Re: Dessert House Information
I am in the planning stages to open a dessert house in my hometown in
Colorado. There is nothing like it in this town, so I am having
trouble getting believable information on sales, food cost, gross
profit margin, hourly traffic, and turnover rates for my business
plan. It will be considered Fine Dining with three apps, a six item
dinner menu, and around 20 upscale desserts, open evenings and nights
only. If anyone has something similar to this, and would be willing
to share some of their hard-earned knowledge, it would help this
burgeoning restaurateur tremendously.
- mailto:fiercetiggers@uswest.net
*****
Note @ the Bulletin Board: If you can lend advice/assistance/comments
etc. please respond to the individual directly and cc: us here at
mailto:newsletter@restaurantreport.com We'll summarize and post
responses we receive that would benefit the group.
_____________________________________________________________________
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