Having a website to advertise your restaurant is becoming almost mandatory in today's market. Building a winning website can take time and money. The good news is that you don't need to do it all straight away. Websites can be updated at any time so think about it more as a journey. Here are 7 tips to help you along the way.

Using colour is a powerful tool to convey what your restaurant is about. It should be a key consideration in the design of your website. This is what some common colours symbolise:

White: freshness, purity, freedom
Black: mystery, creation (food photography looks great against a black background)
Brown: reliability, stability, tradition
Red: Passion, desire (often used by fast-food restaurants)

Once you know your target audience then choosing the right colour for your website is easier. Colour can influence behaviour. So choose wisely and use it to your benefit.

A key goal of your restaurants website should be ease-of-use and simplicity. Your website should look good on a desktop and a smart phone. Google now punishes websites that are not mobile friendly in their search results. An easy way to overcome this is to use a responsive website.

One common mistake restaurant websites make is a hard to read menu when viewed online. Don't simply upload a scanned copy of your menu. Ensure it is formatted for the online domain, is easy to read and navigate. This is especially true on a smaller screen.

We're in the food business so great photos of your menu items is important for a great website. Visitors are on your site mainly to view your product. You need to sell it to them. It is important therefore not to skimp on this part of the website. Poor food photography can actually do more damage than it does good.

You want to demonstrate what your dishes look like. Make them look delicious and elicit hunger from those viewing them. After seeing photos of your food customers should be rushing in to try it out.

One of the big announcements from last week's budget was the range of incentives for small business to go out and invest. The one incentive that attracted the most headlines was the $20,000 instant asset write off. So what does it mean for us in the hospitality industry? How does this incentive work and is now the time to look at purchasing new assets like a POS system?

While the instant asset write off covers most asset purchases there are restrictions:

1. Horticultural plants and software developed in-house cannot be claimed (software purchased for the business like the ViViMobile App can be claimed though)
2. Assets must be physical items
3. To claim the deduction the asset must be purchased outright. Any assets acquired through hire-purchase or leasing are not deductible.
4. If you purchase an asset that is worth more than $20,000 then it is not eligible for the tax deduction straight away. Instead it will be depreciated over a number of years, 15% in the first year and 30% for every year thereafter.

For small business that are already operating or those that are thinking about starting, there hasn't been a better time to purchase a new asset like a POS System.

The ViViPOS system is designed especially for those small business running a cafe, restaurant or retail outlet. It has a range of customisable features, over 20 different kind of reports to ensure your business is tracking how you want it to be as well as an intuitive interface and systems that will make you a more efficient business operator.

We are happy to provide an onsite visit to assess your needs or you can get in contact via our website and we will be in touch.

Restaurant no shows have reached 4% in Australia according to a recent article that appeared in Hospitality Magazine. With restaurant profit margins sitting at between 3-5% it pays to have a plan in place to reduce this figure.

Here are some way your restaurant can reduce the amount no shows.

Clearly the best way to avoid restaurant no shows is to do away with reservations all together. Generally it is more popular restaurants with a number of sittings per evening that can do away reservations all together, it doesn't work for all restaurants. If your establishment doesn't have a high table turnover then you could consider a partial reservation system whereby you allow bookings at certain times of the day.

Offering tickets to a restaurant is one method that almost entirely eliminates restaurant no shows. Even if a party fails to show up, the restaurant has their money in advance. 

When Dimmi spoke to Hospitality Magazine they pointed out that in most other service industries payment is required in advance. Why shouldn't restaurants be the same? 

The system works similar to a cinema. You pay upfront for a set menu and then drinks are paid for on the night. 

Some restaurants have even began to experiment with time-of-day pricing. Customers willing to eat earlier or later in the evening pay less than those wanting a table during the restaurants busy period. The advantage of this is that you even out demand across the day and during the week. You also know ahead of time how many diners you are expecting and can organise staffing arrangements accordingly. 

The disadvantage though is that very few restaurants currently use this system and diners could baulk at having to pay for their meal upfront and decide on a competitor who doesn't require this.

Confirming bookings is a proven method to reduce restaurant no shows. Restaurant & Catering Magazine cites the example of the Heritage in Perth that was able to reduce its no shows by 80% by using technology to confirm bookings with diners. The establishment used SMS technology linked to their POS system to prompt diners to reconfirm their booking.

SMS technology linked to a POS system is not the only option. Using email and the phone can be just as effective.


One of the keys is to make it easy for diners to cancel their booking. If you implement a technology friendly solution then reservations can be cancelled when it's most convenient for the diner. It makes it easier for diners to do the right thing and can give you the chance to replace the booking. 

The National Restaurant Association recommends having a policy in place in the instant of a no show. 

For example what is your reservation policy, do you charge a no show fee? What criteria must be met for this fee to be charged?

How long will you hold a table before it's given away? Most restaurants will hold a table for 15 minutes before seating another diner. If the guests calls to notify they will be late then some restaurants will hold the table longer.

How will you keep tack of diners that are no-shows? Often your online dining application or POS system will be able to record this data. Will you decide to ban diners who are consistent no-shows?

If you're going to have a no show policy then be sure to fulfil your end of the bargain. Most guests do turn up and they expect to be seated promptly. 

The importance of social media to the hospitality industry only seems to be strengthening. Social media has democratised which restaurants and cafes get noticed. Most restaurants and cafes are run by small business owners who should embrace social media as a low cost tool for building awareness and getting customers through the door. 

When deciding what social media platforms you should have a presence on, consider your target customer and where they spend most of their time. 

Explore sites like Facebook and Foursquare which allow diners to check-in to your restaurant or cafe. 

Review sites like Yelp and Urban Spoon are a great way to monitor feedback of your customers and make any necessary improvements. 

One Increasingly popular piece of social media technology in the US is Facebook ordering. Sites like Net Waiter can add this function to your site. It's low cost and has the potential to grow sales. 

No matter what social media platform you choose, creating compelling content and interacting is they key to ensure engagement with your existing customers and attracting new ones 

Via: Hospitality Magazine; Forbes; The Next Web; CRM Solutions