Does it bug you when restaurants don't have a website?

Not an answer but – - >> Why do you think so many restaurants go out of business each year?

There maybe a correlation, what do you think?

They’d have to hire someone. I’m not a picky eater though so if it was recommended I’d just go.

I understand though cause I don’t like when I cant see the drink specials.

They obviously have no duty to have a website, but it is a little annoying when I can’t even see a menu online. Especially if the restaurant is out of the way or in the middle of a parking nightmare, I’d like to know that there’s going to be at least one item that looks worth ordering.

@Tropical_Willie I think there are lots of reasons why restaurants go out of business, one of which probably has to do with their lack of a website. In our area, a lot of really good, but small-ish restaurants, that did have websites, have gone out of business do to the fact that the economy is still bad in our area, some of the places were not in good or convenient locations, and still others didn’t do any advertising (I guess they expected that my word of mouth was all they needed LOL). Other places probably had bad business managers that could not figure out the pricing with regard to the actual cost of running a business.

@SavoirFaire Exactly! It would also be nice to know whether the restaurant is closed on certain days or on certain hours. One of my favorite restaurants in our town, a coffee house/small bites place is open 24 hours, except that it is closed on Fridays and Saturdays. Go figure. Thankfully, they do have a website indicating these odd hours. This place is thriving because the food is excellent, it’s got a good location and it’s a nice place to go to. This is one instance of word of mouth working for them, but most places don’t have that luxury.

It probably wouldn’t stop me visiting a restaurant, but it has become part of my pre-planning process to check for a website and to look at the menu. I do prefer to be able to make sure the menu is appealing before I show up.

I am a slow decider, so a website with the menu is very helpful. It’s also good for my husband, who is a diabetic, so that he can look for menu items that suit his needs. Even if they had a static website with their menu, hours and phone number, I would be thrilled. Scratch that – I would be completely content. I do not need to interact with a bunch of fancy-schmancy screens when all I want to know is what food is available!

@tedibear Exactly! No fancy or schmancy necessary.

@Earthbound_Misfit I just don’t like the idea of not knowing whether there is anything I can actually eat, before I drive all the way to a restaurant (usually with other people) and then having the embarrassment of having to leave if there isn’t anything I can eat. I’m not picky either, I’ll eat an iceberg salad with mealy pink tomatoes and stale croutons if that’s the only thing they have that’s suitable for vegetarians.

And fair enough too @Kardamom. It doesn’t take much technological savvy to upload a pdf. That’s all they need to provide. Especially if their menu changes regularly.

@Earthbound_Misfit So true. I’m guessing that a restaurant can make a very easy website displaying their menu for free, so I don’t think it’s a matter of money.

A lot , I want to see the menu.

I think that’s one reason many people go to chain restaurants – predictable. No matter where you go, the menus are pretty much all the same.

It doesn’t bug me when a restaurant doesn’t have a site but when they do, it’s like icing on the cake. I’m pretty flexible about what I will eat but if I had certain dietary needs, I would be more into seeing a site first.

Around here, the new restaurants have sites, usually, but there are a lot of old restaurants that people have been faithful to for decades, and they rely on that regular customer base who just go there no matter what, due to large portions or whatever. Then there are the chains, which as mentioned above, they have sites but they’re also predictable.