FAQ

Do I have to work full time?
Yes you do. You really want to get stuck straight in and get as many listings as quickly as you can on your new site. Even though the hours are very flexible you need to be available to go to appointments on any day (usually Monday to Friday). If you have part time work in the weekends we are happy for you to continue with this.
Can I buy more than one territory?
Yes, but you need to work in your first one for at least 6 months to a year so you fully understand how your business works.
Can I employ sales reps or agents?
Once you are big enough to afford them this is a great way to expand your business faster. You won't be able to employ them from day one as you'll be busy learning how to run things yourself.
Are there targets I have to achieve?
Yes there will be and we'll help you achieve them.
How much is the monthly service fee I have to pay you?
Each restaurant will pay you $85.50 inc gst a month (some will be a bit cheaper if they are on a special deal because they have lots of restaurants) and out of this you pay us $14 +gst.
What does the monthly service fee pay for?
The hosting and maintenance of your website, this includes extra storage facilities for large photos and menus. Monthly stats reports for each restaurant, automatically emailed out to each restaurant. Maintenance of all email and letter templates. All new enhancements and any updates to the site. Phone and MSN support. Updating procedures and manuals. Renewing domain names. Direct Debit facility.
How do the restaurants pay me?
They will set up a monthly direct debit.
Can I change the price charged for each restaurant?
There is no room for a price drop, except very small ones in the case where a restaurant has more than one restaurant. Any price rises would have to be approved by the Franchisor and would need consent from all other Franchisees. This is to keep the consistency for the restaurants. It would be unfair if a restaurant in say Sydney were paying more than one in say Perth. They are both offering the same service.
What other income is there other than the $69 listing fee?
You will also be able to sell a copy of the photos you took on a CD for $450 + gst. You will also sell domain names for $69 + gst, renewable every year.
How does the domain name work?
The great advantage of us buying a domain name for the restaurant is it looks like the restaurant has its own special website. You'll notice on the site design on the restaurant detail page we have purposely left off all of our branding and logos. When a diner users the domain name it will take them straight to the restaurant page by passing all the other restaurants. Here's an example www.tandoori-king.com.au We bought this domain name and redirected it to their page, this saves the restaurant from having to have a website of their own.
Can I claim back the gst on the purchase price?
You sure can and in your first claim too on the full amount, but you must register for gst first. Applies to Australia & New Zealand only.
I already have my own laptop can I use this and get a discount off the franchise price?
All of the equipment is included in the franchise price so we can not only support it and help with any issues through its use; it also ensures that you actually have the right equipment for the job. There is no negotiation or discount for equipment you may already have.
How would I combat objections from the restaurants?
You'll learn all about this at the training.
How do the restaurants know it's working for them?
Every month the restaurant receives a monthly stats report telling them how many people looked at their restaurant and how many clicked through to their menus and wine list. They can also run specials and ask customers to bring back coupons. Plus of course if they take bookings and enquiries by email this is excellent.
What are the visitor numbers on your New Zealand site?
On average we're getting 70,000 unique visitors looking at about 300,000 pages every month on www.eatout.co.nz This makes an average of around 4.7 pages per restaurant, which is HUGE. Most websites don't give out these stats as they usually have lots of visitors but they don't look at many pages. Our stats prove diners are looking around the site.
How many restaurants are on the New Zealand site?
Just under 300.
Why aren't there more than 300 restaurants on the NZ site since its been going since 2004?
The biggest challenge we have in New Zealand is its size. It's difficult to travel around from one end of the country to the other plus each town is relatively small as compared to say Sydney which has more restaurants in it than the whole of NZ put together! We now have permanent sales reps in Auckland & Christchurch plus one travelling in a bus. We've also been busy building the business to a point where it is a proven system, even if we don't increase the numbers anymore in NZ, it's still a fantastic profit maker.
How do I know my site will get good rankings in Google?
Through constant learning, trial and error and lots of hard work, we know just what Google wants to see to rank your site highly. If you go to Google in New Zealand at www.google.co.nz and type in Restaurants you'll see our site ranked in the number 1 position. Plus we're ranked on page 1 for nearly all our towns and cities there e.g. Hamilton Restaurants. We don't pay expensive search engine optimization companies to do this for us as we believe we've already proved we know how to do it ourselves!
Why can't I find the Brisbane or Sydney sites in Google?
This is because we're still new in Australia and it takes time for Google to index our sites and rank us. As more restaurants go on the sites the higher we get ranked.
What other advertising do you do?
Our target market is already surfing the internet looking for restaurants. They aren't looking for them in newspapers or magazines, so why should we waste lots of money advertising there! We do however make sure that we advertise in all the right places on the Internet, in particular on Google. We do paid Google Adwords and we have links on other websites all over the world.
Why don't you show bad comments on the site?
Restaurants don't like websites that show bad reviews and lots take themselves off these sorts of sites. If there is a bad review posted on the site then it stays there no matter what, even if the restaurant fixes the problem. This isn't good for the restaurants reputation, especially when they may have fixed the problem. We do make sure that all bad comments are sent straight to the restaurant so they can address them directly.
There are so many other free sites out there why would a restaurant want to pay?
With our training you'll learn how to overcome these sorts of objections. Free sites just don't deliver results for the restaurant, whereas on a paid site, results have to be proven to work or they won't stay!
How do I first start selling when there are no restaurants on my new site?
We'll put a couple of real restaurants from another area on your site so you'll be able to do your sales presentations to show restaurants how it all looks. You will also be able to offer a special deal to the first ones.
How many sales can I expect to achieve in a month?
Your first month will be the hardest and you would expect to do about 6 or 7 sales, then based on a conservative average you should be doing around 10 each month. This is based on 1 person owning and running the franchise by themselves. If a couple were to operate together the average would be higher. Our franchisee in Sydney achieved 20 in one month by himself, so its possible to do more!
When will the training be, do I have to wait before you get more than just me to train?
No, there's no waiting. You'll get one on one training with a senior Eatout manager.
On average how many times does a restaurant make changes each year?
We average it out at about 3 times a year. Some never change anything and others change their menus once a month.
Do I get free reign over my own advertising? i.e. signwriting on vehicle, advertising on other sites
Yes, so long as you are using your correct logo and brand name. Its always a good idea to run anything past us first just to make sure.
What other costs are there on top of the Franchise Fee?
Some insurances, your legal fees, business name registration, stamp duty where necessary, accounting fees where necessary. You'll need a good broadband connection at home and a mobile internet connection for your laptop.
What makes Eatout different? What is it's point of difference?
Restaurants choose Eatout because we fully manage their on-line marketing for them saving them the hassle of not only building their own website but ensuring their restaurant is seen by 1000's of diners each month. Our service includes all changes without any extra costs, to help make it as easy as possible for restaurants to keep their menus up to date. They know we are the experts in our field as we prove this to them each month through their stats reports. >There 15 absolutely professional photos of the food & restaurant on every single restaurant, included at no extra cost, no other dining guide offers this service. >an endless number of viewable/printable menus and wine lists. >specials with coupons to print out. >good looking printable maps with restaurant name, address & phone number also printed on the map. >customer comments ALWAYS positive keeping the reputation of the restaurant intact. Restaurants will not be part of any website that allows all customer comments as it damages their reputation as it only needs one bad comment to do this. Any of our bad comments get sent directly to the restaurant so they can fix the problem themselves. >PROOF it actually works, with detailed monthly statistics reports >100% RISK FREE with NO contracts. >NO hidden extras with scary setup fees or bills for changes. >Easily affordable monthly payments instead of a huge one off fee. >NO extra bills for anything - it's all included - even menu changes. >All changes are made within 24 hours guaranteeing the most up to date information possible. >A totally FREE email reservations and customer enquiry service. >Secure anti spam software to protect restaurants from nasty emails. >Email lists that NEVER get sold or used for any other purpose then allowed. >NO other nasty advertising clutter to distract diners and take up valuable space. >A chance to win a $100 Gift Card every month paid for by Eatout not the restaurant. >Guaranteed fair & equal chance of front page listing with UNIQUE automatic random rotation, no one can ever pay to be listed higher. No need for restaurants to worry about what letter of the alphabet their name begins with! >FREE link to the restaurants own website with the number of clicks recorded on their stats report. >A newsletter jammed packed with the latest advances to the site & marketing tips. >Every 4 months we personally call the restaurant to make sure all their information is up to date. >The website will be advertised on our New Zealand website where we already have over 70,000 unique visitors. >The website will be advertised through our database of over 10,000 subscribers. >Eatout is dedicated to going global and being the #1 restaurant dining guide around the world.
What makes Eatout better and worth the $85.50 p/m over free restaurant websites?.
Our web sites are designed specifically for a diner to successfully find a restaurant to dine at each time they search the site, without them we would not be able to deliver excellent results to each restaurant. It's easy to get diners to a free web site especially if they are one page 1 of Google, but they can't keep them on the site or get them to return again and again simply because their sites don't offer enough good content. Content is king on the internet and the content on Eatout is exceptional, you won't find such detail or up to date information on any other website, diners love this and trust our site to give them what they want. Diners want a site that is very easy to use, free of advertising clutter, quick to get around, simple but professionally designed and most important they need to compare apples with apples. Dining guides that are free only offer limited information which only frustrates them resulting in quick exits and continuing to search for a better guide with more detail.
What happens if the franchisor goes broke or is unable to host my website?
Our hosting is prepaid two years in advance from the day the developers start to build the new site - even if by some miracle Eatout Ltd went broke, this would not affect your website. Each of our Franchisees websites is hosted separately and independently.
How quickly can I start?
It'll take us about 4 to 5 weeks to get everything organised and the training done. See the training link in the menu for more info on this.
Ok, I totally love the idea and want to buy my area right now before someone else grabs it, what do I do next?
Click on the Application Form button in the menu and fill in the online form. If we approve your application, we'll send you our confidentiality document to sign and send back, then we'll send you a copy of our disclouse document as well as a draft of the franchise agreement. Once you've agreed to sign the agreement we'll ask for a $10,000 deposit and get all the legal documents drawn up and the new website built. The remainder of the money will be paid on signing of all the legal documents and the training will be booked in. The quickest this can all happen from start to finish without any hitches is about 4 to 5 weeks.
I've still got some more questions, can I call you?
Sure you can, phone us on 0061 7 3849 4712