Websites
Cheesetique on Growing Their Online Presence with BentoBox
August 9, 2018
How taking their restaurant website into their own hands helped Cheesetique grow
Cheesetique is a cheese-centric restaurant and shop in the Washington DC area with four locations and counting. It’s owned by Jill Erber and has developed a reputation as the spot for fine cheeses and wines.
When looking for a website for Cheesetique, Erber first opted for something custom-built from a website designer, who she then had to call (and pay) to make any additional updates. As Cheesetique grew and expanded into multiple locations, the fact that Erber couldn’t make simple changes on her own became a burden.
It was apparent right away how it worked, and it was fun and easy! I’m still marveling at the time I save making changes and uploading new items every week.
“I always wanted to be in control of making changes and updating my own site, but everything was custom, so it was time-consuming and expensive,” she says. “After I learned that it would cost thousands of dollars just to make it mobile compliant, I hit a breaking point - I just couldn’t justify spending that kind of money from my small business.” Within 5 months of switching to BentoBox, the numbers show that Jill’s decision has paid off.
Make changes on the fly
With BentoBox, Jill was able to get the mobile-friendly website she wanted, plus added ecommerce for catering and gift card sales.
Since launching her website, Jill has been impressed by how easy it is to make changes on the back end of her site. “It was apparent right away how it worked, and it was fun and easy! I’m still marveling at the time I save making changes and uploading new items every week,” she says.
Make money through the website
Within just 5 months of launching, Cheesetique saw over 5X return on investment from BentoBox, as well as increased visibility to their stores. Highlights include:
Earning $12K in gift card revenue by using BentoBox’s built-in gift card functionality.
Making $13K in revenue from using their website to sell catering packages.
“With BentoBox, it’s so easy to upload new items, so immediately when I have ideas for catering packages I add them to the site,” Erber says. “I know if I had put these items on our old site [or paid the designer to], there’s no way they would have sold because the mobile experience was so bad, and more and more people are shopping from their phones.”
By selling packages on their website's catering store, Cheesetique was able to earn an extra $13,000 in revenue.
Get noticed on-the-go
Erber is right. More and more people are using mobile devices to look for places to eat, which is why switching to a mobile-friendly website has resulted in huge growth for Cheesetique. Here are the stats:
Mobile traffic is up 580% due to a responsive design and better mobile experience.
66% of guests are now making reservations on their phones with the addition of an integrated reservations button.
Before, creating a website that was both desktop and mobile-friendly was a decision that Jill couldn’t justify breaking the bank for. With BentoBox, restaurant websites are built with mobile design in mind first and are truly responsive, so there isn’t a separate experience between devices.
A before-look of Cheesetique's website on a mobile device versus their new mobile experience after switching to BentoBox.
Bottom Line: BentoBox has given Cheestique the tools their business needs to continue to grow, generate revenue, and increase awareness from their online presence. Jill says that “BentoBox has allowed me to feel confident making some big pushes for my business. The online experience is something I can now feel just as proud of as our in-store experience.”
Want to know more about how BentoBox can transform your restaurant’s website and business overall? Get in touch today!
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