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Ask HN: Neighborhood Pizzeria Needs Web Development Advice

4 points by JSeymourATL 8y ago

Helping out a pal who owns a local neighborhood pizzeria. Business is good, not great. Several chain competitors have moved into the area in the past 2 years. His current website is in need of a massive overhaul. And probably should be scrapped all together. We need advice on low-cost / open source options for integrating online ordering, managing content (the menu), social media channels, etc... Here's a benchmark site, that may be worthy of emulation >https://www.blazepizza.com Any thoughts, ideas to compete online with the Big Corporate guys on shoestring budget?

caruana 8y ago
have you done a feature analysis of your competitors that you feel is hindering your businesses growth? I would think marketing / branding efforts would have a greater impact on the local pizza market than technology solutions.
- JSeymourATL 8y ago
  Excellent idea, thank you! One area impacting sales, the current site has no online ordering integration. We feel that's an obvious opportunity we can capture. The owner is concerned about giving up margin on his online orders vs current phone-in orders.
  - caruana 8y ago
    I can see why online ordering would look attractive to a small pizzeria but you would still need to market that feature. As a test pilot you could probably use a small WordPress plugin to see if anybody tries out the added ordering medium.
rajacombinator 8y ago
How’s the actual pizza? Online ordering is good but I don’t think social media blahblah is going to make a difference ... Chances are the pizza isn’t distinctively better enough to compete with Big Pizza.
- JSeymourATL 8y ago
  We agree the best marketing in this business is good food and good service. Their current use of social media is spotty at best. We think there’s an opportunity to foster loyalty with customers. Especially in communicating game night specials, pie of the day, coupons, etc...
cimmanom 8y ago
Some online food/delivery ordering services (Grubhub comes to mind) have widgets that restaurants can embed into their website to display their own menu and allow visitors to order for delivery or pickup. Combine that with a static site or a basic CMS and you’re most of the way there.

4 points by JSeymourATL 8y ago

caruana 8y ago

have you done a feature analysis of your competitors that you feel is hindering your businesses growth? I would think marketing / branding efforts would have a greater impact on the local pizza market than technology solutions.

JSeymourATL 8y ago
Excellent idea, thank you! One area impacting sales, the current site has no online ordering integration. We feel that's an obvious opportunity we can capture. The owner is concerned about giving up margin on his online orders vs current phone-in orders.
- caruana 8y ago
  I can see why online ordering would look attractive to a small pizzeria but you would still need to market that feature. As a test pilot you could probably use a small WordPress plugin to see if anybody tries out the added ordering medium.

rajacombinator 8y ago

How’s the actual pizza? Online ordering is good but I don’t think social media blahblah is going to make a difference ... Chances are the pizza isn’t distinctively better enough to compete with Big Pizza.

JSeymourATL 8y ago
We agree the best marketing in this business is good food and good service. Their current use of social media is spotty at best. We think there’s an opportunity to foster loyalty with customers. Especially in communicating game night specials, pie of the day, coupons, etc...

cimmanom 8y ago

Some online food/delivery ordering services (Grubhub comes to mind) have widgets that restaurants can embed into their website to display their own menu and allow visitors to order for delivery or pickup. Combine that with a static site or a basic CMS and you’re most of the way there.