Unless you have a stand-alone restaurant that simply does not require marketing and has a waiting list for a table every night - and let's face it, most restaurateurs do not - you need to compete. Web-based marketing and ordering fulfills the current consumer and service provider demands for convenience, speed and efficiency, setting the restaurateur at the starting line, nose to nose with his competition.

The Restaurant Industry is exactly that. An industry: business. And when fighting for the consumer dollar you should seek out any leverage available. Operating a good business model will enable you to continue to compete, but you have to get to that starting line to begin with, and this means tackling the technology that your competition embraces.

When you need a plumber where do you look? When you want to transfer some money where do you go? If you want to hear the latest news broadcast what do you tune in to? The web. It's not a new realization that this is fast becoming a web-based world. What we are now seeing though, is that with the technology comes a new behavioral pattern: new expectations. You expect to be able to go to the web and find all that you need. So too do the customers. Foodies reading on-line restaurant reviews expect to be able to double-click - and voila! - the restaurant site pops up in all its vibrant, interactive glory with photos, menu selections, booking systems, the all important directions and contact details.

When people do not get what they expect they are disappointed. But when a web-savvy potential customer (and that's almost any person born since the 70's) does not get what they expect on-line, they know that they will find something to their liking just a click away - another solution - another restaurant.

The on-line convenience, speed and efficiency that have built these expectations have also built a fickle consumer. The restaurateur needs to meet these expectations in order to compete for that initial consumer dollar. Customer loyalty still exists, but in order to foster it, you have to get the feet walking through the door in the first place.

Not only do consumers seek convenience, speed and efficiency but so too do business owners. Convenience can be as close to hand as your nearest computer terminal. And you don't get more convenient that your home. With on-line marketing and ordering systems in place, any time of day or night you can be checking, rectifying and adding to elements of your business

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Why the restaurant industry needs web-based marketing and ordering systems?
We want to hear your view. Write now!