At LockData, #ThinkForward isn’t just a hashtag, it’s what we encourage our team to do every day. While we’re always thinking forward and driving change for our clients, with the advent of COVID-19 we took some time out to #ThinkForward for our local community. Local restaurants have been hit hard by the effects of the pandemic, so we decided to help. It’s with that in mind that we are very proud to introduce our latest initiative: The Local Chew.
Your New Local Listing Destination
For restaurants in Northeastern Pennsylvania, our newly launched website, TheLocalChew.com, is the local listing site for you. The Local Chew is here to help the local community discover the best foodie finds around. Whether your customers are looking for a nibble, a nosh, or the full meal deal, we want to help. We’re here to be a guide to buying local and living life deliciously.
Why List Your Restaurant?
You’ve spent hours, if not days, adjusting your restaurant’s menu and offerings. You’ve worked hard to serve your community amid the coronavirus pandemic and you’ve navigated new requirements to meet re-opening standards and guidelines. It’s time to increase your order volume and fill every socially distanced seat in your dining area, and listing your restaurant on a local site is an absolute must.
Increase Your Reach
Listing your restaurant on a local site is one of the most important things you can do as part of your marketing strategy. These days, restaurant marketing couldn’t be easier, or harder. Let us explain. While there are numerous ways to get diners in the door, for most customers, the journey starts online. Today, having a website and a Facebook page just doesn’t cut it. The hard part is when restaurateurs forget to consider their online presence as a series of interconnected points as opposed to a few beacons. Yes, you need to meet your customers where they are, but the most important reason for having a presence on these platforms comes down to your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy.
Stay Top of Mind
A majority of restaurant patrons will go online to find their next favorite food spot. How well does your restaurant rank in their search results? You may or may not have considered SEO already, but did you know that listing your restaurant on a local site is probably the easiest way to boost your ranking? Backlinks to your restaurant’s website and promotion of your social channels is a big way local diners can find you first. Not only is SEO improved, but there are numerous additional benefits to listing your restaurant on a local site.
Why Choose The Local Chew?
It’s Local
As the name implies, The Local Chew is just that: local. As members of the same community your restaurants serve, LockData technologies created the platform to give back to you and help keep you serving our neighborhoods. Your priority is attracting and retaining local clients and TheLocalChew.com will keep the focus on your restaurant. Your restaurant won’t get buried in an endless, and often unrelated, collection of restaurants. You’ll have your name prominently displayed as a member of our community next to other local businesses.
It’s Fair
Listing your restaurant on The Local Chew gives all restaurants a fair shot. How? Well, by not taking advertising dollars from restaurants. The Local Chew evens the playing field for your business by keeping things equal and not breaking up content with sponsored restaurants, keeping your listing exactly where it belongs, instead of being bumped down the list by pay-to-play practices.
It’s Unbiased
Beyond keeping things equal in terms of your presence and reach, we do more to keep things unbiased for all of our local restaurants. We’ve all been there. That one anonymous one-star review dragging down our rating on that nameless (but so popular) dining site. It’s nearly impossible to validate the experience, difficult to engage in a meaningful interaction or make amends, and good luck trying to get it removed. Listing your restaurant on The Local Chew avoids the stress that comes with a rating system. While you definitely want to hear feedback from your patrons, online review sites have turned everyone into a critic, often at the expense of your reputation and bottom line.
It’s Free
There’s that magic word: free. Owning a restaurant isn’t just perfect flavor and plating, it’s also about managing your costs and setting your business up for future success. Marketing can get expensive, but the internet age offers many valuable alternatives. Yes, it does take some time to get it right. However, listing your restaurant on The Local Chew is free and the boost your business will experience is the best deal you’ll find, outside of your happy hour of course.
Get Started
Listing your restaurant is easy. All it takes is approximately five minutes of your time to complete one simple form. Once your listing is created, you can edit and update it as often as you’d like. We want The Local Chew to be a central hub for our community restaurants and we’d love to have you on board. Click here to jump straight in to add your listing or visit TheLocalChew.com to get started today.