discuss Domain Opportunities Created by Covid19

[ThatNameGuy]

Most everyone knows Covid19 has created all sorts of virtual and online opportunities, but did anyone ever think that domain/names for the restaurant industry may be a future opportunity starting six months to a year from now? With as many as 25% or 250,000 closing permanently, there will come a day these eateries will make a comeback and need domains. Everyone also knows how volatile the restaurant industry is normally, but Covid19 has only added to the volatility.

Prior to Covid19 i had targeted two industries to focus on, the real estate market and the restaurant industry. Currently I'm pretty focused on the real estate industry, but beginning early in 2021 I'm looking to develop a domain I purchased today; Restaurant(.)Domains. I already own about 25 restaurant domains, but I plan on launching "Restaurant Domains" after I've accumulated at least 100 names.

Anyone else see other domain markets emerging due to Covid19? What do you think of the restaurant and food services industry? Do you have any restaurant or eatery domains? Thanks and Ho! Ho! Ho!

 

[Joe N]

I don't feel the restaurant industry is a great target for domains. I suspect that only the major chains have any real interest in aftermarket names.

If I were to invest in restaurant or food industry names, I'd want to make sure their focus is toward online solutions and business ideas rather than names for brick and mortar businesses.

 

[MapleDonut]

While I was only pointing out there will be a need for new restaurant domains once the pandemic dust settles, i'm aware COVID has created opportunities for domains in education and healthcare.

I see "business owners not knowing about the domain aftermarket" as a huge opportunity for my "outbound marketing strategy" whether it be for the food/restaurant industry, education or healthcare.

Take for example; CurbsidesidePharmacy(.)com for healthcare and DrivethruKitchen(.)com for Restaurant/food. Domains like these only work because of COVID.

I own a couple restaurants and knowing the industry, there's not a lot of people willing to buy pre-owned domain names (and business names in general).

Mostly, this has to do with ghost reviewers ruining our industry on online reviewing platforms. Once our businesses gets tacked on with bad stars online, regardless of whether they're legitimate or not, it's a headache to deal with the companies that own the review sites to have them removed/moderated.

Some review sites charge literally hundreds of dollars to review and moderate real and fake comments about a business. It's a hassle and takes forever to get done since it's a whole issue onto itself related to potentially stifling free speech.

Of course, if the business names have no terrible reviews, there'd probably be a bunch of investors willing to pay up once their businesses recover. But, even then, it's hard to sell generic names in the restaurant industry because realistically nobody would go to a place called "Cheap Steaks 24/7". It's pretty much just a brandable domain market imo.

 

[Compassion]

The world is artificially contrived to be at home and glued to screens even more than before! (who thought that was possible?)

Naturally this means more action for domains.

The need to bridge commerce through the web is increasingly more important each day.

I feel timeless .coms can thrive in all sectors and premiums ought to be considered safe haven investments.

Many new opportunities are born this decade.
People need top level real estate for optimal world visibility.

Businesses must adapt and will need to implement impeccable presences online in order to thrive in the technocracy.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

YES， I suspect that only the major chains have any real interest in domain names market

• Generally, a small restaurant does not need a domain name
• BUT It may be different in different countries，I guess

I happen to live in America, and literally every restaurant in the US has a domain. As a business guy all my life, one of the very first things I would think about is a great name/domain for my restaurant.

I live in a city with 450,000 people and there are well over a thousand restaurants in my city.....not one without a domain.

 

[Joe N]

I happen to live in America, and literally every restaurant in the US has a domain. As a business guy all my life, one of the very first things I would think about is a great name/domain for my restaurant.

I live in a city with 450,000 people and there are well over a thousand restaurants in my city.....not one without a domain.

Just remember that most of them are hand registering names. Aftermarket domains aren't typically a high priority for local restaurants. As a business guy, you know that they rely mostly on word of mouth and foot traffic

 

[Joe N]

You totally miss my point....all domains are "hand registered" at one point. However, not everyone is as talented as you or me for that matter. I've named dozens of businesses in my life, and now that I've learned about the domain industry, I'm as capable of coming up with a good name for a restaurant as anyone I know. I'm sure you wouldn't hire me to come up with a name for your restaurant knowing your agenda, and that would be your loss

I'm not questioning your naming skills. Just saying that local restaurants are usually looking to spend the bare minimum on a domain name. They wouldn't pay anyone to name the restaurant, and if their chosen name is taken, they usually just add the name of the city or type of food to the end and hand register that as their name.

They would also be just as likely (if not more) to use a country code domain rather than a .com.

Basically what I'm saying is most local restaurants will do whatever it takes to not pay more than a few bucks for a name. Because while web presence is important to them, a premium domain name is not. Their brand doesn't matter on a global scale, only on a local one.

 

[Joe N]

I'm glad you know what budding restaurant entrepreneurs want, and what they're willing to pay for it It takes a lot of capital to start a new restaurant here in the US....$50,000 to $75,000.

Of course you know better, so I defer to your superior logic, intellect and common sense

I recommend doing your own research, and if your findings tell you different then I'd be happy to learn from them.

Good luck, and merry Christmas!

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Some quick ideas - as in Brainstorming - No predictions

• The number of employees in factories will reduce even faster - More Robotics
  
• Less people working in offices - REIT & RE Sales / Work from Home / Relocation / Online Meetings
  
• Bankruptcy of Restaurants - Restaurants for Sale / Food Delivery / Cooking / Recipes
• Bankruptcy of Shops - Shops and Stores for Sale / Lease Back Constructions
  
• Even more bankruptcies - Bankruptcy Services & Management / Legal Services / Auctions
• People losing their jobs - Job boards / Job Coaching / Vacancies / (Remote) Education
  
• People getting bankrupt - Loans / Mortgage / Refi / Financial Services / Cheap Products / 2nd hand related
• People starting new businesses - All kinds of businesses, more focus on digital services
  
• More debt on all levels - Debt / Bonds / Gold related products and services / Debt Collection Services
• More Expired Domains / Huge change in the retention rate for domains [for some TLDs] / Focus on other domain categories.

Indeed... lots of Doom and Gloom, but there will be new opportunities, too. Unfortunately not for all people.

Great stuff Domain.Coach. Great to see your site up and running. Many of the businesses I've been personally involved with involve Bk, Debt Recovery, Refi, Mortgages, Investigations etc. Even for an old guy like me zooming has become SOP.

With all the change occurring, re-branding will be a big deal soon. Prior to the pandemic re-branding occurred in 10% of the global economy annually, and I see it more like 20% for the immediate future.

Thanks for sharing

ps. was last in Amsterdam in 1963 and loved it. Happy New Year!

 

[ThatNameGuy]

The world is artificially contrived to be at home and glued to screens even more than before! (who thought that was possible?)

Naturally this means more action for domains.

The need to bridge commerce through the web is increasingly more important each day.

I feel timeless .coms can thrive in all sectors and premiums ought to be considered safe haven investments.

Many new opportunities are born this decade.
People need top level real estate for optimal world visibility.

Businesses must adapt and will need to implement impeccable presences online in order to thrive in the technocracy.

Thus zoom critics, teachers and speakers will flourish. It's interesting, my Kiwanis group has speakers zooming into our meeting's from all over the world. Before Covid all we had were local speakers.

Thanks for sharing

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I don't feel the restaurant industry is a great target for domains. I suspect that only the major chains have any real interest in aftermarket names.

If I were to invest in restaurant or food industry names, I'd want to make sure their focus is toward online solutions and business ideas rather than names for brick and mortar businesses.

I don't disagree...that's why online websites, menus and critics are part of an overall strategy. Opportunities abound!

 

[Joe N]

This went over you head too. I was responding to a member who questioned whether or not restaurants need or even have an online presence. He doesn't say where he's from, but he's obviously not from the US or Canada. That said however, i do respect his question and answered it to the best of my knowledge and experience.

Joe...most business people don't have a clue about the "after market" that you rely on to buy and sell your domains. I personally know the owners and founders of Hot Tuna, and I know for a fact they never knew the domain "after market" existed when they registered their domain.

Finally, this thread is titled, "Domain Opportunities Created by Covid19". There's nothing for you to see here Joe unless you can contribute to "opportunities"created by Covid19.

No need to be defensive. It's a great topic and makes for a good discussion. You picked a random sampling of local restaurants near you, and it was interesting to see that they had all hand registered their names.

Discussing opportunities doesn't mean we should ignore potential barriers and challenges to those perceived opportunities. We're all here to broaden our knowledge. And you make a great point that many small business owners don't know about the domain aftermarket.

A couple industries that are worth buying names for because of COVID are education and healthcare. There has been a lot of investment in them in a short time, and both have been top of mind for people during the pandemic.

Remote learning in particular could see some big advancements in the coming years. Most North American school systems are so antiquated... I think the pandemic has been a wake-up call for them to realize that they need to become more flexible and able to provide more customized and adaptive learning experiences.

 

[Joe N]

While I was only pointing out there will be a need for new restaurant domains once the pandemic dust settles, i'm aware COVID has created opportunities for domains in education and healthcare.

I see "business owners not knowing about the domain aftermarket" as a huge opportunity for my "outbound marketing strategy" whether it be for the food/restaurant industry, education or healthcare.

Take for example; CurbsidesidePharmacy(.)com for healthcare and DrivethruKitchen(.)com for Restaurant/food. Domains like these only work because of COVID.

CurbsidePharmacy is a great name! When did you register that? I feel like it would have had to be early on in the pandemic.

I bought GuerrillaHealth(com) as a closeout early this year, thinking it would be a cool name for a business offering alternative healthcare options. I was pleasantly surprised when it sold a couple months ago! No idea who the buyer was, or what they plan to do with it, but I like to think the pandemic was an influence.

The idea of educating end users about the domain aftermarket is a two-edged sword in my mind. I think it's great for them to be aware of its existence, and to dispel any concerns about buying names this way... However, the flipside is that it will mean that much more competition for investment-worthy names as more and more end users discover auctions and closeout domains.

@Bob Hawkes recently wrote a great article about this, and the data does seem to suggest that more and more end users are competing in auctions. If the trend continues, it could eventually spell the end of the domaining industry as we know it.

 

[ecalc]

This list is a great example of what I'm talking about. All but one name was clearly a hand reg by the restaurants.

Six for six hand regs if you consider that the VB restaurant uses hottunavb dot com not Jorma Kaukonen's hottuna dot com.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

CurbsidePharmacy is a great name! When did you register that? I feel like it would have had to be early on in the pandemic.

I bought GuerrillaHealth(com) as a closeout early this year, thinking it would be a cool name for a business offering alternative healthcare options. I was pleasantly surprised when it sold a couple months ago! No idea who the buyer was, or what they plan to do with it, but I like to think the pandemic was an influence.

The idea of educating end users about the domain aftermarket is a two-edged sword in my mind. I think it's great for them to be aware of its existence, and to dispel any concerns about buying names this way... However, the flipside is that it will mean that much more competition for investment-worthy names as more and more end users discover auctions and closeout domains.

@Bob Hawkes recently wrote a great article about this, and the data does seem to suggest that more and more end users are competing in auctions. If the trend continues, it could eventually spell the end of the domaining industry as we know it.

I registered "Curbside" and "Drivethru" last winter. When PharmacistOnDemand.com sold for 10K at Sedo a month ago, i knew then I had a good thing.

As for Guerilla Health, that doesn't seem to be pandemic driven, but i like the sounds of it. It will be interesting to see what the buyer does with it.

Finally, @Bob Hawkes is my personal domain hero. I gave him a tee shirt from Dockside Restaurant here in Virginia Beach when I met him at NamesCon in Vegas January 2019....BobsTheBombcom - btw, "Bob's the Bomb" is available to register. Whoever owned it from 11/2014 just dropped it in 10/2020. Bob's probably not vane enough to own it for himself, but someone should own it with hundreds of thousands of Bob's in this world

 

[Joe N]

I own a couple restaurants and knowing the industry, there's not a lot of people willing to buy pre-owned domain names (and business names in general).

Mostly, this has to do with ghost reviewers ruining our industry on online reviewing platforms. Once our businesses gets tacked on with bad stars online, regardless of whether they're legitimate or not, it's a headache to deal with the companies that own the review sites to have them removed/moderated.

Some review sites charge literally hundreds of dollars to review and moderate real and fake comments about a business. It's a hassle and takes forever to get done since it's a whole issue onto itself related to potentially stifling free speech.

Of course, if the business names have no terrible reviews, there'd probably be a bunch of investors willing to pay up once their businesses recover. But, even then, it's hard to sell generic names in the restaurant industry because realistically nobody would go to a place called "Cheap Steaks 24/7". It's pretty much just a brandable domain market imo.

Great to hear that kind of feedback from someone who is actually involved in the restaurant industry.

Considering what you shared, it makes even more sense why a restaurant owner would have very little interest in shelling out extra money for an aftermarket domain name.

 

[MapleDonut]

Thanks for sharing MapleDonut....i've started, named and operated dozens of businesses, and I've always told friends and peers that if I ever say that I'm going into the restaurant business....just pull out a gun and shoot me. Even though you're a new member here, reading between the lines you seem to have some experience in the domain industry. Am I right?

That said however, very few people either in the restaurant industry or getting into the business know about the domain industry. Assuming that's a fair statement, therein lies the opportunity imo. I happen to have paid a whopping $80 for Restaurant.Domains, and I'm sure you're capable of creating names like your Avitar MapleDonut.com that would be attractive to someone especially in Canada looking to get into the Donut business. I thought for sure the name "Maple Donut" would actually be in use, but surprisingly it wasn't. Guess who owns it now? According to Hoster stats it was registered continuously from 2012 to 10/2019 so someone obviously liked it, or maybe even used it before. Who knows, Tim Hortons® out of Ontario might want to buy it. Regardless it's a good name worth way more than $8.00.

Thanks for sharing

In the domain industry, I'm a newbie. But I've been investing in and starting businesses for years.

It's true that very few people in the food industry know about the domaining world but it's of little consequence to our industry. Do a little keyword research on searches related to food and you'll easily see why that is. To give ya a hint: people look to food blogs and food delivery apps for almost everything related to food online. They may browse our website to look at hours and some offers but ultimately, they're no longer as important as they once were.

It is an opportunity but honestly, I've been in the industry for years and practically every investor I know starts their business from scratch and come up with fancy/trendy restaurant names on their own. Of course, that's only in regards to the people you seem to be targeting (newbies investors).

As mentioned before, people in our circle try to stay as far away as we can from names that have already been used. There may be outliers for sure but, ultimately, valuable opportunities as is the topic if discussion in this threas don't rely on outlying factors for credibility.

Of course, you're free to do as you wish but just my word if advice: don't get your hopes up with trying to rope in food investors, we don't give a rats bottom about just buying a domain if it doesn't have an already preexisting business bundled together with it. Of course, that's unless you have the exact match for our business name(s).

 

[Future Sensors]

Some quick ideas - as in Brainstorming - No predictions

• The number of employees in factories will reduce even faster - More Robotics
  
• Less people working in offices - REIT & RE Sales / Work from Home / Relocation / Online Meetings
  
• Bankruptcy of Restaurants - Restaurants for Sale / Food Delivery / Cooking / Recipes
• Bankruptcy of Shops - Shops and Stores for Sale / Lease Back Constructions
  
• Even more bankruptcies - Bankruptcy Services & Management / Legal Services / Auctions
• People losing their jobs - Job boards / Job Coaching / Vacancies / (Remote) Education
  
• People getting bankrupt - Loans / Mortgage / Refi / Financial Services / Cheap Products / 2nd hand related
• People starting new businesses - All kinds of businesses, more focus on digital services
  
• More debt on all levels - Debt / Bonds / Gold related products and services / Debt Collection Services
• More Expired Domains / Huge change in the retention rate for domains [for some TLDs] / Focus on other domain categories.

Indeed... lots of Doom and Gloom, but there will be new opportunities, too. Unfortunately not for all people.

 

[Reddstagg]

I own a couple but that's not to say I won't takeaway a few more. I have:

Cheweroo .com

Chhips .com

Order Table 4......

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Redd....now look what you've done Made me reg;

ChewChef .com
CatchandChew.com

and to think....it was Food.Tax that drove me to

 

[Reddstagg]

I forgot...I also have...

ItTasty .com
It-Tasty .com
I-Love-Pasta .com
Pastaroo .com
VeggieBeanBurger .com
Veggd .com

 

[DuDD]

YES， I suspect that only the major chains have any real interest in domain names market

• Generally, a small restaurant does not need a domain name
• BUT It may be different in different countries，I guess

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Just remember that most of them are hand registering names. Aftermarket domains aren't typically a high priority for local restaurants. As a business guy, you know that they rely mostly on word of mouth and foot traffic

You totally miss my point....all domains are "hand registered" at one point. However, not everyone is as talented as you or me for that matter. I've named dozens of businesses in my life, and now that I've learned about the domain industry, I'm as capable of coming up with a good name for a restaurant as anyone I know. I'm sure you wouldn't hire me to come up with a name for your restaurant knowing your agenda, and that would be your loss

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I'm not questioning your naming skills. Just saying that local restaurants are usually looking to spend the bare minimum on a domain name. They wouldn't pay anyone to name the restaurant, and if their chosen name is taken, they usually just add the name of the city or type of food to the end and hand register that as their name.

They would also be just as likely (if not more) to use a country code domain rather than a .com.

Basically what I'm saying is most local restaurants will do whatever it takes to not pay more than a few bucks for a name. Because while web presence is important to them, a premium domain name is not. Their brand doesn't matter on a global scale, only on a local one.

I'm glad you know what budding restaurant entrepreneurs want, and what they're willing to pay for it It takes a lot of capital to start a new restaurant here in the US....$50,000 to $75,000.

Of course you know better, so I defer to your superior logic, intellect and common sense

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I forgot...I also have...

ItTasty .com
It-Tasty .com
I-Love-Pasta .com
Pastaroo .com
VeggieBeanBurger .com
Veggd .com

Hey Redd....thanks for sharing. Check your mail box later....i'm sending you a message about Restaurant(.)Domains.....ever eaten Dover sole? It's a specialty at Down the Catch prepared by their chew chef