Food for Thought

A manager at Café Lou-Lou’s takes a photo of the restaurant’s blue cheese polenta, the day’s special, to post on a Facebook.

Image: Ron Bath, Business First of Louisville

A couple of times a day, in mid-morning and again in mid-afternoon, the manager on duty at Café Lou-Lou whips out a camera (often an iPhone) and takes a snapshot of a plate of food, then uploads the photos to the restaurant’s Facebook page.

It’s a simple—and inexpensive—way of sharing useful information with customers, said Helen Ellis, co-owner of the Louisville, Kentucky-based restaurant. The photos show the day’s lunch and dinner specials.

The Internet is a great equalizer, providing anyone with sufficient moxie a way of advocating on behalf of nearly anything. It’s hardly surprising that restaurants have gravitated toward the quick reach and low cost that online marketing provides.

Online marketing opportunities, many of which work across platforms, run the gamut. There are free options such as Facebook and Twitter, along with websites that let users rate restaurants, such as Urban Spoon, Trip Advisor, and Yelp.

There’s Open Table, which charges restaurants for letting customers book reservations online, and Groupon, which offers a daily coupon deal to those who sign up for its daily email and takes a 50 percent cut from the advertiser.

Each method seems to have its merits, said Stacy Roof, president and CEO of the Kentucky Restaurant Association, but deciding which ones are worth the investment of time and money is a highly individual choice.

Social-networking site Facebook has been a boon for restaurant marketing, said Ellis of Café Lou-Lou, which has been using it extensively for several months.

She likes it because it’s dynamic, providing an easy way to share changing information, such as daily lunch and dinner specials, and because many customers access it on their cell phones.

“We get a lot of positive response,” she said. “I have customers who come in and say things like, ‘I got your Facebook and see you have scallops and orzo, and I knew I needed to get over here.’ ”

For more on how restaurants are using online marketing tools, and to see which one may be right for your business, click here for the full story from Business First of Louisville (subscription required).