“I twittered that I was having fun writing the chapter in my book about what a restaurant run on Googlethink might look like (besides being decorated in gaudy primary colors)…
…I have lots of ideas about an open and transparent restaurant operation, experience, and community. If you have any ideas you’d like to share, please join in.”

I reckon we’ve had open source and transparent wine lists in Australia for sometime. It’s called BYO. And it is coming back. For example, BYO is available every night at Esposito at Toofey’s and Thursday nights at Libertine for a bargain $10. St Jude’s Cellars is doing something similar with its attached bottle shop where $15 is added to the retail price of the wine drunk at the restaurant.

Wine lists cause a lot of confusion with restaurants charging roughly 2.5 times wholesale price sometimes for the very stuff we drink at home. In Nobu’s case the mark-up is three times.

What about an open source menu? Could that work on a BYO model too? Diners turn up with ingredients, possibly home caught or grown, and leave it to the chef. Diners pool ingredients with other tables.

Perhaps, the restaurant has an iphone app which will identify what all the other diners are bringing to the table at the request of the chef. Each diner simple pays $10 for each course for preparation.

As with the internet the chef has to deal with a lot of crap.

Personally, I’ll turn up with a locally sourced Perigord truffle, some Tuna (but unlike Nobu I can’t source otoro direct from Port Lincoln), eggs from my neighbours hens and beets and salad leaves from my inner city veggie garden.

What will you bring and what do you want your open source restaurant to be like?

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And we’re not the only ones. Social media commentator Laurel Papworth hates it too and finds this quote:

“Flash-based web sites are quite possibly one of the most useful pieces of network technology around. Like heroin or microlights, they ensure that those who think it’s a good idea aren’t around to annoy us for too long.”

Nicely put.

I gather these flash sites cost aver $7,000 a year to run and market, saying nothing of the initial construction costs. But few come up at the top of Google searches and that’s the most important factor in driving traffic to your site. If you web designer advised you to go flash: shoot them

Other tips from the day:

• Personally, I hate music on sites
• Keep it really simple. Over to Laurel again and the usability guy Dr Jakob Nielsen who says:

“Instead of dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave. Most ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention.”

• Join up to and use social sites such as Flickr, Youtube and Facebook.
• Link to like minded food and wine sites and get your suppliers to link to you
• Next month the iphone will change everything making mobile search for eating venues a reality

Sorry I have to go and eat a well-hung pheasant now.

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Of course, what I was doing was downplaying the influence of blogs versus a newspaper such as the Herald Sun which has around 1.8 million readers a day. I’m lucky if I break 1,000 unique visitors a day and for most food bloggers in Australia a few hundred a day is considered quite respectable.

For restaurants or cafes blogs are influential because many journalists read them so they can help get the message out there and perhaps cut through the email and press release clutter - that’s assuming you approach blogs the correct way. And that’s the subject of today’s panel on the internet and blogging.

The key points that came out of yesterday is that audiences are fragmented, there is still a feeling that there is a qualification required (the basics of journalism) to be allowed to review, defamation perhaps holds journalists back and that Crown Melbourne is booming.

Crown’s David Yallouz said that the news that Gordon Ramsay may come to Crown had driven record numbers to its restaurants. He also said that nothing is firm yet and that Gordon will visit Crown in June (he’s out on a very short visit for the Restaurant show in Sydney) to scope possible sites. Crown doesn’t live or die by reviews taking a pragmatic view. I guess this is because it has a momentum of its own. In fact Crown is a medium in itself delivering a certain audience in large numbers.
Interest in it and its restaurants have driven my visitor numbers up by about 30 per cent. I wonder what it will do to some of our loved city restaurants when the coming recession bites.

On defamation, it would be a brave restaurateur to take on a blog, simply because a blog’s influence is small. There again I wouldn’t be surprised if one emerged possibly over the reporting on legal and hygene issues. Rita from Hobart Food for Thought wisely changed the names in this account of a modern day Fawlty Towers in Tasmania that resulted in police charges:

“He then came to get our plates and I said to complement his chef as the meal was really nice he said “ why would I do that- she just gets a big head and there is no point!” then he slammed the door again…

“I went outside then moments later Stuart came out with all our stuff. I said “what’s going on?” And he said: “we have just been thrown out because you used your phone.” I couldn’t believe it. Then Stuart had his back to the door he came out, grabbed Stuart against the door and pushed him on the ground. Stuart hit his head and didn’t move for a moment and he had his knee on his chest, preventing him from getting up.”

And I’ve withheld the name of this two hatterin Melbourne, which handled an alleged food poisoning so badly that a copy of the email arrived here. One of the diners in question works in the food industry and knows about food poisoning issues. The diners subsequently received an offer of a free meal but don’t really want to go back. I would bet that all these peoples friends will have been told about the poor handling on the incident and that a couple of journalists will have received the email (could it influence its score in the Good Food Guide?):

“On Saturday 3 May at 8.30pm we had a booking for five people at your restaurant. We chose a good restaurant because three of the people were overseas visitors and it was a family reunion.
We had a wonderful evening, with very good food and wine, attentive and professional service, and left the restaurant feeling completely satisfied with our choices.

However, two of the guests, (who had the same salmon entrée), suffered quite severe bouts of diarrhoea and vomiting at around 1.30 am. The entrées were served around 9.00 pm.
Nobody else in the party was affected.

The three visitors got on a plane to go home the next morning, seedy but okay.

We thought the restaurant should know about this, so we telephoned and explained what had happened and were told that the manager would get back in touch with us.
He rang and was very concerned about the event but went to lengths to explain to us that in his business they know a lot about these issues (implying we don’t), and that it was unlikely that food poisoning was caused by food from XXXXXXXXXX, as food poisoning takes six to eight hours to set in.

He contacted the visitors in New Zealand and explained to them that it was probably a combination of rich food and wine, which they may not have been used to. He also reiterated that since they had not gone to a doctor to ascertain that it was food poisoning caused by salmon, and it was before the 6-8 hrs post consumption, it can’t have been caused by food from XXXXXXXXXX.

He then offered that if the visitors were ever back in Melbourne, and they wanted to dine at XXXXXXXXXX again, he would like the chance to make it a more pleasant experience.
The visitors have since conveyed their annoyance to me about what they feel is an arrogant manner in which their experience was handled, as they are seasoned travellers, and have never experienced anything like this before.

We understand that this was an isolated incident to our party, and there were no other reported incidents that night, but nonetheless two people became ill after eating the same dish in XXXXXXXXXX.

I hope XXXXXXXXXX treats other complaints in a better manner than this has been handled, and I am considering taking this matter further.”

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Dissident Chef wrote:Where are you Tomato? Are you flying the flag yet?
DC

He means: I am running an underground restaurant?
Regulars will remember last winter and spring the hype over an alleged Melbourne underground restaurant. While a software updated meant the content of the post was lost, the short of it is that Zingara Cucina was somewhere between a hoax and an an experiment in viral marketing.
For a moment I was sucked in as was The Age and The Australian magazine.
I think what’s evolved instead is something far more democratic. It’s not underground. it’s exposed on this blog for all to see.
For want on a better name, we called the first meet the Bloggers’ Banquet. There’s now been version 2.0 and most recently 2.1 - 13 of us took over Jamon Sushi in South Yarra for a night to explore the melt in the mouth delights of wagyu.
Jamon is one of the few places in Melbourne where you can eat and learn a few things too.
I’ve written about one of these wagyu meals before you can also check out Cin’s amazing pics and posts from Neil, Elliot, Thahn, and Claire.

What next?

There was talk with Mellie from Tummy Rumbles of trying to book out the whole of Tempura Hajime. And I suggested to Sticky (who didn’t make the wagyu night) that we gor for some authentic Chinese and that she orders off menu.
Also, there may be a few thing coming up for restaurant launches too.

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Looks like we’ll meet at the bar in Mini, basement 141 Flinders Laneat 7.30 to 8.

Let me know via email or comments with a mobile number and I’ll text if it lookslike we are moving on.

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The reason why restaurants or any other small or medium sized business need to take notice of blogs is that very probably a blog will come higher up in search results than you. This is unless the Google search is for your website name alone. In reality, it may be for something like “Melbourne Italian restaurant”. Moan about it all you want. But unless you think you can topple Google, you can’t stop bloggers.

Plus is a country where media ownership is concentrated into a few powerful hands and you are lucky to find two daily papers in a city, blogs offer a tiny little bit of diversity. For instance, in The Age gossip columnist and reviewer John Lethlean writes three columns a week, plus two in the Melbourne Magazine and at least one (two this month) in Gourmet Traveller monthly. That’s seven columns in one week sometimes and, yes, I’m jealous of the money and exposure. John’s a nice guy and I’m not after his job (there are many in line before me). But sometimes it is nice to hear from someone with a different point of view. And this is a function of the lack of local media diversity.

Blogs also offer a marketing oportunity if approached in the correct way.

I was interviewed on blogging for the new restaurant industry website and job directory I Eat I Drink I Work by journalist David Sutherland. He gives a very fair account of the current debate, some may say stand-off, between bloggers and chefs and restaurateurs. I was also invited to speak to a small group for Restaurant and Catering Victoria on the same topic the other week. I had a few technology problems but hope I got the same message across.

And at Talk Business sessions at Restaurant08 I’ve been given another opportunity to pontificate in two sessions - one on reviewing and another on the web (with someone with Google who will put my small pot of knowledge to shame).

So here we go my:

1. Blogs are here to stay and somebody will one day blog about you. Because blogs are automatically Search Engine Optimised it is likely that a blogs story about you will rank higher in a Google search than you will. Don’t believe me? Google Collingwood tapas or Gordon Ramsay Melbourne or Bistro Guillaume or Giuseppe, Arnaldo. You’ll find me. Or another blogger up there with The Age and News Ltd.
2. 70% of people don’t get past the first four results of a Google search. Even fewer get to the bottom of page one or to page two and beyond. You need to be Search Engine Optimised, which means using certain words and techniques which are actually quite simple. Somebody out there wants to charge you thousands for SEO. Your own blog does it for nothing but a little effort.

3. Blogs are Search Engine Optimised because:

• They are content rich. For example I now have over 650 stories each seen as a single page by Google which helps take me up the search rankings. You only need to post a couple of times a month if that. It is the constant renewing of words on a site and growth of content that partly helps increase rank in search.

• Blogs get lots of links which looks good to Google.

• Blogs get lots of comments which looks good to Google.

• Stories published within blogs can be tagged - just words that are associated with a story. For example, tapas, Collingwood, restaurant, Gertrude Street. These are exactly the kind of words people use in Google to find a restaurant.

• Feeds, often known as RSS or Atom feeds. These are a stripped down version of a webpage that tell search engines and readers when a webpage has been updated. It is that funny orange symbol at the top right of this page. Online services such as Google Reader allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds and will tell you when a webpage is updated. All blogs have this technology built in.

4. The software behind blogs is incredibly powerful and is the same or better than that used to drive most expensive websites. It is often free (Wordpress, Blogger) or reasonably cheap (Moveable Type, Typepad) or Open Source (Wordpress) which means there are loads of neat bits that can simply be plugged into it. It doesn’t take too much to learn how to use this. If you have a teenager to help, all the better.

5. Blog RSS feed statistics can be read through the free service Feedburner. This service also allows you to make your feed into a simple newsletter and manage its subscribers online. This is FREE. Many small businesses I know pay a subscription for newsletters based on the numbers of subscribers. This is a really good cheap way to communicate with customers. Many web design companies will charge a fee for each newsletter sent out.

6. Google Analytics is one of the most powerful statistics packages you can get. It is FREE. many small businesses are charged money by web development companies for statistics. You don’t need to pay just cut and paste a bit of code into a template or use an easy to plugin piece of software. If you choose to buy online advertising you can monitor traffic through Google Analytics.

7. You do need some background software with your webhost that many local web hosts charge extra money for locally. Therefore I would go with a host such as Bluehost which has it all installed. In fact, you can install Wordpress which is what many leading bloggers use in literally the click of one button. it is as simple as sending an email. Bluehost also has a service whichwill submit you to search engines for free.

8. Designs simply have to be uploaded to a folder on the web server and can be swapped in one click. Many many designs are free. And a tailored design can costs from under $100 to about $1,000.

9. Don’t think of a blog as a blog. It is a website in a particular format. You can use a blog to drive a website and have your blog whereever you want on the site. The most effective place to put a blog is on the front page.

10. But what content do you use? Think of a blog as a newsletter. Anything that is new. The new seasonal produce, the new menu, the new staff member, a new wine on the wine list. Even your football tipping. These are all stories that will engage people and be attractive to Google. It is simple to set-up Feedburner to send out a newsletter too - for FREE.

11. Linking is easy. Link to other blogs and they will find you. Importantly you should comment to - be social. When you comment you leave your web address and some other information. This links back to your site so people can find out who you are. try it now and people will click to your site.

12. I would suggest registering a blog with the site Technorati which is a search engine for blogs and monitors links. Again, it is free and simple.

13. Some of these things sound complicated but they are not. They just take a bit of time and very little money. If there is demand, I’m happy to post about how to se up a Wordpress website or blog.

FOOD FASCIST

• Nice to see that the Gourmet Traveller blogs finally have RSS feeds. This should help build regular traffic every time it updates. Will comments come soon.

• It’s a shame that I Eat I Drink I Work doesn’t appear to have an RSS feed yet.

• More main media food blogs required. SBS launches one next month. My latest effort Food and Wine Daily is in development here which so far has cost less than $100 (although I have a couple of small creases to iron out).

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What is the Bloggers’ Banquet?

Just an opportunity to meet up, eat and chat. That’s not to forget take photos, blog, post to flickr and all that other social stuff. Nothing hard. V1.0 was back in November. V2.0 will be held Saturday 5 April from 12.30 onwards  in Dromana hosted by the Purple Goddess. Good food, drink and conversation are assured.

Wow! That’s a long way to go.

Yes, but can pitch your tent or simply pass out on the lawn.

Who is it open to?

Any bona fide blogger. No stalkers or trolls please. Email the Purple Goddess. Details are here.

What do I need to bring?

Everything. Food, drink, fags, toothbrush, clean panties - the lot. (I’ve no idea about the bog roll)

How do I get there?

Email the Purple Goddess and she shall tell.

I don’t know anybody. is it still okay?
Yes. Nobody bites apart from me and I have to be at a wedding somewhere else. This blogging lark is not exclusive and open to absolutely anybody with a blog however small or large. Come along.

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I caught up with Mr Adria and a few journos at MadridFusion08 in Jan. His
opening response was to a question about what the big changes in food were
this year. His answer was translated from Spanish so there may be nuances
missed by the translator but the inference was that there has been a
explosion in blogs. “One year ago there were no blogs - now that is a
revolution.”

Matt promises some provocative material from the huge body of interviews from this trip to
culinary congresses in Milan and Madrid.

Meanwhile, an email from local molecular chef Ray Capaldi promises that molecular gastronomy is not dead. We look forward to hearing from him on the artistry-formerly-known-as molecular gastronomy or tecnoemoción (and variously referred to as tecno emoción or tecnoe-moción) as it perhaps is now known.

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I think that makes us real Epicurians for whom, according to Wikipedia, “the highest pleasure (tranquility and freedom from fear) was obtained by knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life.” Okay, forget about the last bit.

The Age comes late to the Gogarty blog mauling (the comments are solid gold):

“There are competing issues in this relatively untested medium that need to be ironed out: the duty of care owed to the journalist by the news organisation and the ability of editors to exercise quality control and to provide readers with decent writing.”

Meanwhile, in Sydney Corporate Engagement has an obsolute loo and is at a technology gabfest where Fairfax people talk sensibly about blogs:

- Great bloggers are people who start conversations. Commenters / bloggers talk to each other across platforms; a very strong community. Over 76% of commenters have higher education quals.

- the first step is to choose a SEO-friendly title for the story. For instance, the SMH online where the headline writers have been thoroughly drilled on SEO came up with ‘Heath Ledger dies’, which is ideal. The Age in Melbourne came up with ‘dead in bed’. Hopeless, who is going to search for ‘dead in bed’.

Meat curtains (via Crikey): Photo-realistic and very edgy pictures of meat. A few of the artworks are still for sale. Any daring restaurateurs out there?

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