MARKETING: Why Restaurant Owners Need SEO to Be Found Online in 2020
By implementing SEO to your restaurant’s website, you can look forward to higher online orders, increased footfalls, and better chances of being found online. And with 46% of Google searches being local, you might want to give SEO a try to gain exposure. Here are some tips on how you can use SEO to improve your restaurant’s chances of being found on Google or any search engines.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Hard Seltzer is Here to Stay
According to global data firm IWSR, US alcohol drinkers bought more hard seltzer by volume than vodka, last year. The US purchased 82.5 million 9-liter cases. Wow. The hard seltzer market share also rose 2.6% in the past year. And according to VinePair Audience Insights, consumer interest in the spiked seltzer rose 992% year-over-year across 65 types of wine, beer, and spirits and finished 2019 as the “most popular type of ‘beer’.”
The Worst Flu Season in Years
According to reports from the CDC, the current flu season has caused at least 210,000 hospitalizations and killed approximately 12,000 people in the U.S. in the 16 weeks since it began. The share of influenza samples testing positive – an indicator of how the flu season is progressing – reached 27.7% in the U.S. in calendar Week 4.
Manchester City’s Success Came at a High Price
According to Transfermarkt.de, a German website specializing on football transfers, Manchester City’s transfer balance since 2008 is -$1.42 billion, outstripping even that of Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain by more than $500 million. Banning City from the Champions League is hitting the club where it really hurts, since it’s the one title that has eluded them so far in their (expensive) bid to join football’s elite circle.
FLEX YOUR MENU
Why it matters to you: Adding some vegan products to your menu may just attract some folks you are looking right past.
When most of us think of vegans, we get a sardonic image of a Birkenstock-wearing hippie that is more interested in disrupting your business for their political agenda than a person simply seeking to eliminate animal protein from their diet. You might not know this, but according to recent research, around 2% of Americans claim to be vegetarian and .5% are fully vegan. That might not seem like a lot, but with a population of almost 325 million, that’s close to 7 million people. While we aren’t suggesting you completely revamp your menu, we do think a review of the vegetarian/vegan experience at your restaurant might do you some good. Besides, there are no shortage of folks in the market (your competitors) that full embrace vegetarian/vegan.
Take the fast-casual concept Tocaya Organica, as a perfect example. This California-based chain opened in 2016 and received a $21 million investment to grow to seven units. Their chief marketing officer, Matt Smith, recently explained that while they are vegan, they still serve animal protein. The difference is that at Tocaya Organica, meat eaters have to opt-in, where in most restaurants it’s the vegan that has to “opt-in.” According to Smith, they take a flexitarian approach and attempt to provide complete array of protein, but their raison d’etre remains providing vegans with menu that boasts freshness and variety. There’s a lesson in there for all operators. By making vegans not feel ignored and providing some credible, properly prepared plant-protein only items, you may just attract a 2% that has very few options.
[Source: Restaurant Business Online]
CLIMATE BUTTER
Why it matters to you: Researchers in Belgium claim they can replace butter fat with the insect fat in your favorite dessert foods.
Ok, so most of us would agree that the idea of insect fat, upon introduction, sounds absolutely horrible. And frankly, maybe it is. However, you won’t convince everyone that tried some dessert made made from insect fact, according to a recent study conducted in Ghent Belgium. Ghent University scientists prepared three almost-identical versions of waffles, cookies, and cakes, and served them up to a group of 344 consumers in a blind taste test. For each baked good, there was a "normal" version made with butter; a version in which 25% of the butter had been replaced with black soldier fly larvae fat; and a version that was made with 50% butter, 50% insect fat. (The study participants were informed in advance that the samples they selected "might have contained an insect ingredient.")
In general, the results proved that these larvae not only might be a credible butter substitute, but the very qualities that make larvae valuable for composting also make it valuable for human consumption. "Insect fat is a different type of fat than butter,” researcher Daylan Tzompa-Sosa said in a statement. “Insect fat contains lauric acid, which provides positive nutritional attributes since it is more digestible than butter. Moreover, lauric acid has an antibacterial, antimicrobial and antimycotic effect. This means that it is able, for example, to eliminate harmless various viruses, bacteria or even fungi in the body, allowing it to have a positive effect on health.”
While that all sounds lovely, we might not be so far from needing this cooking fat alternative. Given the deleterious effect of massive cattle herds on the environment, you menu may one day soon feature a larvae lava cake, or some other version of alternative fat/protein.
[Source: Vice]
