Tastequincy.com Launches

Fifty restaurants have joined the site, which is a work in progress, its developers say. Plans are under way, for example, to build an entertainment calendar into the site to highlight local music acts and cultural events.

Dean Rizzo, executive director of the nonprofit business development group Quincy 2000, said the aim is to make the site a household name, in part to entice a second wave of restaurants to join the venture.

By pooling membership revenue – restaurants pay between $400 and $1,000 a year for a listing – the restaurant league intends to finance a brand-marketing campaign, taking out ads in regional travel publications and newspaper inserts, and eventually commissioning a TasteQuincy-themed billboard ad.

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/01/26/business/biz01.txt

Restaurants & Email Marketing

See Full Story  By: Mitch Bettis

Abby Weaver is the marketing director for Fajita Grill (Fajitagrill.com), a small restaurant with locations in Oswego and Fulton, New York, that successfully uses email marketing and its website to boost sales.

When did Fajita Grill launch its website?

Even before we opened the first restaurant, we had a website. It was just the basics with contact info, and was primarily used for online job applications. We were overwhelmed with responses and didn’t need to run any newspaper advertising.

How do you promote the restaurant’s website?

The website address is included in our email marketing. It is on our menus, fax order forms, table tents — everything.

Does your email marketing work?

I know it’s successful based on the response rate. We have about 300 coupons redeemed each month, a very high response rate for our list size. Compared to direct mail where I had less than half a percent response rate, this is a no-brainer.

This Restaurteur wants reviews

I am new to the forums so forgive me if I am making a fool of myself. My restaurant is called Green Curry House, an Indian restaurant located in Chicago, at the Lincoln Park community. We are fairly new, and would love to get some reviewers. How am I to go about requesting the restaurant to be reviewed? Are there any websites that I can apply to so they can review my restaurant?

http://www.foodservicei.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15117&highlight=feedback

Build customer loyalty with e-mail marketing

Your Internet-using customers are just a click away from entering your restaurant.

According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), one in four Americans is likely to receive e-mails from a restaurant. And Forrester Research reports that 65 percent of marketers think e-mail marketing will become more effective in the next three years.

Capitalizing on this trend, Qdoba Mexican Grill sends its customers e-mails for coupons, limited-time offers, birthdays and anniversaries. With each e-mail, Qdoba has a little more mouse time with customers.

“Our e-mail marketing program has been really great,” said Rachel Harper, marketing manager for Qdoba Restaurant Corp. “We’re able to get in touch with our customers on a more intimate level. We can send out a coupon in the morning and see significant redemptions by lunch time.”
See Article http://www.fastcasual.com/article.php?id=6463&prc=4&page=20

Building brand loyalty

According to the National Restaurant Association, about one in four full-service restaurants offer loyalty or rewards programs. The NRA predicts that 15 percent more will offer loyalty programs in 2007.

Given the trend, it is little wonder that San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. recently joined the ranks of restaurants that offer a frequent-diner program.

“Our main focus is listening to our guests and responding to them, and a loyalty program can help us achieve that,” said Ken Keane, executive vice president of marketing for Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. “We’re huge loyalty advocates. That’s how we drive our brand.”

According to NRA’s 2007 Restaurant Industry Forecast, 51 percent of adults surveyed in 2006 said they are more likely to patronize a restaurant that has a frequent-diner program, up from 46 percent in 2005.

Read the whole article http://www.fastcasual.com/article.php?id=6642&na=1

Capitalize on Customer Reviews

Don’t Fear the Reaper
One drawback to including customers in the marketing process is that you have no control over, say, what type of review or feedback you may get, but the anxiety may be unfounded. E-commerce analyst Sucharita Mulpuru of Forrester Research, Inc., addresses this in the report “How Damaging Are Negative Customer Reviews?” published today. Though a vast majority of online consumers, 76 percent, use customer reviews while researching products, states the report, a much smaller percentage of online stores, only 25 percent, offer them because “sellers fear they will lose control of their marketing message and lose sales.”However, according to the research, which involved evaluating 4,000 reviews in the Electronics and Home & Garden categories on Amazon.com, “more than 80 percent of the reviews were positive, and the negative reviews that did exist were generally considered helpful to consumers,” showing that they appreciate hearing the pros and cons when making a purchase.

Coupons in the Digital Age
Meanwhile, another Forrester analyst, Lisa Bradner, today issued research finding that e-coupons are also playing a role in social commerce. That report, titled “E-Coupons Engage Customers Beyond Discounts,” shows that Web shop owners would be wise to amp up their efforts in this area.

“Half of coupon users who go online use Web coupons as well. They make more money, shop online more, and talk about new products with peers more than offline coupon users do,” according to the report. “To effectively tap into the value of e-coupon users, brand marketers must treat e-coupons as part of customer conversations, rather than as drivers of ad hoc transactions.”

One-quarter of e-coupon users said they like to try new products and services before others, compared with 13 percent of offline-only users, states the report, which shows they also influence others with their opinions. Thirty-five percent say, “People ask me for information about products, places to shop, sales,” compared to just 20 percent of their offline counterparts.

See Full Article http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/trends/article.php/3654396

You’re ticked, really ticked! Share the pain

We love to skewer one another. It’s simply human nature to complain, gripe and moan about the things that bug us.

Curiously, says Jennifer Bosson, a psychology professor at the University of South Florida, people are more likely to strike up a friendship with someone who dislikes the same things they do rather than someone who shares the same likes.

In researching how people form friendships, Bosson found that “sharing negative attitudes about people is more likely to promote closeness.”

Take Misty Lane, for instance. When she started a Web site slamming Food Network personality Rachael Ray, she never expected others to join in. But in 2005, after Slate.com mentioned her site, hundreds of new members flocked to it.

See Link

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-115rant,0,1733014.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Social Features Key to Yahoo Local

Last fall, Yahoo commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a poll to gauge users’ likelihood of posting ratings or reviews of local businesses to Yahoo Local. Overall, 67 percent of respondents said they would be likely to post a review, with 9 percent of respondents more likely to post a review that was negative, 8 percent more likely to post a review that was positive, and 50 percent likely to post a review either way.

“The data supports the idea that local is going to become a very active space. People are eager and willing to rate and review businesses, and they’re fairly even-handed about it,” Miller said.

The Harris poll also asked users about the effect ratings and reviews might have on their decision to patronize a particular business. Overall, 79 percent of respondents said they’d be likely to be influenced by a rating or review on Yahoo Local, with 9 percent of respondents more likely to be influenced by a review that was negative, 23 percent more likely to be influenced by a review that was positive, and 47 percent likely to be influenced by both positive and negative reviews.

For merchants, the data highlights the necessity of getting out ahead of issues by proactively seeking out positive reviews from satisfied clients. It also underscores the importance of handling problems quickly and effectively, since the likelihood that an unsatisfied customer will post an online review is growing, and the effect those reviews have on potential customers is substantial.

“Like it or not, UGC is here to stay, and it will soon become a standard feature of local search, online shopping and even IYPs,” Mike Boland, senior analyst at the Kelsey Group, recently wrote in his blog. “One argument in favor of local UGC forums is that they not only represent a relatively inexpensive (when compared with professional reviews) sources of content, but also possess a certain appeal in the inherent trust perceived among users of peer-written reviews and community interaction.”

See Article http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3624489

Startup MeasuredUp.com debuts

Plenty of people had complaints about their shopping experiences this past holiday season, and one entrepreneur decided to do something about it, launching a social-networking site called MeasuredUp.com where upset shoppers can dish about the bad service they’ve received.

 http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20649&hed=Site+Lets+Shoppers+Complain

 

Tips for customers and restaurants striving for a fine dining experience

 Restaurateurs say

• Our overriding goal is to make you happy. We’re in the service business, so if there’s a problem with some aspect of your experience, please tell us. We want to fix it. Adds John Kolar, executive chef and owner of Thyme Restaurant in Medina, Ohio: “I would hope that if they weren’t totally satisfied with their meal that they’d let us know so we can grow from it and learn from it.”

Diners Say  

• Untidy restrooms tell us a thing or two. If there’s toilet paper on the floor and the trash is overflowing, we’re going to wonder about the parts of the restaurant we can’t see. “If it’s just not clean and they don’t take pride in that aspect of their business, how much care are they really taking in their food?” asks Jennifer Bauer of Cuyahoga Falls.

See Full Article

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/bal-ml.restrevfiller07jan07,0,506308.story?coll=bal-artslife-dining