strategy New Niche Binge - Restaurant and Food Services

[ThatNameGuy]

As most of you know for the last five years I've attempted to carve out a niche portfolio with the likes of new TLD's like; .realty, .homes, .online and most recently .link (see thread titled "Throwing in the Towel".

Not being one to give up on anything and living in the largest resort city in the world I've decided to focus on the food services industry, and restaurants in particular. And this isn't to say I'm giving up on the 300 brandable name portfolio I've accumulated over the years.

This idea/revelation came to me while waiting to pick up my order @ CaribShack.biz (featured on the Food Networks Diners - Drive-Ins and Dives by Guy Fieri). When i saw their .biz TLD, i checked to see who might own the .com and and it happens to be for sale at DAN for $9,300. Then while waiting I thought I'd see if the domain CaribHut.com was available to register, and damned if it was, so for $9.45 i registered it

In the US alone there are over a million restaurants with well over 200,000 startups each year. Anyone else see this as a profitable niche assuming a comprehensive "outbound" marketing strategy is developed? Anyone own food/restaurant domains that need exposure? Suggestions, observations and recommendations are welcome. Thanks

 

[Armageddon]

"New Niche Binge - Restaurant and Food Services" Thread title
it's called HoReCa

Nothing new here only some people ( from USA , most ) who discover now the niche . Nothing special

"HoReCa is a short for hotel / restaurant / catering and encompasses the whole food service industry. The term

HoReCa includes everything that happens at places like restaurants, cafés, clubs, pubs, hotels etc."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitality_industry

"Definition in the United States
In 2020, the United States Department of Labor Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) defines the hospitality industry more broadly, including:[2]

701 Hotels and Motels, including auto courts, bed and breakfast inns, cabins and cottages, casino hotels, hostels, hotels (except residential ones), inns furnishing food and lodging, motels, recreational hotels, resort hotels, seasonal hotels, ski lodges and resorts, tourist cabins and tourist courts
704 Organization Hotels and Lodging Houses, On a Membership Basis
58 Eating and Drinking Places (cf. U.S. "food service industry", U.K. "catering industry")
5812 Eating Places, including restaurants (among which carry-out restaurants, drive-in restaurants and fast food restaurants), automats, beaneries, box lunch stands, buffets, cafés, cafeterias, caterers, coffee shops, commissary restaurants a.k.a. canteens, concession stands, prepared food" &....

 

[ThatNameGuy]

You certainly seem able to generate discussions that get lots of comments, @ThatNameGuy ! I think restaurants, in the broadest sense including fast food to chains to mobile outlets to fine dining, is a topic worthy of discussion,

There has already been mention of this, but I think that the pandemic has essentially altered the business. It seems around here at least that both high and low end outlets do a much higher percentage of their total business via delivery, and that might mean that the importance of a memorable domain name, and a good name overall, is more important.

The second thought I had, spurred by the comments made earlier about the low name budget many restaurants seem to have, was whether one way to view this niche might be not to hold a lot of name inventory, but rather someone set up a naming 'fee for service for small local businesses. For example, a restaurant startup pays $75 per hour (or something that order) for a couple of hours in which someone would brainstorm possible names in their price range, and briefly outline advantages of each. SquadHelp contests sort of do this with a larger pool of creative minds and ideas, and same price range, but they don't have the advantage of a local person the startup owner can speak to face to face. If I was x years younger, and looking for a job, I might give the idea a try. But I am not .

Thanks for starting the topic, and everyone who commented.

-Bob

PS I mean to give a shoutout to @NickB for these great lists:

Bob....i've been thinking more and more about your post. It was way back in 1980 when a company I founded "Accounts Receivable Management Corporation" aka "ARMANCO" sought a name change via a local marketing company. I don't even remember why we sought the name change, but I remember distinctly; my partner, our marketing manager and I met with the marketing company on several occasions to brainstorm ideas for the new name. Each of us, to include the company we hired, submitted names, and ironically the consensus chose the name I submitted; AcSel. The company is still in business today, and the hell of it was we paid the marketing company $2,000 to help us come up with the name

Bob, your post described the naming process that took place with my company 43 years ago, five years before the very first internet domain, Symbolics.com - March, 1985.

Later today I plan to register YumPros.com and YumNames.com to promote this idea to the food services and restaurant world. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and ideas

 

[BillBrown]

I recently read this article, and I must say it provides valuable insights and practical SEO tips for Miami restaurants striving to excel in a highly competitive culinary landscape. The author delves into effective strategies that can significantly boost the online presence of these establishments, ultimately attracting more customers. They touch on various aspects, from optimizing website content to leveraging local search trends, ensuring that Miami restaurants can stand out in the digital sphere. I highly recommend this article to anyone in the restaurant business here in Miami or any other location looking to enhance their SEO efforts and drive more traffic to their website. It's a must-read!

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I recently read this article, and I must say it provides valuable insights and practical SEO tips for Miami restaurants striving to excel in a highly competitive culinary landscape. The author delves into effective strategies that can significantly boost the online presence of these establishments, ultimately attracting more customers. They touch on various aspects, from optimizing website content to leveraging local search trends, ensuring that Miami restaurants can stand out in the digital sphere. I highly recommend this article to anyone in the restaurant business here in Miami or any other location looking to enhance their SEO efforts and drive more traffic to their website. It's a must-read!

Bill....i see you're a new member so welcome to NP. Is there a way you can post a link to the article you're referring to? I'm in the process of developing a food and restaurant specific marketplace for the eats industry, that btw is HUGE. While I'm not a foodie, one of the best dining experiences I've had was in North Miami and I've had some great experiences In South Beach while attending conventions there.

If you're pretty familiar with this industry maybe we should talk and share a few ideas. Thanks

 

[bmugford]

Bill....i see you're a new member so welcome to NP. Is there a way you can post a link to the article you're referring to? I'm in the process of developing a food and restaurant specific marketplace for the eats industry, that btw is HUGE. While I'm not a foodie, one of the best dining experiences I've had was in North Miami and I've had some great experiences In South Beach while attending conventions there.

If you're pretty familiar with this industry maybe we should talk and share a few ideas. Thanks

That (first) post from Bill Brown sure reads like an auto generated comment from some bot.

Brad

 

[ThatNameGuy]

That (first) post from Bill Brown sure reads like an auto generated comment from some bot.

Brad

i wonder what they're phishing for Speaking of phishing, i just renewed DowntheCatch.....pretty catchy name for a Seafood Restaurant. Almost as good as DowntheHatch

 

[branding]

i wonder what they're phishing for Speaking of phishing, i just renewed DowntheCatch.....pretty catchy name for a Seafood Restaurant. Almost as good as DowntheHatch

I like that domain. You might want to check on that renewal as it hasn't gone through yet... Knowing the registrar you may want to double check.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I like that domain. You might want to check on that renewal as it hasn't gone through yet... Knowing the registrar you may want to double check.

Actually it just comes up for renewal 12/31/2023, but i thought I'd already renewed it While most of my domains are "Catch and Release", this ones a keeper

On another note i'm finding a lot of decent domains that were registered prior to Covid, but were dropped in '22 and '23. I don't know if that's for the industry in general, but it's surely happening in the food services and restaurant industries.

 

[branding]

While most of my domains are "Catch and Release", this ones a keeper

Bonus points for the wordplay

On another note i'm finding a lot of decent domains that were registered prior to Covid, but were dropped in '22 and '23. I don't know if that's for the industry in general, but it's surely happening in the food services and restaurant industries.

Partly covid related I'm sure. Net, maybe not a big downtrend in the niche as during/after covid new opportunities arose to level that out.

 

[NameInbox]

Food delivery worldwide does up anyway.
I just find this

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1170631/online-food-delivery-market-size-worldwide/

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Bonus points for the wordplay



Partly covid related I'm sure. Net, maybe not a big downtrend in the niche as during/after covid new opportunities arose to level that out.

Branding..... thanks for chiming in. I've been selectively hand registering quite a few domains that relate to the restaurant and food services industry. You're right about the "new opportunities" that arose due to covid. For example I registered DiscoverScotch.com during covid and even developed a business model/plan around "zoom tasting" single malt whisky from anywhere in the world. I've yet to develop it, but i know it has huge potential.

FoodieAmbassador is another domain i recently registered for a friend who recently retired as the Director of Culinary Arts for a local college. While my vanity license plates read "NameGuy" his license plates read "Lasagna".
Note that here in Virginia vanity tags can have up to "7" letters. My friend doesn't know this yet, but I'm hoping he may be able to do some consulting work for me.......combined with the other NP contact I've made, just maybe we'll turn the "Foodie World" upside down

Thanks again Branding!

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Food delivery worldwide does up anyway.
I just find this
Show attachment 248230
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1170631/online-food-delivery-market-size-worldwide/

Good find.....like Doordash, Ubereats and Grubhub I've been working on few specialty delivery domains myself like KnockKnockPizza etc.

 

[branding]

Branding..... thanks for chiming in. I've been selectively hand registering quite a few domains that relate to the restaurant and food services industry. You're right about the "new opportunities" that arose due to covid. For example I registered DiscoverScotch.com during covid and even developed a business model/plan around "zoom tasting" single malt whisky from anywhere in the world. I've yet to develop it, but i know it has huge potential.

FoodieAmbassador is another domain i recently registered for a friend who recently retired as the Director of Culinary Arts for a local college. While my vanity license plates read "NameGuy" his license plates read "Lasagna".
Note that here in Virginia vanity tags can have up to "7" letters. My friend doesn't know this yet, but I'm hoping he may be able to do some consulting work for me.......combined with the other NP contact I've made, just maybe we'll turn the "Foodie World" upside down

Thanks again Branding!

You're welcome. It's a tough niche in my experience. Obviously tier one domains sell easily but whatever comes next is a gamble.

Most people in the industry, that I know, don't really want to spend decent money on a good domain. Their loss I guess.

 

[rokoroko]

Restaca
Restau.com.au

 

[ThatNameGuy]

You're welcome. It's a tough niche in my experience. Obviously tier one domains sell easily but whatever comes next is a gamble.

Most people in the industry, that I know, don't really want to spend decent money on a good domain. Their loss I guess.

I certainly don't disagree, but that's why I intend to "add value" to domains/names that we're selling. Startups in this space need logo's, websites and consultation. This is why I'm hoping to attract the Director of Culinary Arts at a local college to my team.

Just as important as the culinary/cuisine side of this industry is the business side of the industry, and it's my background and experience that can help with the business side.

Having read this about Gary Millan,

"You can no longer buy a domain name from Millin (CEO of WorldAccelerator.com), instead he will work with your company (or your idea for a company) to build out a product, then he'll lease or lend you one of his domain names in exchange for partial ownership. In some cases, he says that companies will buy the domain name entirely, but only once have they become successful businesses."

This alone tells me that without "added value", few startups buying just a domain/name are rarely successful

 

[MrUssef]

What u Think about HappyFastFood .com

 

[ThatNameGuy]

What u Think about HappyFastFood .com

i like just two words better like HappyMeal.com or FastFood.com....HappyFastFood .com is OK

My latest are; GoFishGrill and GoFishTaco....i know i just said i like "two words better", but somehow the idiom "Go Fish" seems to work?

 

[Inframan]

maybe a CannaCush.com

That maybe has potential. More potential if you trademark the name.

 

[Inframan]

VisitingHero.com

That's how my niece thinks of me when I lend her money she never pays back.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

That maybe has potential. More potential if you trademark the name.

Yeah....that's a way of adding value to a domain. Most recently I'm looking into adding value with an animated logo that's maybe a hundred dollars vs. $500 to $2500 for a TM.

I just registered a few "Go Fish" domains that could work well with an animated logo.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

You're welcome. It's a tough niche in my experience. Obviously tier one domains sell easily but whatever comes next is a gamble.

Most people in the industry, that I know, don't really want to spend decent money on a good domain. Their loss I guess.

As many of you have said, the food service and restaurant industries have changed, especially since Covid.

However.... since Covid "food trucks" have become a lot more popular. I recently registered PopPopsDeli.com in memory of my "Pop Pop" aka Ben Goldstein who introduced me to the very best in kosher foods