Directories are killing the restaurant industry.

There, we said it. But that's how it goes, and we can tell you the 4 most insane (but true) reasons why.

1. Discounts

Discounts are not great. They cheapen your brand for your venue and cut your profits into pieces.
Not only this, it means the customer is less likely to pay full price next time. Have you heard of Jon Taffer and Gary Vaynerchuck? Well, you sure better have. They are absolute masters of restaurant marketing and driving customers through the door. And from the horse's mouth in their video at 52:08 :
"Don't discount, people get addicted to discounts. They don't get addicted to free".
And you know what? That discount that your customer is getting addicted to is at YOUR detriment, not at the directory's detriment. They are getting more customers to book online through their directory at your cost, and you are the one paying for it. Paying for it literally, and figuratively by giving the directory money for this cover, and also cheapening your brand while you're at it.
If you have a spare hour we highly recommend watching the whole video about acquiring new customers in restaurants, but this key element we are referring to begins at 47:12.
So whatever you do - don't discount.

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2. Google Searching

Google it. Honestly. Google your venue in the same city that your venue resides. Because we can guarantee that if you google your venue and you are in a directory the directory will come up and not your venue. Common practice these days is that if a booking form sits on your website, you don't need to pay for those covers. But if they come from the directory they have acquired the customer for you and therefore that will cost you a fee. What you don't know when you receive your monthly bill for the covers received is that when YOUR venue name is searched on Google, there are approximately 6-8 different links that they have paid for that lead your customer to a $3 fee per cover. This compares to the 1-2 links that your venue will have.
Ultimately you are competing with them, they know it, but you didn't until right now.
So Google your venue, if you are with a directory contact them to have them remove their paid ad from your page because it is downright dishonest.

3. On whose terms?

Recently we stumbled on this article about a customer who had the misfortune to fall into this trap. Essentially on the directory's terms, their booking had been cancelled because it hadn't been double confirmed.
Play your own games and play it by your rules. And choose a booking system that has the true flexibility to allow you to use deposits or make the phone section necessary. Don't completely substitute emails for phone calls. There is a general trend for customers to want to book easily without "human contact", but opt for communication. In all forms. Be that cleverly calculated reminder texts/emails, or a quick phone call.
Otherwise, you may come across as cold and calculating as the article suggests. So ensure that all forms of communication are customisable.

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4. Customer details

One thing we've given a go in-house is to determine who owns what customer data. And the most interesting thing we have learnt is from trying different email addresses to make bookings. We created a couple of fake email addresses so that they were nice and clean and spam free - and booked two different meals. One of which we booked directly on the directory website, and the other from the customer's website. And we urge you to do the same. Ultimately we were very interested to figure out who owned what data because if a customer is booking on your website their data should be yours. And only yours. 
What we learnt was that both sources of lunch bookings yielded the same number of spam emails. Every 5 days we received a new discount for another venue in the area that this particular directory was driving us towards.
So create some fake emails, do some digging, and count those venues that your customers are being driven into. Hint: they won't be yours.

So that's 4 different reasons as to why the directories of the world are hurting the restaurant industry. Not only the industry but will directly be impacting on yours. If you'd like to see our checklist on what you do need to focus on, send us an email at hello@bookbookonline.com.au and we'll be glad to send it through. 

Better yet, have a look at what BooKBooK has to offer on our website www.bookbookonline.com.au

The good news is that directories are being weeded out as times goes on, and new smarter ways that don't impact venues directly are being rolled out every minute. So keep your eye on different sources that you can use to drive customers into your venue that focus on social interactions, or reward systems for venue bookings. And drown out the directories!