This week from June 21st – June 27th marks The Yelp Eats Event in St. Louis. 12 different restaurants are participating offering a special 3-Course Dinner menu for just $25 + tax and tip. The menus look freaking tasty! Please get out this week and support our local St. Louis restaurants.
Below are the different menus that are offered:
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Have you ever poured your heart into something? Got lost in the process? Forgot you’re actually working? To me, that’s UrbanBacon. I love restaurants. I love going out. I love friends. It makes my world go around…
Today, the most unbelievable thing happened. I was slogging through a mundane day, barely holding my eyes open. Then I received a phone call. It was Nicolas Carretero from Guido’s Pizzeria and Tapas who we recently interviewed (Check out the interview here).
I picked up the phone “This is Phil.” Nicolas responded “Hey Phil, how ya doing?” I thought to myself…well, I could tell him how incredibly slow my day has been. How much I despise training and the corporate world (my day job). But I went with a standard “Great, what’s up?”
Everyday we are working to provide more value to our users. Currently the UB Team is working on adding a new follower feature. The feature will allow people to “follow” their favorite restaurant. Once following a restaurant, you will receive an email notification when they post a new deal. Nothing long and outlandish, just a quick reminder that your favorite restaurant is offering a new deal! You will also be given the option to “unfollow” restaurants in your user profile.
We are SICK of the word “followers.” Therefore, we need your help dreaming up a new name for UB Users! Some current suggestions (seriously in all seriousness dudes):
Bacon-nators
Dominators
Patrons
Supporters
Fans (sorry FB, you gave it up lol)
Ok, none of these are 100% set in stone or even half way serious. That is why we are calling on you guys. Can you help us dream up a new name for our awesome UB users? PLEASE LEAVE YOUR SUGGESTIONS BELOW!
Office buildings are freaking hilarious (at least mine is). It’s not uncommon for the question “What’s for lunch” to spring up around 8am. That sounds ridiculous, but if you forget lunch at home then you’re eating out. It’s a great idea to get that ball rolling early.
If you work in a restaurant, you might not understand the politics behind a lunch break. It’s the highlight of the day! Everyone has to eat, and you’ve got one hour to do it. The power is that offices order food in groups. Do most restaurants understand this culture? It amazes me that local restaurants never stop by our office to offer incentives. They could be killing it! Here are 4 quick office promo tips:
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I see restaurants join Twitter everyday, and that’s incredible news. Then it happens…that new restaurant begins tweeting nothing but specials. Their entire feed becomes a rotating spam bomb of happy hours and ½ off appetizers. No engagement. No personality. Just spam.
Tons of people have expressed this problem to me. They hate when restaurants only tweet specials, they even unfollow them. I agree. People join Twitter to talk and meet people, not to be bombarded with advertising. Is your restaurant making this deadly mistake?
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Recently a shiny brand new site sprung up called UrbHub.com. It’s a rockin niche site that encourages users to talk about what’s happening in their city. I think it’s a great concept that we also encourage on this site. So naturally you can understand why UrbHub and UrbanBacon make great partners.
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting the founder, Brad Hogan, at Park Avenue Coffee in St. Louis. He is a really cool guy that shares similar ambitions and ideas. Right now we are working on collaborating UrbanBacon with UrbHub. It’s going to be sweet! Here are some ideas we are tossing around:
Right now nothing is 100% set in stone. Brad and I both agree integrating the sites will provide more value for our users. In the end, it’s all about providing you guys with more value. I will keep you posted on our progress. Right now, get over to UrbHub.com and start talking!
-Phil Novara
The majority of my life I grew up fishing private ponds, streams, and rivers in Missouri. There is nothing like the serene stillness and peace of a bright summer day on the crystal water. This is my element, at least as a kid it was. I remember tying neon green and construction orange lures in hopes of landing that monster 8lb large mouth bass. Constant casting and reeling while my lure danced across clear water taught me a great deal of patience. In a way, fishing is like social media. Are your customers biting your lures?
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Totally pumped! Our new design will roll out this week on April 18th, 2010. Here is what you can expect:
We are opening the floodgates and offering our basic package for free! What does that mean? Any restaurant can join UrbanBacon and start posting happy hours, food specials, and venues. We want you guys (local restaurants) to see how fun and easy it is to use UrbanBacon.
We have added more white space to the site and moved things so they are eye level. Now it’s easier to sign up, post deals, and understand how UrbanBacon works. These are big changes our old design did not accomplish.
The best way to use UrbanBacon is to search for deals. Search your city, date, and see what’s restaurants/bars are offering. We have changed search parameters and will continue to add search features as the site develops. That means it’s easier to find deals in St Louis or Chicago.
We are freaking pumped for this new design. Right now we are focused on getting restaurants/bars active and posting deals. We need your help to spread the word, please tell your friends. If you know a restaurant owner, tell them to check it out. Every little bit helps to create awareness. Last, we want to personally thank all of our followers and supporters thus far. You guys freaking rock! Thank You.
GET EXCITED! We are currently working on revamping our current design. Basically cleaning things out and making the site tidier. We want to provide a simple design for our users while making the best use of white space. So far, it looks flippin’ awesome!
As we work to make things better, please tell your friends. Have them join us at UrbanBacon. Start commenting on deals and give us feedback. Every bit of feedback helps make UrbanBacon a better service for both restaurants and people. We are humbled and thankful for your help!
My name is Phil Novara, owner of UrbanBacon. Consider this our internet handshake:)
I originally wanted to jump into social media and restaurants, but decided against it. A background story is more appropriate for our first post:
Who am I?
Imagine a small boy with dreams of becoming a famous chef. That’s me. Helping my mother create home-style dishes everyday, constantly wanting to help.
At 15 I started washing dishes. Late hours scrubbing and scrubbing for maybe $5.15/hr. Not the most glamorous job, but I was in the kitchen.
From there I’ve rocked fine dining, wineries, and even pizza delivery. Hell, I even slummed it at Ruby Tuesday (nothing wrong with that:)!
