Web Marketing For Restaurants

Eggrolls Etc. Owner Apologizes For Offensive Remarks

2007-08-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Mike Reynolds of Eggrolls Etc. apologized for offensive remarks in a telephone interview with the Arizona Daily Star;

"A Chinese takeout restaurant in the Foothills has removed racially insensitive language from its menu, Web site and advertising fliers. Community groups had denounced the language as racist and the parent company of the firm that helped create the ads ordered them pulled...."

"....Reynolds said he still doesn't think his menu, on the whole, could be construed as "intended to hurt or damage anyone," but apologized for any "misunderstanding" created by the jokes on his menu, which included a parody of the inability of immigrant Chinese to pronounce words containing the letter "r." Reynolds said his menu and advertising fliers were "never intended to harm or insult the Asian-American or Chinese-American community."

Reynolds, who never responded to letters from local and national groups urging him to be more sensitive in his advertising, said he doesn't now plan to respond or issue a formal apology...."

It's a start!

Eggrolls Etc or Egghead Etc.?

2007-05-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

File this under the heading, "cooks don't make good marketers."

Via Yahoo!, Tucson Eatery Eggrolls Etc. has jumped out of the wok and into the flame with an ethnically insensitive marketing scheme.

Quoting Yahoo! News;

"The Eggrolls Etc. flier reads on its cover: "Every order is delivered via rickshaw by first generation Chinese immigrants … We really should charge more for delivery, old Chinamen are getting expensive these days."

The menu, under the heading for "Fried Rice," says: "Don't say Flied Lice, it's not funny … there's no 'R' sound in Chinese, that's just cruel really … I know your (sic) saying it … Stop it Stop it Stop it! That's it. NO RICE FOR YOU!!!!""

Owner Mike Reynolds who also runs other eating establishments in Tucson has come under attack by numerous Asian-American and Mexican-American community groups. They believe Reynolds is forwarding historically insensitive racial stereotypes."

I don't see the humor myself, how can anyone look at the menu described above and not come to the same conslusion.
In the "olden" days you might be able to weather a potential P.R. nightmare with an apology or explanation in a newspaper ad, but that was yesterday. Check out the review of Eggrolls Etc. on Judy's Book! Ouch!

Not just Judy's Book, take a look at a Google search for Eggrolls Etc.. It will take months to clear the search results of this negative publicity.

Unless of course your intent is publicity at any cost. Take a look at the disclaimer on the menu. Reynolds actually invites complaints on his "sense of humor." Obviously he has chosen the low road of marketing.
In the short term he will excite the college kids and maybe some curiosity seekers. In the long run he is branded an insensitive boob that placed his brand in a hole. We'll see how his intransigence plays out when he decides to sell the operation.

Update:
Recent local (Tucson) coverage here.
The top Google search result for Eggrolls Etc. is occupied now by moi!

(need help getting your business on top?)

Housecleaning

2007-03-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

I am claiming my blog with a Technorati Profile.
If you favorite mine I'll favotite yours. (that sounded bad)

Video For Restaurants, A Quiet Rush Is On

2007-03-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Craftsteak in Manhattan offers the perfect example of a video ad for restaurants. This is quickly becoming a "must have" app. for restaurants of all sizes.

Google Video Ads, Imagine The Possibilities

2007-02-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

If static AdWord PPC formats don't convey your message well enough then consider this new ad feature offered by Google. I wrote about seeing an AdWords video ad in action today on Sierra Web Marketing blog. Imagine your store advertised in video form embedded on local sites that target your demographics.

Restaurants Dominate Print YP,Pizza Close Behind

2007-02-19T19:37:00.000-08:00

Intersting data in this PDF from the Yellow Pages Association.
Restaurants are the #1 referenced heading in print Yellow Pages and oddly pizza sits in the #5 spot. Pizza is differentiated from Restaurants and shows the popularity of pizza. Though this data is for print we might safely assume figures for the net will look the same in time.

Who is pushing the restaurant industry to the web? Has an online marketing rep. walked into your pizza store lately? We are barely scratching the surface online as yet.

Google Search And Your Restaurant

2007-02-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

Now that Google is promoting Local business more prominently on the main results pages with it's local one box it's more important than ever to be listed there. The Google search for "San Diego Restaurants" shows (oddly) mostly hotels but once you click to "more local business results" and scroll through the hotel listed you get to the restaurants.

Note: (Currently the only sponsored listing on any of the Google Maps/Local pages for restaurants in San Diego is Ruths Chris Steakhouse. Honestly it's beyond me how they are left alone to own those spots. Where is the San Diego restaurant community?)

As I wrote on Sierra Web Marketing Blog last month Google is adding local reviews now but what I noticed for the first time today is the prominence of Priceline property MyTravelGuide.com's business ratings. In the graphic below there are 140 reviews of the Coronado Island Marriot Resort, TripAdvisor and MyTravelGuide provide most of the reviews.

A	Coronado Island Marriott Rst marriott.com 2000 2nd St, Coronado, 92118 - (619) 435-3000 140 reviews - Get directions - More information

Take a look at the MyTravelGuide's page for San Diego Restaurants. Your restaurant is likely listed but did you know that? Are you reviewed, are your reviews positive? As long as I have been promoting local search marketing this is the first I've heard of them but now that I see Google is relying on them as an authority review site my radar is pointing straight at them.

Some Restaurants Aren't Getting The Online Thing

2007-02-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

Michael Cage writes on Entrepreneurslife.com

"I live in Fairfax County, Virginia, smack dab in the middle of the Virginia "Dulles Tech Corridor" made up of Reston, Herndon and a few other towns. It is a very Internet-friendly place.

How is it possible that a restaurant with a significant delivery business in an Internet-friendly area does not have a web site with their menu and contact information?

It flat-out boggles my mind.

Let's do some simple math.

I order out 4-5 times per week, average about $40 per order. That works out to about $200 per week, or $800 per month.

Because I am not the greatest at recovering from interuptions, I have most of my meals delivered. When I get hungry, I don't dig through drawers for outdated, food-stained menus. Instead, I hop over to my del.icio.us bookmarks, pull up restaurants that deliver, and choose from the menus online.

It's important to note that NONE of the restaurants I regularly get delivery meals from are my favorites. There are restaurants that a) deliver and b) I like better all around me ... but because of the extra hassle of finding and holding onto the menu, my money goes to their competition instead of them..."

Similarly I was treated to a great pizza by a friend of our family and the pie was so good I could not believe it. I thought I had found the pizza not tasted since our early days of marriage when we lived in Santa Cruz 20 years ago. I searched for the parlor online to see how well they were represented. He's not there, only one mention on a local aggregater site with no direct link, no menu, no directions, nothing!

I visited the owner to see if he wanted to make a push online. He was semi-old-school Italian, middle aged and very suspicious of the whole Internet thing. He cast his eyes down as I attempted to give him my one minute pitch. I lost him before I started. His business will never be seen by pizza lovers using the Internet. What a shame. Competition is intense in the pizza market in my immediate neighborhood. I'm sure he would argue word of mouth is the best and I would agree but I follow the line of thinking the more that try your pizza the more people get a chance to spread the word!

In fairness to the proprietor he's a pizza maker not a marketer and his experiences with marketers over the years has likely been negative including the Yellow Pages guy who has convinced him he needed that 1/4 page ad for a few thousand a year.
Mike mentions $1,500 to $2,000 to get a website up. He could get a very nice site online for under $600 in my city and for another few hundred could be listed on all the local search directories and major search engines including Yahoo! Local and Google Maps/Local. He could have a locally targeted Google AdWords or YSM PPC campaign running today even without a website.
As it stand NO pizza restaurant in my city uses PPC. Amazing!

In Development

2007-02-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

I've started this blog as a place to assemble marketing information available for restaurant marketing online. No other industry in my opinion has more online marketing tools at their disposal than restaurants. As an example consumer reviews are being appreciated and indexed in organic search results. Smartly used this affords restaurant operators an ability to separate his establishment from local competition. Local targeted (neighborhood) PPC use is another powerful tool currently underappreciated by restaurants in general.

I intend to provide pertinent links and how to guides for restaurant owners and their marketing people.

This blog is my first attempt at using Blogger's new system. I like some of the new elements but I have to learn how to navigate the new platform. I hope to bring all of my blogs over in time but this blog will determine if and how fast this will happen. I'm an old dog and new tricks are hard learned.

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2007-02-02T11:07:00.001-08:00

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