Does it matter how restaurants communicate online? Industry observers clearly think so. Of late the trade press has been full of sage web 2.0 wisdom, with Restaurant Magazine even publishing a 32-page online marketing supplement.

But then, clearly restaurants need all the help they can get. Rare is the restaurant that doesn't have a website these days. Even rarer is finding a good one. Elegantly designed and / or witty sites that deliver accurate information swiftly are at a premium. Earlier this month I had to gently point out to a Michelin-starred venue that someone had misspelled 'restaurant' in 28-point font on their homepage. That is how seriously many restaurants treat their websites.

Precisely what errors, on a website, might put you - the potential customer - off, may well be a matter of taste. Personally, I can tolerate the odd spelling mistake and, even, the occasional out-of-date menu. Neither inspires confidence, but restaurants are hectic places. Peripheral details can be overlooked. Plus, I am not sure there is a direct correlation between someone's ability to cook my tea and their punctuation. They're very different skills.

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