Seeking examples of GREAT restaurant sites!

Observation about the newer restaurant designs. They seem to use HUGE photos, of either the cool interior or beautiful food.

To make these designs work, you need some very high quality, high resolution professional looking photos, right?

Any cool designs for restaurants that don't have good photos?

Thanks
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midasman09

Banned 11 years ago

I've found that you don't need "cool" designs for restaurants. What's "cool" in your eyes may not be for others Sooo....I've been providing "Videos" for restaurants.

They spend LOTS of money on "Interiors" but....no one SEES the Interior UNTIL they are....inside! So....how do you show potential Diners what a restaurant looks like when they are outside?

With a Video!

So....after a restauranteur finishes paying for a Fancy-Dancy website....a guy like me comes along....places my "Portable DVD Player" down in front of him and runs a couple of my Sample Restaurant Videos.

Then....I tell him; "NO obligation! I'd like to take some photos of your place and make up a Video! Again...at NO obligation! Would you have any objection to that?"

They ALWAYS say, "NO!" So, I whip out my digital and take 10 to 12 shots....go to my office and make a Video with PhotoStory3. Burn it to a DVD and go back to the restaurant and run the DVD for him.

Here's one of my first "Videos On Spec";

Marche Restaurant - Eugene, Oregon - YouTube

Wow! YouTube has placed an Ad in front of my Video.

Don Alm

Thanks
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EricGuimond 11 years ago

Many examples of great websites on thread already so I'll try and answer the second part of your question about features. I've done several restaurant websites and manage marketing for a few. What kind of restaurant website and what options you will want to use totally differs from one to another. For example features and strategies used for a 5 star steak house will be quite different from a pizza chain.

For example right now I'm working on a chain restaurant, target audience is hip-health conscious people, so instead of boring pictues/typical template style website I will be building into the website a fun comic book style (built into our custom website from scratch) of how the restaurant came to be and what's it all about, how we make it healthy etc.(So first scene chef goes to country x and learns x cooking, and so on) Will also be using this part as a social tool for people to like us on FB

With that said here are some things I've found to work really well:

1) Spend a good amount of time with owner finding out what is the "soul" of their business, and build a CUSTOM website that reflects it. Usually restaurant owners are passionate about their business and they want someone that shares that with them.

2) Build the website in blocks so you can easily replace/change different promotions etc on main page without having to reprogram the website too much.

3) Build an interactive website - People love to interact! Depending on what kind of restaurant, I build an inside website blog were we post chef stories, recipes for seasons, new products etc etc etc. Also a great place to post media and relate back to social media

4)Newsletter option - Keep providing great and FUN content

5) Apps - Building an order app can be a great way to retain customers, as well deliver news, map, about company etc

6) While great graphics are awesome, it also needs to be optimized to load VERY fast.

There's dozens + methods and options to build into a restaurant website depending on what niche, if you would like to post general type of restaurant your approaching we could give a few pointers.

Hope this helps,

Eric
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Its Trish

11 years ago

Originally Posted by midasman09

I've found that you don't need "cool" designs for restaurants. What's "cool" in your eyes may not be for others Sooo....I've been providing "Videos" for restaurants. ... ...

Here's one of my first "Videos On Spec";

Don,
I love using video, and kudos to you for doing that vid. But in all honesty, your video gave me a bit of a negative feeling about the restaurant, because it kept showing photos of an empty restaurant with no customers. Next time you shoot a video, do it when the place is packed!

Thanks
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Rob28x

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Its Trish

Don,
I love using video, and kudos to you for doing that vid. But in all honesty, your video gave me a bit of a negative feeling about the restaurant, because it kept showing photos of an empty restaurant with no customers. Next time you shoot a video, do it when the place is packed!

I wonder if you would have to get permission from everyone in the restaurant to have them in the video?

Thanks
1 reply

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Its Trish 11 years ago

You can probably put a short one-sentence actor/model consent agreement on the back of the check, in very tiny print and in light gray ink that is near impossible to read.
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- Its Trish 11 years ago
  
  Seriously though, what you can do is (a) take footage and be careful about getting people's faces on camera, and (b) if you do get some faces on film, then simply don't use those parts of the clips when you're in video editing mode. And finally, (c) you can have people sign a "Actor/Model Release" form. (aka "Actor/Model Consent") Keep 10 or so copies on a clipboard so you'll be ready any time. (if you've ever seen video where 1 or 2 people in a group had their faces blurred out, well those are the 1 or 2 who didn't sign the consent to have their face on camera)
  
  Myself, in addition to a standard consent form (about 3/4 page long) I also carry also a short & humorous 2-sentence form as that's less intimidating for most people. I print them 4-up on a page then cut them into strips. As a backup, I also have those 2 sentences in the notepad app on my smartphone--so anytime I'm without my forms, I simply have the person read those sentences from my phone while I video tape them. (fyi, legally speaking a written signature is preferred, as the on-camera version has been overturned in court cases, in rare cases, where the person claimed they were under pressure of being on camera and felt compelled to speak; also, the one-page legal form has several paragraphs of legal stuff, hold harmless, etc)
  
  You can also consider bribing people to agree to be on camera, and sign your form. In be beach community where I live, two surfers parked in front my friend's cafe restaurant, so I offered them each a large iced gourmet coffee for letting me film them for like 30 seconds. They were happy to do it and sign the release form. I had them take their surf boards out of the truck, and filmed them sitting an outdoor table with their surf boards propped up against the store window. Also got a shot of them at the counter ordering their iced coffees, and some short close up shots of them sipping and laughing.
  
  T
  
  ps...
  
  You can find Actor/Model Release (consent) forms for free on the web. If anyone wants a copy of the one that I use, or a copy of the short 2-sentence version that I keep on a strip of paper, shoot me a PM with your name and email address.
  
  Thanks
  
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  MobiDev 11 years ago
  
  The top restaurant websites are listed here http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/40-tasty-restaurant-websites-to-inspire-you I also would recommend to have a look at some good restaurant apps in case your client wants to design a similar tool https://itunes.apple.com/app/id485133676?mt=8 , https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/my-shout/id512913298?mt=8 , https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazing-ibiza-lite/id491297003?mt=8 , https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yumit/id361117405?mt=8
  
  Thanks
  
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KingOfContentMarketing

11 years ago

try here:

16 Beautiful Restaurant Websites | Fearlessflyer

A Delightful Showcase of Restaurant Websites | TutToaster

Thanks
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Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
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Ellen C Braun 11 years ago

Originally Posted by Joe Ditzel

try here:

16 Beautiful Restaurant Websites | Fearlessflyer

A Delightful Showcase of Restaurant Websites | TutToaster

Awesome links; thank you very much!!
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ownergolan

11 years ago

Look up Themeforest.. they will be amazed.

Gl

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"Aiyyo I'm gonna be on ti-dop, that's all my eyes can see..
Ill put in work, and watch my status escalate"

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zavhara

11 years ago

Talking from a customer's point of view, I've been looking for some restaurants to go to in my local town this week and when it comes to websites I don't really care about the interaction and flashy designs. I just want to know plain and simply with minimal clicks the following in no particular order.
Where it is?
Opening times
If I need to make a reservation or not, number clearly shown if I have to
Sample pictures of the food
Fotos of inside the restaurant to know if it looks good or not.
the menu to know if it's in my price range or not.

If I don't see these things in 15secs or less I'm out of there. If the food is good, people will go back again and again, so the site should be made for new customers, simple and clear!

Thanks
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midasman09 Banned 11 years ago

Also....if you register a Domain like "BestRestaurantinYourTown" and put up a ONE Page site with basically Nothing More than an "Address and Phone #"......their EGO will get the better of them and.....they WON'T GIVE A "FROG-FART" ABOUT WHAT'S ON THE WEBSITE!

Their EMOTIONS overcome ALL Logic!

Don Alm....making money appealing to "Emotion" (aka EGO)
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