HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, CA - Ting’s Thai Kitchen is not just another family-run restaurant in Lake County, CA. It is the winner of the 2008 Lake County Restaurant Challenge – a special competition put on by the county’s only TV station, Channel 8 Public Access Television. Videographer Kit Dee organized and videotaped the competition between local restaurants. Here one restaurant challenged another with a food offering. The public was invited to visit the competing restaurants, taste the cuisine and then go online to vote for the winner. When all was said and done, one restaurant was left standing - Ting’s Thai Kitchen. Believe it or not, this little restaurant received the most favorable votes from the general public, countywide.
Whereas most restaurants focus solely on food, Ting’s Thai Kitchen focuses also on its surrounding community. It actually makes a special effort to attract more business by making its venue more beneficial to one-the-go business people. For example, shortly after the restaurant opened two years ago, it became a Wi-Fi hot spot. Now, the public could not only come into the restaurant to eat wonderful Thai cuisine, they could bring a laptop or other mobile device to check email, surf the Web and make VOIP phone calls. They could do this while waiting for their meal to be prepared. Having the restaurant be a Wi-Fi hot spot also benefited the restaurant by making daily contact with Thailand quick-and-easy.
The famous blue Twitter bird beckons the public to become Twitter followers of Ting's Thai Kitchen for fresh seafood specials..png)
With Twitter.com making micro-blogging popular around the world, Ting’s owner, Charlie McFarling, decided his restaurant needed an online following for his restaurant specials – especially the seafood. Consequently, whenever McFarling gets ready to make a special trip to Santa Rosa to visit his seafood wholesaler, he first announces his intention on Twitter to his growing online following. Consequently, he can pre-sale his seafood before he even orders it.
If you visit Ting’s Thai Kitchen, you may notice a reliance on technological innovation before you even walk inside the restaurant. Occasionally, there is a digital photo frame in the window. That digital photo frame has been used to showcase pictures of various Thai food dishes as well as show off a promotional video of Thailand. What may surprise you is how this innovation works. Often the slide show you see comes from the Internet’s Frame Channel. What does that mean? It means Ting’s is actually developing its own remote network of slide show programs. How is that possible? It’s possible because the digital photo frame is Wi-Fi enabled. McFarling can actually upload slide shows remotely from any computer to his Frame Channel Site and have them showcased through that digital photo frame in his store’s window.
Indeed, reliance upon the Internet has empowered Ting’s Thai Kitchen to do some pretty clever things. Another clever idea is to offer “no-coupon” discounts on meals. The restaurant has decided to give special discounts on group gatherings for birthdays and anniversaries. Every person in the group gets a 15% discount on their meal. However, for the group to get the discount, arrangements have to be made a month in advance. To do that, customers must provide Ting’s with their name, birth or anniversary date via email. Just visit the Ting’s Thai Kitchen Squidoo lens to make that magic happen. Ting’s takes the email information and places it into it’s very own 30 Boxes Online Calendar. This amazing calendar actually notifies Ting’s via email a month in advance of the special occasion. That way, Ting’s can contact the customer and make special arrangements for a party..jpg)
Beginning in October, Ting’s will be uplifting its local community in an educational sense. The restaurant will be introducing a Social Media Sunday Brunch. Here a delicious meal will be followed by a special presentation on the benefits of the Internet’s social media space. Suzanne La Faver, a professor of Public Relations at Golden State University, will be on hand for the kick-off presentation. Ting’s is a small restaurant. The brunch itself will be limited to just 12 people for maximum educational benefit. The cost for the meal and the presentation is just $25.00. For more information and to make reservations, call CDMM – Synergistic Business Marketing at (707) 709-8605.
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