Meals By The Mouse
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday September 21, 2005
YOU can buy anything on the internet, and now you can work out what to buy for dinner just by switching on your computer.
Last week a new online dining guide called eatLocal was launched and another site, eatoutnow, is set to go live next month. If Luke Stronach has his way, a typical dining experience will start with a bit of an internet surf on his website eatLocal.Mr Stronach, of Merewether, has set up the eatLocal site, which details opening times, how to make bookings and menus for around 200 cafes, restaurants and takeaways in the Hunter Valley. The idea came to Mr Stronach in January this year when he was trying to find something to eat in Melbourne. He did end up getting a meal that day, but he also realised that it was time to head back home to Newcastle and start his own online restaurant guide, leaving the financial sector behind. After researching his idea of an internet-based list of eateries, which including pouring over the various Sydney-centric dining sites, Mr Stronach settled on his eatLocal concept, one where the restaurant owner has control over their particular section.This means that when a menu is updated, the owner or manager of a restaurant can sign into the site and change their menus, or update opening times. For the restaurant owners it is a brilliant way to get their information out and listing on the site is free.However, there is a paid priority listing, which gives restaurant owners more space to detail their establishment, as well as post pictures of the restaurant online. When hungry diners do a search on a suburb, or by cuisine type, the priority listed restaurants are shown first."The site will be expanding to include more restaurants and also function venues and caterers," Mr Stronach said. "The catering section is still expanding, especially for corporate and large events so soon people will be able to organise a 21st birthday or a huge function from their keyboard."Good Taste always loves seafood, so using the search by cuisine type on the left-hand side of the site reveals 25 different restaurants in region which feature seafood. The priority listings are shown first, in alphabetical order, followed by the free listings. One of the sites listed is the Hot Crab Brasserie in The Junction. This restaurant would also be found via the suburb search or for cuisine types Australian modern and Thai.A quick view of the site shows the opening hours for the cafe, along with six different menus and extras such as that the cafe is licensed, but also BYO, with disabled facilities and an outdoor dining area. Owner Barbara Miccoli said the site had already worked for her with a large order placed on the second night of the site's operation. "A guy rang up and wanted to order some takeaway for a dinner party but I said 'you haven't got the menus' and he said to me that he was looking at them on the site," she said. "In the end he ordered eight mains, six entrees and four desserts so sites like this can no nothing but boost the restaurants in the area." The other site vying for your dining attention is eatoutnow which will be live in October.This business venture is the brainchild of a group of University of Newcastle students. Set up as a final year project by the five bachelor of information technology students, the site will continue on after the students finish university."We have founded a company and we are extremely motivated," Jeannette Bucher said. Ms Bucher said that work started on the site in February and the mixed group brought different skills to the eatoutnow website."Some have a strong background in e-commerce, others in the technical side and we have set up the basic site and are already working on future expansion," she said.The site will feature similar information as eatLocal, along with free listings and a range of extra, paid options such as priority listings and subdomains of restaurants.Ms Bucher said that already 80 different eateries were listed, with the number growing each day as the information was entered into the site.Despite a launch date a few week's later than Mr Stronach's, Ms Bucher said that she believed that the Hunter was big enough to support several dining internet information sites. "I think the competition is good, the area definitely has space for more sites," she said.Soon people will be able to organise a 21st birthday or a huge function from their keyboard. eatlocal.com.au eatoutnow.com.au
© 2005 Newcastle Herald
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