Local Restaurants in Your City

[successfirst]

Hi everyone,

My name is Mike. I own a restaurant in my city and I plan on creating a website for my restaurant.

I was wondering if you all could help me out a little by answering one simple question for me. I would really appreciate it!

1. If all the restaurants in your city had a website, what would you want to see at the website and would you want to do at the website?

Please help me out because I have no idea what to put on the website.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Debbie]

the Menu and the prices... the address and phone number and the directions as to how to get there. and to place a reservation online. Inside and outside pictures.

 

[licia]

Along with the menu, a brief description of unusual dishes.

 

[jbib]

Take out/delivery available?
Possibly indicate which menu items are so-called "heart smart".

 

[Haggis]

I'll give you two examples. One is a restaraunt I visit occasionally and the other is for my local cafe.

Paua (http://www.paua.com.au) is the restaraunt and is pretty much has everything you would want for a restaraunt website. Location, contact details, menu, wine list, special happenings and even online booking.

Cafe Bobo (http://www.cafebobo.biz/) is my local cafe and certainly has a decent website for a small local cafe. It keeps you abreast of recent developments and special news.

 

[Dina]

I would like to know about the history about the food you will be serving as well as the menu, pictures of your dishes and the restaurant, what you offer for parties/catering, if any. Take a look at this restaurant's website http://espanacuisine.com/. It happens to be my favorite one in our city. Good luck in your business.

 

[grumblebee]

1) Menu
2) Prices
3) Photo gallery (of both food and location)
4) if its a fancy schmancy place, a little bio (with perhaps a pic?) of the head chef and where she/he has trained

I frequent A LOT of restaraunt websites before I ever visit (if they have one) and the ones that get me lured in have those features.

 

[auntdot]

Agree totally with the posters, I want to see the menu. You can say it is a sample menu so you don't have to change it all the time, but the prices should be there.

Also, if you have specials would add that. Have been to a newly opened restaurant three times recently, and have not ordered from the humdrum menu. The specials are great.

Oh, yes, and I may just be an old fuddy duddy but I like to know the dress code.

Nothing will chase Mr. Auntdot out of a restaurant quicker than him being casual and everyone else being dressed up.

Those are the specifics.

But would also talk about the theme of the restaurant. Is it traditional Italian, continental, French, just good old down home American?

What does the restaurant specialize in? What are you proud of?

You are enthusiastic about the place, try to convey that to the public on the web.

Just my thoughts, and very good luck.

 

[Michelemarie]

Menu is number one! The usual after that, prices, phone number, address, dress code, entertainment, etc.

 

[successfirst]

Thanks everyone! These are some great replies. I really do appreciate it.

I was just thinking, would any of you visit the website of a local fast food restaurant that sells food like pizza, burgers, sandwiches, etc?


I don't have a fast food restaurant, but I was thinking it would be cool if websites for fast food restaurants told you the maximum wait time for your food. Or even the maximum delivery time if you were ordering delivery.

Mike

 

[Michelemarie]

Yes, I would visit a fast food website. Might be cook if they have weekly specials or coupons and stuff. The delivery time is a cool idea - but I think it is such a quick turnaround, it sounds impossible for a fast food restaurant to do - would be nice though, huh?

 

[amber]

Hi everyone,

My name is Mike. I own a restaurant in my city and I plan on creating a website for my restaurant.

I was wondering if you all could help me out a little by answering one simple question for me. I would really appreciate it!

1. If all the restaurants in your city had a website, what would you want to see at the website and would you want to do at the website?

Please help me out because I have no idea what to put on the website.

Thanks,
Mike

Mike, it depends on your city on how best to approach your audience. For my city it would be...whats on the menu, including specials of the day ( appetizers, entrees,dessert), prices, atmosphere ( formal, casual). I like the option of take out! Dont underestimate the takeout crowd!

If your just starting out, I would probably include the name of a nearby business that has a good reputation to refer to directions to your place. In other words, "We are conveniently located nearby X and can easily be accessed by taking X exit off highway X...

So what type of restaurant do you own Mike, and in what city?

 

[successfirst]

Mike, it depends on your city on how best to approach your audience. For my city it would be...whats on the menu, including specials of the day ( appetizers, entrees,dessert), prices, atmosphere ( formal, casual). I like the option of take out! Dont underestimate the takeout crowd!

If your just starting out, I would probably include the name of a nearby business that has a good reputation to refer to directions to your place. In other words, "We are conveniently located nearby X and can easily be accessed by taking X exit off highway X...

So what type of restaurant do you own Mike, and in what city?

I own an italian restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Mike

 

[grumblebee]

I was just thinking, would any of you visit the website of a local fast food restaurant that sells food like pizza, burgers, sandwiches, etc?

I have, on occasion, visited various fast food websites.. mainly to look up nutritional information and/or ingredient information. I like it when food websites include that....

 

[successfirst]

Yes, I would visit a fast food website. Might be cook if they have weekly specials or coupons and stuff. The delivery time is a cool idea - but I think it is such a quick turnaround, it sounds impossible for a fast food restaurant to do - would be nice though, huh?

You are right about fast food restaurants having such a quick turnaround, but posting the maximum time you have to wait for your food would probably work for a restaurant like mine because its a dine in restaurant and the turnaround isn't nearly as quick as fast food restaurants.

Mike

 

[Debbie]

You are right about fast food restaurants having such a quick turnaround, but posting the maximum time you have to wait for your food would probably work for a restaurant like mine because its a dine in restaurant and the turnaround isn't nearly as quick as fast food restaurants.

Mike

I think that would be to difficult to keep up.. you or an employee would have to be constantly be going to a web site, with the status of whats going on with the restaurant. Which might keep the service for the people already there at a slower pace, while your busy updating the web site. I just think that a reservation sign up area on a web site would be better... if they see the time slot that they want available, then they would not have to know how long they have to wait. Plus, if they couldn't get a reservation, I would think people would probably just place a phone call to find out. I dunno, just an thought.

 

[abjcooking]

Here are a few that I have used and found everything that I needed.

http://www.rothswestsidesteakhouse.com/index.php

www.brotherjimmys.com

http://newyork.citysearch.com/customer_website/41629713?redirect=http://www.bangkokhousenyc.com
even though this last one left off the hours of operation I thought their images of the food was different and it made me very hungry which I guess is the point.

 

[middie]

the Menu and the prices... the address and phone number and the directions as to how to get there. and to place a reservation online. Inside and outside pictures.

everything debbie said

 

[urmaniac13]

Firstly pay special attention to the homepage, be creative on graphics and images and make it as attractive and attention grabbing as you can. This way people are more likely to stay on your page and look more, rather than just cruise through to something else. Believe me, a good visual effect makes a world of difference.

Then a good introduction of your restraurant, explain in clear manner what makes your restraunt special, different from others.

Then of course, all the necessary info, menus with brief descriptions of each item and prices, some, if not on every item, images of your plates will be a plus. Opening hours, directions on how to get to the restaurants, etc. etc...

These for a starter, then you can add some special features when you get a chance, special events, blogs, guest page etc...

 

[ronjohn55]

Hi Mike!

I think, unless you'll have someone committed to doing regular updates, that a simpler is better approach might be the way to go.

A few things I can think of off the top of my head would include:

Prices - If they're likely to change more often than you'll be able to update, perhaps just list a range of prices on the menu, possibly by appetizer, entree, etc.

Menu Items themselves - if there will be a lot of rotating dishes, I'd say note them somehow. If the specials change daily, just put something on there along the lines of "Be sure to check with us about our daily specials"

My point is that a customer who takes the time to check out a website will likely be more offended by getting outdated info than general info, especially if a price has changed a bit or an item is not currently available.

Just a few thoughts.

Good luck!
John