The Restaurant Section

As seen in the Atlanta Journal Constitution

2010-02-22T10:31:00.004-05:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 28, 2009 Monday Main Edition

Online site for serious foodies;

Fine dining executive offers his Web savvy.;'Restaurantsection' plugs owners, others into social media.

Meridith Ford Goldman; Staff

Cliff Bramble has taken on the publicity of Rathbun's, Krog Bar and Rathbun Steak as a kind of personal and professional pursuit, since the popular Inman Park eatery opened in 2004.
While co-owners and chefs Kevin Rathbun and Kirk Parks work the kitchen of this Atlanta favorite, Bramble works his magic managing things, and one of his top priorities is getting the word out for as little cost as possible.

"Mass e-mails and a Web site just aren't enough anymore," Bramble said. "Social media is the way to go. Plus, a Web site can be such an expensive hassle for a restaurant to maintain."
So how's a restaurant to optimize its search engine options? Facebook? Twitter? Certainly, and like most restaurants, all three of the Rathbun family of restaurants --- Rathbun's, Krog Bar and Rathbun Steak --- have an account under Rathbun's Restaurants on Facebook and Rathbun's on Twitter.

But Bramble began to think outside the Facebook box, beyond that kind of Internet fraternization and toward what might be happening four to five years from now.
"I wanted a way for restaurants to market themselves inexpensively. And I wanted to bring together restaurants, publicists and the media in one spot with public access to make it easier for everyone to see and get what they need," Bramble explained. "Sort of a restaurant information portal."

The result is an all-new social media platform he built (with a lot of research and the help of a freelance PHP developer in Kyrgyzstan) called The Restaurant Section --- www.therestaurantsection.com --- which launched in early November. It performs like a hybrid of LinkedIn and Facebook, and will eventually offer a job search option similar to Craigslist. So far, the site has signed up more than 1,000 members --- restaurants, journalists, public relations professionals and others.

"Web sites can cost anywhere from two to three thousand dollars to set up, then it costs from $50 to $200 for every update. I wanted a better, cheaper way to let people know about us."

The Restaurant Section allows restaurants, journalists, publicists, vendors and vineyards, as well as the public, to connect for free to restaurant blogs, forums, restaurant and vineyard fact sheets, restaurant and vineyard photos, menus, chef and winemaker biographies, free classifieds, and event and press release listings. Plus, it allows members to connect to and display other social media such as Facebook and Twitter all in one place. Ultimately, the site will allow links to either Open Table or other reservation sites, depending on what the member restaurant chooses.

For now, the first 200 restaurants that sign up in Georgia and first 25 in other states are free for life; after that goal is reached, restaurants that join will be charged a subscription of $50 per month. It's free for journalists, public relations professionals and the average Joe looking for information.

"Compared to paying a developer a few hundred dollars every month or so, I'd say it's a much cheaper way to get your restaurant info on the Web," Bramble said.
And don't think that the info there gets put up and left for eternity. Bramble maintains the site personally, with the help of a hosting company in Texas, and will gladly change certain site aspects to cater to a restaurant's needs, within reason. He'll also be sending reminders to restaurant members to update their menus quarterly.

For Bramble, this is where social media is headed --- into specific micro sites that allow a niche of people to connect to their own kind.

"It's an added avenue for people to be able to market their specific brand," said Bramble, "and it's free."

Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As seen on 11 Alive News

2010-02-22T10:27:00.001-05:00

Do I Have to Tip the employee for checking my coat?

2010-02-18T10:12:00.000-05:00

This year, more than any, we have had almost every person walk into the restaurant with a jacket/coat. Not just a waist length coat, but the long long coats that when it is handed to you, weighs about ten pounds, and almost drags on the floor because it is so long. So where do all of these coats get placed and how are they placed so that every person gets their same jacket back? At Rathbun's in Atlanta we have a system of numbers that are plastic and hang on a hanger. Two of the same number. One is handed to the guest and one is placed on the hanger.We have a separate area where all of these jackets are held and they are placed in numerical order. Needless to say, this year, the coat rack has been full for many nights. But with over 200 people walking into the restaurant, many people choose not to "check" their coats. While this is fine with us, the challenge here is if guests have long coats and they are then placed on the back of the chair, there is a good chance that a staff member could trip over the coat. Should we make all guests check their jackets? I do not think so. I personnally like to keep my coat simply because if I get cold, I prefer to have my coat near me. The biggest question that we get about the checking of coats is, "Do I tip them for this?" While checking coats in the North is an everyday occurance (in the winter), people in the North know that they check their coat and then they would tip a dollor or two when they pick the coat up. However, people in the south, have been thrown into this checking of coats this year without any directions. What do you think? Should the coat check be given a dollar or two?

Reservation scalpers in poor taste

2010-02-18T10:03:00.001-05:00

When I received the 5:30 pm phone call from my friend Andres (the GM of Aria), at first I thought that he was kidding when he said that our restaurant had reservation slots for sale on a website. But when I looked at the site, I was amazed at the audacity of these individuals who took it upon themselves to reserve tables deceitfully in restaurants throughout the Atlanta area and then try to sell them for prices ranging from $25.00 up to $100.00.

Here is a close sequence of events that happened in this largely odd situation that ultimately made the 911 reservations website go offline by 10:00 pm.
As soon as I received the call, I sent about 35 emails out to restaurant owners in the Atlanta area. And within fifteen minutes, I received many emails from those restaurant owners/managers stating that they too had the same reservations on their reservations systems with the same names and or phone numbers. I wanted to find out who owned this website, so I checked out the whois area of Network Solutions and found out that the domain name was purchased in November, 2009 and that the administrative contact for the domain name was in a "privacy" mode. This mode basically makes the domain name owners name private so that it is not visible to anyone. But that same domain name was linked to another website called mindbodyonline .com. That peaked my interest to dig deeper.

I sent an email to their info@ their domain name and then began calling several of the fake phone numbers on the reservations. I did get to leave one message and told them that their reservations would not be honored at the restaurants. At about 9 pm, the person that I left a message for called my home number and interesting enough, there was a called ID name with the number and a persons name. The person on the other end of the phone denied any involvement with the website but within 15 minutes of my conversation, the website was taken down. Interesting.

I am glad that the restaurant owners/managers in the city came together to work on this situation together and can only think that the people behind the erroneous website 911 reservations, did not think that the restaurant community was this strong to work together so quickly. The Atlanta restaurant community is a strong and supportive community of hard working leaders and business owners who take a strong stand on protecting their investments, and protecting their guests best intentions. I hope others who try to do something like this with our reservations think about it first before they try to scalp our seats.

During the day, the story ran on Foodiebuddha.com, Nations Restaurant News, CBS Atlanta, 11ALive News, Fox5News and the Atlanta Journal Constitution where John Kessler wrote a story about the issue.

You can read more at The Restaurant Section

Being Unsocial in a Social Atmosphere

2010-02-18T09:56:00.001-05:00

Have you ever dined in a restaurant and took a minute to look around at the crowd? Were their heads looking in their lap or were they socializing with their guests? More than likely, you will see people looking down these days and not to see what is on their plate. They are instead, looking at their handheld in their lap and have become unsocial in a social area.

Has it become the norm to do this? I would say that the norm these days is that many people who are dining are actually looking down at their lap and many peole that are dining with other business peers are being unsocial by not looking at their guests. Their heads may be shaking up and down, and their ears may be alert, but their fingers and eyes are doing something else.This poses several issues. Lets take a look at a few of them.

First is obviously, the proper etiquette area. Proper etiquette in a restaurant setting used to determine if one was well educated or not. However, what is considered proper etiquete dining these days? For example, you walk into the dining room with your handheld in your hand. Before you sit down, you look at your emails. You place your phone on the table face up and begin to converse with your guests. Your phone lights up and you give it a stare. Tempted to grab it while the others are talking...but you don't. But all of a sudden, one of your guests phones make a "bing" and they give it a glance and then pick it up and begin to text while the other guests are all talking. Is that considered rude? I would say "yes" it is. But since one person at the table is doing it, is it now OK that all of the people at the table do it? Look around and you will see many people doing the same thing.

The next issue is one of professionalism. If you are dining with people that you either work with or are entertaining, wouldn't it be best to look at each other while you are at the table and actually (Oh No!) turn off your phone? You may be missing out on the sale of a lifetime or the promotion of a lifetime just so that you can text back your friend.

The last one is one of saftey in a restaurant. While you are talking to your table looking at your phone or better yet, "Textwalking", a server walks around the corner to have you not looking where you are going and they are carrying a very hot plate with a hot steak on it. Because you were not watching ahead of you, you bang into the server, and the hot steak ends up on the floor and all over your clothing. Whose fault is that?So the bottom line is simple. The next time that you are in a restaurant, please turn off your cell phone and enjoy the company that is dining with you and lets get back to being social in a social area.

You can see more info at The Restaurant Section

Create Your Own Ad

2010-02-18T09:50:00.001-05:00

We now allow you to create your own ad in several areas of our website. This is great for anybody with a webpage, personal blog, business blog, or your company website. Here is a brief summary.
There are several areas for you to create and place your ad. The member profile page is an area that is based upon a city keyword. This is if you are interested in being placed within a specific name of a city. For instance, if you want to advertise on all of the Atlanta members profile pages, you would select the member profile page for Atlanta. The advetisements on those pages are sized at 175 x 50 so your image size will have to be that particular size. You can see one of the examples here
Another area that you can sponsor an ad is on the search results page. So when a member searches for a restaurant or winery or any member in a specific city, you can sponsor an ad at the top of the search result pages.

If you are looking for a a smaller "text ad", you can do so by adding your advertisement for a Text based ad. While you will not have an image on the ad, you will have up to 125 characters to add text and a link to your website.

Do you want to be a featured member? If so, you can be a featured member and be on a rotating basis on the home page which will give your restaurant more visability to all visitors.

We look forward to helping you get more people to your sites.

New restaurants on The Restaurant Section

2009-12-12T09:48:00.001-05:00

New restaurants that you can visit on The Restaurant Section today include Fuse, Spoon, Pitty Pats Porch, and Jim N Nicks BBQ.

New Restaurants Added today to The Restaurant Section

2009-12-11T00:07:00.002-05:00

New restaurants added to The Restaurant Section today include: Ibeza, Figo Pasta, Alons, Lenox Square Grill, Parks Edge, BLT Steak Atlanta, Anis Cafe, Amuse, Miller Union, Village Tavern. If you love restaurants and wine, The Restaurant Section will take you to your favorite place. Join and begin to search for a new restaurant or vineyard.

When Halloween falls on a Friday or Saturday Night

2009-10-31T00:22:00.000-04:00

Every week, restaurants look forward to the Friday and Saturday nights. After all, they can make up 50% of a restaurants sales for the entire week. But what happens when Halloween night falls on a Friday or Saturday night? The first thought for a restaurateur is oh no! Halloween night is the night when all of the parents stay home, walk around their children to the respective neighborhoods and then go back home and sort, separate and check all of the candy. Yes, the parents spot the "krunch" candy bar and take a few for themselves, or if they see that tootsie roll, they sneak one and save it for later. But how many parents will be going out to dine in a restaurant on Halloween night? Look at the issues here.....Babysitters are all out with their friends, parents are all out with their children, grandparents are all out taking pictures of their grandchildren....get the picture. Nobody could babysit for the kids anyway because they are having fun with the passing out of candy and walking the kids around the neighborhood. So that leaves a restaurant on Halloween night....listen here....EMPTY! or does it? What can a restaurant owner do so that on Halloween night, the restaurant fills up with loyal patrons. They can offer special menus, half off of the menus, or they can even close. But closing does not look good does it? And then, if you do a special menu, you have to figure out how your guests will find out about the special menu. Do you take out an advertisement in the local paper? Do you place a hanging board over your shoulder and walk up and down the street? I do not think so. My suggestion would be your social media accounts. Send your friends the information and hopefully they will pass the info to others and help you fill the restaurant. But remember one thing. EVERY restaurant will have a hard time filling up on a Halloween night even if it is on a Saturday. Halloween is for the family and most parents want to see their kids in full costume before they grow out of it. Have a great Halloween.

Free Birthday Desserts

2009-10-25T17:11:00.005-04:00

Do you offer a free birthday dessert for a person having a birthday? If so, you may be on your way to hooking them to dining with you for a long time.

From a marketing standpoint, offering a complimentary birthday dessert may seem like a non issue, but the one time that I went out for a "close to"my birthday dinner and then an anniversary dinner, two things happened.

On the anniversary dinner, my wife was nice enough to call the high end restaurant and then mention to the hostess that it was our anniversary. She was excited about the restaurant however, because it was when we were on a vacation, she really did not know what to expect. The night began with the both of us sipping a glass of champagne and then onto apps, salads, entrees and then sitting there thinking about what we were going to have for dessert. We both ordered some port, and then one dessert. As for the mentioning to the hostess who took the reservation that it was our anniversary, well.....she must have never written it down, because we never even received a verbal, "Happy Anniversary". Needless to say, my wife was upset, and did mention it to the manager on the way out, but it was too late for that first impression.

On the second dinner for my birthday dinner, my wife mentioned to the reservationist that it was my birthday and did not tell me. The restaurant was a high end restaurant and we had an incredible dinner. When it was time for the desserts, my wife thought that she had me fooled and she expected to get a nice dessert plate that said "Happy Birthday" on it and we did get just that. It was a 12 inch oval plate with "Happy Birthday" written on the plate and in the center of the plate was a wonderful.....hold on......dollop of whipped cream. We laughed. And although we did order our own desserts, we did get a good laugh out of the dollop of whipped cream. But our impression was that the restaurant was being "Cheap" on what they gave to their guests for a birthday plate.

Desserts do take time and they do cost a restaurant money, but if you are looking to hook that guest to come back for their many celebratory dinners, one may think about what they send out for a birthday dessert to that guest who just spent $50 dollars or more per person.

Classified Ads for Restaurants on The Restaurant Section

2009-10-07T00:09:00.003-04:00

When a restaurant needs a new employee, the first thing that we do is ask our staff for a friendly recommendation. Staff members are always in touch with other friends who work in the business and may be interested to move to a new restaurant. Staff members are the first line of contact when you look for a new employee. First of all, they will enjoy working with their friend, their friends probably have the same amount of experience as they do which makes it easy for the staff member to work with a new employee. But what if you do not get any recommendations by staff members? The Restaurant Section has a free area for you to post all of your employee needs. And it is free to post on the website as long as you are a restaurant member. The ads stay active for thirty days and you can continue to add as many advertisements as you like.

Restaurant Blogs on The Restaurant Section

2009-10-07T00:01:00.002-04:00

Do you want to keep in touch with your guests and let them know what you are doing in your restaurant? By creating a restaurant blog, you will be able to keep your guests up to date with events, special dinners, specials, and just communicating with them about what you are working on in the restaurant. It is an easy and inexpensive way for you to stay in constant contact with your guests. All you have to do is add your restaurant to The Restaurant Section and begin to market your restaurant to your guests through our free blogging area.

Fact Sheets for Restaurants

2009-10-04T18:53:00.003-04:00

Did you know that when you add your restaurant to The Restaurant Section that you can add your complete press fact sheet? Just login to the new user area at www.therestaurantsection.com/join.php
and begin to add your restaurant. You can add all of the important information that is necessary for journalists and publicists. Add your menu, your chef bio, your opening dates, publicist name, Facebook and Twitter information. Add your restaurant today at www.therestaurantsection.com

New on The Restaurant Section

2009-10-04T18:45:00.003-04:00

We have added new functionality to your user profiles. Now, when you log in and go to your profile, you will see an area that you can update your status. When you update your status, it will go to all of your friends within The Restaurant Section.

Start updating today and get new friends to your restaurants today.

Chicago - Mado Dinner

2009-10-04T18:18:00.003-04:00

On October 25th, Mado will be hosting a Mutton Dinner at 6 pm. Cost is $65.00 per person plus tax and gratuity. For more info, please visit their site at www.therestaurantsection.com/Mado

Press Kits for Restaurants

2009-07-28T23:58:00.002-04:00

Looking for an online press kit for your restaurant? The Restaurant Section allows restaurant members to add their entire press kit including chef bio's, menus, twitter pages, facebook pages, websites, wine lists, and all pertinent facts about your restaurant.

Join now and be a part of the national public relations efforts from The Restaurant Section.

as seen on www.therestaurantsection.com

The Restaurant Section

2009-06-02T11:01:00.005-04:00

The Restaurant Section is almost completed and will allow restaurant managers, chefs and owners to market their own restaurant. The Restaurant Section includes chef blogs, restaurant events, menus for restaurants, and free classified ads for restaurants that are listed. Be one of the first to add your restaurant.

If you are a guest of a restaurant, you can join for free! Just go to the website at www.therestaurantsection.com and join today.