It lets me know what kind of place it is. You can tell a lot about a restaurant by looking at their menu, even things that do not need explanations. I expect change daily in a high end restaurant, and with social media, if I'm interested enough from their online menu, it may cause me to turn to social media to see what they're running with at the moment, but if they don't have an online site, or a menu, then it's safe to say they almost surely aren't utilizing social media, and in this day and time, Nuff Said!

For local casual joints I'm perhaps unfamiliar with, an online menu gets me prepped for what to expect when ordering, or if I call in because I'm not in the mood to dine in, then a simple site with current menu and contact number is all I really require, but it is still difficult sometimes to find that at many places.

This post was edited on 5/7/13 at 7:19 am

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Posted by hungryone

river parishes

Member since Sep 2010

11987 posts

Posted on 5/7/13 at 10:44 am to Mike da Tigah

RE: social media....plenty of resto customers couldn't care less about a dining establishment's involvement with social media. Not every place is interested in attracting the diner who's so plugged in. Many spots fill tables just fine, every night, without spending time or $$ on social media.

What I'm looking for in a resto website, immediately available on the first page: hours/days of operation, a contact telephone number, specific street address, and perhaps a link to a map. A sample menu is a bonus, but not a dealbreaker. Some places spend bucks on a fancy site, then bury the essential info behind pages and pages of hot air from the chef, stupid flash animations, slide shows of the food, and other puffery.

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Posted by Mike da Tigah

Bravo Romeo Lima Alpha

Member since Feb 2005

61846 posts

Posted on 5/7/13 at 6:31 pm to hungryone

quote:
RE: social media....plenty of resto customers couldn't care less about a dining establishment's involvement with social media. Not every place is interested in attracting the diner who's so plugged in. Many spots fill tables just fine, every night, without spending time or $$ on social media. What I'm looking for in a resto website, immediately available on the first page: hours/days of operation, a contact telephone number, specific street address, and perhaps a link to a map. A sample menu is a bonus, but not a dealbreaker. Some places spend bucks on a fancy site, then bury the essential info behind pages and pages of hot air from the chef, stupid flash animations, slide shows of the food, and other puffery.

If your crowd is 50 plus, you're safe. If you're interested in attracting a younger crowd, social media is important, and if you don't think so, then you aren't plugged into how younger people operate. It's so important that the vast majority of marketing in my line of work has completely shifted from paper only to some social media and some paper to almost all social media, and Internet based marketing which targets the market and where it's going. It is how things are done.

IMO, you can either plug in, or be forgotten once you've become outdated because you're stagnant. TIFWIW... But it is the way everything is moving. Restaurants are no exception to the rule.

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