To this day, @Rice's My Business profile is one of glowing reviews and offers a brilliant first glimpse into the restaurant and their tasty cuisine, averaging around 25,000 monthly views.

The Lowdown

@Rice (At Rice) is a brand new Asian fusion restaurant that enjoys the stunning views of the Lauderdale foreshore along South Arm Road.

As with every new business, overcoming the cold start phenomenon was an immediate priority for the owners, as they believed they had a valuable product that could hit the ground running pretty quickly with just a little push.

After contacting DigiBite Studio, we too concurred about the promise of the restaurant. Whilst a trendy, info hub type website was perhaps the easiest route of all to decide upon, staggering out an efficient marketing campaign to simply get their name out there as quickly as possible was also needed as well.

Through a clever implementation of Google My Business to encourage the positive reviews that the restaurant was getting on its own accord, @Rice's name quickly got around as a go-to destination.

Becoming One with the Locals

We identified that the most successful and quickest avenue to boosting @Rice's profile was through the local Lauderdale community. Prior to @Rice's founding, the area didn't really have a restaurant that specialised in such cuisine at the time, and was therefore ripe to grab the attention of an audience that was definitely there and eager for such an establishment.

DigiBite Studio's marketing team set up their Google My Business account with a focus on local at the heart of its philosophy. We displayed their menu, photos of the establishment and its lovely surrounds, as well as cultivating reviews from some of their very first customers in conjunction with @Rice and a nice discount incentive for reviewing users.

These strategies really resonated around Lauderdale, and grabbed the attention of eager locals looking to try something different in their town. The My Business profile grew from there, being a real hub in lieu of a new website project being undertaken.

To this day, @Rice's My Business profile is one of glowing reviews and offers a brilliant first glimpse into the restaurant and their tasty cuisine, averaging around 25,000 monthly views.

A Classy Web Presence Utilising Vue.js

The main objective of @Rice's website was to create a sleek design that reflected @Rice's overall aesthetic, as well as creating a vital information hub about the restaurant and its offerings.

The food industry - and the greater hospitality industry overall - relies heavily on visuals and atmosphere in the online world. @Rice's website is no different, utilising a crisp look and feel to the website, as well as an interactive menu that showcases the meals.

This approach, whilst not geared towards the traditional success metrics of leads or conversions, does instill the wow factor in the website's users. It fosters a desire to visit the restaurant, going hand-in-hand with the overall approach of the local marketing strategy to make @Rice a popular destination even before stepping foot into the premises.

@Rice's website is also very lean, focusing solely on to-the-point content and the visuals of the premises and its food to sell the overall brand. Keeping the website lean draws added attention to the meals on offer, giving them plenty of valuable real estate for @Rice to be successful.

If you've read this and feel that a similar strategy and website build would be perfect for your business, get in touch with us right away! You could also send us specific information about your business and what you're trying to achieve, and we'll respond with a plan tailored to your aims and objectives.