Wednesday, October 17, 2007

CrazyMenu - How To Make Big Bucks On Group Dining

http://www.crazymenu.com/

Anyone who's ever taken on the tedious task of tallying up the office lunch order or asking around to get consensus on which restaurant to go to or order from is bound to love the simplicity and convenience of Crazymenu—a new online venture that provides tools to help friends, colleagues and officemates efficiently and easily get their lunch plans in order so they can spend the bulk of their lunch hours actually eating lunch!

As with many other dining websites out there, customers can log on to search for restaurants in their area or browse menus, coupons or reviews. But Crazymenu distinguishes itself by featuring a couple of hot new tools to ease the dining or takeout experience. With Pick-A-Place, a member can send out restaurant suggestions to a group of people, who then vote right from their computers, streamlining the democratic process. The Group Order function lets everyone enter their customizable orders and then compiles them to be faxed, emailed or phoned in to the restaurant. Both functions work via email and with major instant messenger applications. What's more, restaurant owners and operators can get in on the action, too, uploading and editing menus as needed, and replying personally to member reviews. Crazymenu claims it can boost business orders by as much as 400 percent. Currently in beta, the site is supported by Google ads, with obvious potential for restaurateurs, travel agencies and the like to buy ad space as well.

Crazymenu serves more than a dozen major cities in the United States, Canada and Europe, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Toronto, London and Paris. While the concept was designed with lunches in mind, customers can take advantage of these tools to coordinate any meal or restaurant outing. It's an idea that's likely to be at hit in any city where hungry officemates are scrambling to make lunch or happy hour plans.

Believe it or not, the crazy sums tech and media giants are paying for startups may ultimately make sense

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