Queen City Dining

Have you ever got tired of eating in the same old chain restaurants in Charlotte? Well, Troy and Anthony did so they started up Queen City Dining - a website designed to review Charlotte Restaurants. If you want to learn more about them, go to the About Queen City Dining page here.

They have been struggling a bit lately with a business model. They recently settled on a membership approach. If you sign up for a membership, you get a card mailed to you that is good for discounts at restaurants all across Charlotte. The idea is a good one because who wants to bring coupons to a restaurant? Cards are much more sleek and sophisticated. I did recommend that they print the terms of the membership on the card – ex. June 2006 for a monthly membership because once you give a card out, you can’t get it back. If the restaurant enforces the expiration date then visitors have a reason to continue their paid membership with Queen City Dining.

While this is a great concept and is certain to revolutionize dining in Charlotte, there is more they could do. Check out these ideas:

1. Add a Queen City Dining Newsletter. When people visit the page, encourage them to sign up for a newsletter to keep them informed on the Charlotte Dining scene. Can you imagine how great an impact it would be if they had a few thousand subscribers and featured a restaurant each month? Restaurant owners in Charlotte would love to be on that list!
2. Have Monthly Promotions. I just started doing this on my Charlotte Bodybuilding and Fitness site. Encourage users to create accounts by having monthly drawings for Buy-one-get-one free deals. This is great for the restaurants, great for the audience, and great for Queen City Dining.
3. Photo Area. Have an area where users can upload their photos of themselves enjoying the dining opportunities in Charlotte. The site as is has no photos on it. As a designer I like to include pics of people as often as possible because humans are wired to look at people’s faces. It’s true. If there is a picture of someone on a site, your eyes will naturally gravitate towards them.