Toronto restaurants embrace social media

It seems like every month there is a new restaurant popping up in Toronto. How some survive among the competition, I have no idea... With high capital costs and heavy competition, it’s no surprise that 60% of restaurants fail within the first 2 years of starting out.

To attract new customers, maintain loyal patrons, and even just to inform the public, an increasing amount of restaurants are turning to social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. I love going out and discovering new restaurants around the city, and there are mobile applications like UrbanSpoon that can help food lovers (like myself) find hidden gems, right in the palm of their hand!

So what Toronto restos are using Twitter and for what purpose?

• Ossington hot spot @PizzaLibretto tweets about daily specials and menu changes.

• @mildredstemple advertises their lunch “quickies” (and no, it’s not what you think.)

• @Jack_Astors has recently joined Twitter and provides updates on promotions, VIP events and menu additions. The company also shows their commitment to quality service: a couple of users seem to have posted negative comments about their visits to certain Jack Astor’s locations, and @Jack_Astors responded to each of them asking for specific details so that they can follow up. Nice touch, if you ask me!

According to a recent BlogTO post,

“restaurants are just scratching the surface of capitalizing on social media tools to build their following and attract new customers.”

More and more restaurants will jump on the Twitter bandwagon, especially with the busy patio season just around the corner. Bring on the promos!