Interland Helps Atlanta's Restaurants Succeed Online

HostReview.com
Thursday, September 22, 2005; 11:13 AM

Interland (www.interland.com), a provider of websites and online services for small and medium-sized businesses, working with Melissa Libby & Associates, has helped some of Atlanta's most popular restaurants -- including Food 101, Meehan's Public House, and SoHo -- succeed online.

Just 18 months after launching five websites -- one for each dining establishment -- 101 Concepts, an Atlanta restaurant group, reports the Web has been vital in its restaurants' increases in patronage and customer communications.

Melissa Libby, owner of Melissa Libby & Associates, and her team manage all five 101 Concepts websites, operating www.101concepts.com as the gateway website for all three restaurants and the catering unit of 101 Concepts.

"Without technical expertise, I was hesitant to take over the five websites. But with only a one-hour tutorial, we realized how intuitive Interland services are for the end user," says Libby.

The online investment has proved especially fruitful for Meehan's Public House, the group's signature Irish pub. Meehan's draws a steady crowd by hosting special events and offering live music.

Prior to launching www.101concepts.com, news of these special events was not easily relayed -- 101 Concepts would post signs in the restaurant and rely on word of mouth.

Averaging 120,000 unique hits per month, the Meehan's Public House website is cited by Libby as one of the major reasons the restaurant has increased patronage at each of the three locations.
"When people visit Meehan's website to learn about special events or to view pictures from past events, they see links to our other restaurants," says Steve Buero, owner and manager of 101 Concepts.
The importance of websites in the small-business marketing mix is substantial according to the findings of the Interland Spring 2005 Business Barometer, a nationwide survey of 1,032 leaders of small and medium-sized businesses.