Restaurant website traffic now 40% mobile • Hacker News Board

Re: Restaurant website traffic now 40% mobile

#21

Post by noeltock » Fri, Sep 20, 2013, 4:01 PM UTC

kristiandupont wrote: post #17

aw3c2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean they don't work because they use Flash? As much as I hate saying it but if you did not choose a mobile OS that limits your choice of software, you could simply install flash. You cannot really blame the restaurants for using technology that was hailed for its interactivity by some people and webdesigners for so long.

>As much as I hate saying it It sounds as if you love saying it. Anyway, I agree with gp: so many restaurant websites seem to focus on being cool more than on providing the information I need: address and menu. And yes, Flash is a big part of this but even if that worked on iOS, these websites would still be annoying.

That's exactly our goal with Happytables, focusing on: accessibility, information and engagement. All the additional fluff can really bog down those sites.

Re: Restaurant website traffic now 40% mobile

#22

Post by jeffasinger » Fri, Sep 20, 2013, 4:06 PM UTC

BjoernKW wrote: post #5

I don't get why many restaurant owners don't bother putting a decent website online. If they actually do have a website, most of the time it's outdated, ugly, doesn't offer any useful information (such as opening hours, specials or a menu) or is just completely unusable. I'm not even getting started on any 'fancy' stuff such as usability on mobile devices or online reservation. I know a few restaurateurs and they sim…

I spent a few months of my time selling to Restaurant owners. Most of them are afraid of technology. They are constantly being pushed to pay lots of money for expensive proprietary technology.

There tend to be two classes of them:

Far away owners. They come to the store once a week, handle some of the finances, but mostly, someone else manages the store. The owner puts in minimal effort, the manager has a hard time spending money to effect any changes

Owner/Operators. They're often cooking or other help around the restaurant. They work a ton of hours, and don't have time for much else. Many of them "don't do computers".

Neither of these groups is going to make their own website in most situations, unless they're relatively tech savvy. So they hire someone to do it, but then it never gets updated with menu and hour changes, specials and new technology.

Re: Restaurant website traffic now 40% mobile

#23

Post by noeltock » Fri, Sep 20, 2013, 4:06 PM UTC

ryanx435 wrote: post #4

This is an interesting market that you are targeting, but I'm curious what your revenue looks like. It looks like you are banking on people upgrading to a premium account to make money, but to me it seems like you are giving away fully functional websites for free. You are giving so much away that there really isn't an incentive to upgrade. > There is no setup fee or minimum term (even for our free plan). >Can I stay…

Hi Ryan, so there are number of restrictions on the free website, but the main one they end up "converting" on is the "powered by happytables" logo at the bottom of each page (in other words, removing the branding).

Re: Restaurant website traffic now 40% mobile

#24

Post by mikestew » Fri, Sep 20, 2013, 4:41 PM UTC

aw3c2 wrote: post #11

jrochkind1 wrote: post #9

i am frustrated by the number of restaurant websites that simply _don't work_ on iOS at all. Like you can't even look at a menu or figure out the hours. Of all the websites I look at, restaurant ones are the most likely to fail horribly on mobile. I guess it's because restaurant owners/managers 'buy' a website from a small contractor, and what they look for and are willing to pay for is something that looks 'pretty'…

You mean they don't work because they use Flash? As much as I hate saying it but if you did not choose a mobile OS that limits your choice of software, you could simply install flash. You cannot really blame the restaurants for using technology that was hailed for its interactivity by some people and webdesigners for so long.

I'm not the only one that chose that mobile OS, millions of others did, too. But, hey, if a restaurant wants to try and dictate my choice of technology, no hard feelings. There are plenty of other places to eat.

And "simply install flash"? It doesn't work on iOS, it hasn't been supported on Android in over a year, and has stability issues on Jelly Bean. I could almost be convinced that you're being facetious...almost.

Re: Restaurant website traffic now 40% mobile

#25

Post by calbear81 » Fri, Sep 20, 2013, 6:44 PM UTC

Doesn't everyone just use Yelp? Gives me review highlights, hours, and often the menu too not to mention undoctored photos from other customers.

Re: Restaurant website traffic now 40% mobile

#26

Post by jrochkind1 » Sat, Sep 21, 2013, 1:39 AM UTC

aw3c2 wrote: post #11

jrochkind1 wrote: post #9

i am frustrated by the number of restaurant websites that simply _don't work_ on iOS at all. Like you can't even look at a menu or figure out the hours. Of all the websites I look at, restaurant ones are the most likely to fail horribly on mobile. I guess it's because restaurant owners/managers 'buy' a website from a small contractor, and what they look for and are willing to pay for is something that looks 'pretty'…

You mean they don't work because they use Flash? As much as I hate saying it but if you did not choose a mobile OS that limits your choice of software, you could simply install flash. You cannot really blame the restaurants for using technology that was hailed for its interactivity by some people and webdesigners for so long.

Sometimes it's flash, sometimes it's something else. I don't always spend time debugging/diagnosing exactly what it is, I'm not at work!

I doubt that restaurant owners are thinking "So my customers can't see my website? I don't care, it's because they picked an Apple device and everyone knows Apple devices are shitty!"

Um, what?

And do you really hate saying it?