The Agony and Pain of Restaurant Websites
Smooth Jazz? Flash? Impossible Navigation? Incredibly Long Loading Times?
The current state of restaurant websites is pathetic. Haven’t we had enough of this? Why do restaurants think they can get away with putting up a brochure of their offerings and expect their customers will respond by flocking to their establishment? In a city like New York, with thousands of dining options, it is simply not enough to broadcast your service to a sophisticated public. Even in smaller cities and towns with far fewer options, restaurants are failing miserably to adapt to the realities of how consumers spend their money today.
Let’s Take a Look at Why
The 20th Century is why! All one had to do was broadcast, hire some P.R. people, get the word out and hoped and prayed that the customers started flocking.
Not anymore folks! American’s get a bad rap for being lazy, apathetic gluttons who watch too much TV and lack any real culture. Silly I say! Social Media is changing that perception right quick! And more importantly, it’s changing the truth about Americans.
American consumers are quickly becoming a discerning sophisticated consumer. Part of this is due to the recession. We are all going through a phase of re-prioritizing just what it is we REALLY want to spend our money on. And what we want to spend our money on is places, products and people we believe in, that we feel connected to, that we feel we have a stake in.
Social Media makes this all possible. We can now communicate directly with the brands and businesses that get, or could potentially get, our spending money. And it’s all public. No more ruses, no more telephone hangups, no more poor customer service. Why not? Cause when you piss off a customer these days, they can get you back. They can Twitter it, they can post a youtube video, they can blog about it.
What Do Restaurants Need To Excel in Social Media?
First thing’s first, you need a blog. There are so many stories to tell. Who are they? WHY are they? What motivates the chef, the servers? Give me a narrative damnit. I want your food but I also want your story. Restaurants are one of the few remaining places that we go to truly disconnect. To be with our loved ones, our friends, our family. We get to connect in real life after SO much connecting online.
But I want to do so in a place that has captured me with their story. And you can’t do that without a blog. Start one, make the time to learn the basics and start sharing. You will quickly find a lot of people willing to share your story. You’ll find your natural constituency. Are you a Nouvelle Mexican spot in Boerum Hill? Well, talk Mexican food. Share stories about authentic Mexican ingredients. For the Chef: Write a post about any stage work you did in Mexico or Spain or wherever! Who trained you? What did you learn?
Where does your food come from? Talk about your vendors, the farms and middlemen that get the product you serve? Talk about the menu, how was it created? What inspired this dish or that? Give us some context. You don’t have to give away every little secret. We still like to be surprised. But give us something!
Oh, and can we please get your social media links? Every website in the world has their social media links proudly displayed on their website. And you don’t? I know 14 year old Indonesian scam artists who have better designed websites than you do. Oh and btw: you got ripped off royally on your site.
And tell us who is doing the twittering? Is it a host? What’s her name? The Chef? The PR Firm? Let’s get some transparency people
How Can You Use a Blog To Entice Customers?
As I am known to do, I asked Twitter AKA The Hive Mind about this today. One user, a new friend name John True suggested letting blog readers know about special “off the menu” items. This is a fantastic idea. Every so often the restaurant could end a blog post with an “Easter Egg.” Basically, they could leave a clue telling readers (or twitter followers) about something special going on. This a great way to make your readers feel their are privy to something special. And it’s another creative way to convert readers to customers.
What about letting blog readers, or Facebook Fans, or Twitter followers get first dibs on any special events?
And what about video? And Pictures?
Start a YouTube channel, get a Flip HD camera and start interviewing regular customers. Is someone coming by once a week? Get him or her on tape to tell us why? What draws that customer back? Maybe we’ll feel the same way. Are testimonials so hard to produce? Stop relying on a big media dinosaur to come to your rescue. Yes, The New York Times is still important, and hopefully always will be, but for the most part, the impact of professional critics is nominal. If 20 food bloggers love you, and 5 critics don’t, guess who wins? It ain’t the critics. No one trusts them anyway.
Photo by A National Acrobat
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article! Glad to see my recommendation made the cut. What about adding a sign up for an email newsletter? Could be done on the cheap with mailchimp.com. What do you think?
agree completely. in fact, i should have referenced your twitter account in the article…mind if i do so now?
Sure that would be cool
.-= John True´s last blog ..john_true: Am I the only one who doesn’t care why Tiger crashed his SUV? He wasn’t drunk, no one but him was hurt… leave the guy alone =-.
What really annoys me is that the majority of restaurants don’t bother to keep their online menus and winelists updated. Even if the menu changes *everyday*, how hard is it to replace the currrent PDF file with a new one?? It takes all of 30 seconds, yet so many places (even those with 2-3 Michelin stars) seem entirely incapable of managing their websites.
so true ed, as sucky as they are, even current websites find ways to be truly terrible
Restaurants should also know that a post in the right blog or social network can actually drive more traffic to your site than an article in MM (mainstream media). I’ve seen countless sites I work on get more traffic from Facebook than the NYTimes and village voice combined, and this was when they actually had articles posted on those large media sites. When you’re talking about direct conversions, nothing beats reaching your customers where and how they want to be reached. And Social media sites do it better than mainstream traditional media. Period.
.-= Jaki Levy´s last blog ..Ecommerce Solutions =-.
agree completely. stop trying to woo the big boys and work the long tail…
As a current restaurant office manager coming from a pr background, I really enjoy this article. I cant help but think about how the public is seeing our restaurant.
Being on the other side of things for the restaurant, I feel like I have to at least try to defend not only my restaurant but myself as well here. Perhaps some of these issues are what goes on for others as well. For example, our website. We hired someone to do this in HTML, and although we were getting many compliments on it at first, the website guy has stopped updating it. Now its not even on my email signoff because it embarrasses me. I do not know HTML and therefore can not just change the menus that do change just about every week. It is really unfortunate because it only creates more of a headache when people come in expecting something that doesnt exist anymore. I personally get annoyed with this on other restaurants websites too.
So to make up for the website, or lack thereof, I took it upon myself to take over social media and try my dam hardest to keep the people informed. Your ideas with photos and specials and things are great but I also have to keep in mind that I am not the decision maker and sometimes its very hard to get something approved like a free drink or a % off. But besides those hurdles, Id like to think its better than nothing.
I also wanted to just quickly give you props for stating ” when you piss off a customer these days, they can get you back. They can Twitter it, they can post a youtube video, they can blog about it.” So true and one of the benefits of having something like a twitter account is so you can give the restaurant a voice and be able to defend themselves. Or at least try to redeem themselves which I think has helped a bit.
Becca
Thanks for the great comment. Of course there is two sides to every story. And the reason I am so critical is because as a restaurant lover I want to see resto’s do a better job. Sounds like you are up against some might big issues at your workplace.
It is absolutely unacceptable that a restaurant should have out of date menus on their site. You should take it upon yourself to learn how to do these things, on behalf of the restaurant. No one else is going to do it and it sounds like no one is going to spend the money to have it done properly.
That being said you can only do what you can do. Whoever the decision maker is needs to wise up and realize the world is changing around them. They can either get with the program or continue to damage their brand unwittingly.
I think it is wonderful when a restaurant or brand defends itself publicly. What comes along with the bargain of giving customers and consumers a voice is the responsibility to treat that power with respect. No one will trust or listen to anyone who goes around whining about every little thing. That is small and unproductive.
Thanks again for your comment
Z
Becca – sorry to hear that your old-school webmaster left your restaurant high and dry. Feel free to contact us through Zach, or directly – we might be able to get things fixed up for way less than you’d think…
Zach knows his stuff bigtime when it comes to how easy it is, with a well built Wordpress based site, to keep updates flowing and to easily keep that website as shiny and new as the day it was launched -without paying an old-fashioned “webmaster” to constantly update it, if they feel like it. (Webmasters still make $ – that amazes me these days
.-= Kilted-Alex´s last blog ..How to add your business to Google Local Business Search =-.
Great article, Zachary. You are on the money about the websites. For me, I think one of the misconceptions is that the website needs to be flashy and “whizbang,” but really a simple website with content that is updated on a regular basis is all I want as a consumer. It’s the up-to-date content I want the most! Something to keep me informed and connected will keep me coming back.
I like the “Easter Egg” idea. That type of creativity is entertaining and gives a great opportunity for the a personal connection to be made at the restaurant where you can talk with the customer about something other than the menu: “So you found our Easter Egg! Was it too easy? Too hard? Do you like the idea? Well, be sure to check back next week, we’re planning on posting another one on the website somewhere.”
Yes indeed! great minds think alike it seems -exactly what we’ve been saying in our weekly twitter #kiltfeed – for a restaurant to have a good looking website is actually EASY! Use Wordpress, simple updating – Never ever use PDF menu’s (or use them as backups – text menu’s will easily give much better search help. Blog about your signature dishes, etc etc – none of it is rocket science, yet all to many restaurants neglect it thinkin gonline marketing isn’t that important….
…. It wasn’t a few years ago, now people are using YELP, Google local search, their iphones etc to find good, rated restaurants in their vicinity, or their vacation destination. 2nd rate sites just won’t cut it any more i’m afraid. Even the less tech savvy out there are jumping onto Facebook to become friends of their favorite eateries, and rave about good meals! Sheesh – lets face it, the way people look for information has changed drastically, you either need to keep up or lose out -that’s the cold hard truth
Oh – and don’t forgte to spend even 30 mins a week looking at a pretty easy to produce PDF analytics report for your site. those keywords you thought would bring new eyes to your site might not be the best performers … (http://www.kiltedchaos.com/restaurant-analytics/ – shameless plug, feel free to delete it if you must…
Good job, we’ll be referencing you from our site too, as you put what we’ve been saying into one nice article!
Keep up the good work!
Alex thanks for the great comment and encouragement. No need to delete that plug, happy to host that link. Looked it up, you’ve got a great easy to use site there that really keeps it simple for small businesses. I would not be surprised if you had all the business in the world. Lets chat one day soon!
I agree it’s darn near painful when I see a restaurant website built using standards from 10 years ago.
.-= David Krug´s last blog ..vintagekrug: RT @carlhancock: To make matters even more awkward for Tiger, both his mother AND his mother-in-law were at his house when the crash too … =-.
While you make some valid points, especially about reaching the audience where they are (aka: engaging in social media), I think we missing the reality of the restaurant world. Many of my restaurant clients are either 1) working 80 hours a week. They don’t have time to update a blog. or 2) have minimal budgets. They don’t have money to pay someone to continually update their site, or 3) have limited technical skills. “How do i log in?” phone calls are the level we’re talking about or 4) all of the above.
The reality is, as web designers, we need to help our clients be as successful as possible, but within the constraints of the real world. I’m not sure what the solution is but I’m not sure a solution of “start blogging” is it.
.-= Kris LaGreca´s last blog ..Buying a new computer in a recession =-.
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