Music on Restaurant Web Sites

I'm not sure this is the right place to be posting about this, but what's up with the music on the Web site of every restaurant? It's annoying, hard to find the button to turn it off. I have been looking for a birthday restaurant for the family and every restaurant seems to have music as soon as you open the Web page. It's a little embarrassing at work and the music doesn't make me hungry (just annoyed). Anyone else have strong feeling about this? I'm curious to know if it works for some people.

Music has been plaguing websites since it was introduced. The same with annoying & unnecessary Flash pages.

People think it enriches the content, but in reality it's just a roadblock to content.

These days you can embed tasteful Flash into webpages but many think that Flash is this fantastic cutting-edge thing that they need to be hip. I've told restaurants before if their websites are unusable, though I try to be more diplomatic about it, and they seem to appreciate the feedback.

While we're complaining, if a restaurant is going to pay someone to make their website - pay them 5 more dollars to convert the menu from a pdf to an html document.

I have noticed this too...especially with ma & pa type places. I tend to have streaming news or music going on my computer and when I click on one of these sites I give myself a heart attack its so loud.

People who go to the website should have to opt-in to hear the music, rather than being forced to opt-out as they currently are. The button should be labeled, "Click here to hear the music that somehow stands for the brand essence we're hoping we can make you believe and which some marketing genius told us is going to convince you that we're really cool."

I find the music mildly annoying. Sweets & Savories's site (even the new one!) is the most annoying probably because I otherwise like the restaurant a lot. I could also do without the loading popcorn sound on the Graham Elliot web site.

I find it annoying as well. While I'm on DSL, not everyone has high speed access. I put up with slow access for years while IBT / SBC / ATT / TPC kept telling me DSL would make it to my neighborhood in a few more months that stretched out to over 6 years. I've only had it for a bit over a year now.

Meanwhile, I've found a simple solution: I opt out of web sites that use music, flash videos, and other crap that keeps me from what I'm looking for. Someone else will be happy to get my business.

Although most of the time, I don't notice the music, since I surf with sound turned off unless I'm actually viewing something that I know needs sound. Perhaps it was that experience years ago when this co-worker opened an email, and it shouted out "Hey, I'm over here looking at Porn". I never knew that an African American face could turn that shade of red

My latest hate are the weekly sale fliers where you have to mouse across the thing with a magnifying glass to read anything. I've got this big screen in front of me, and the ability in Firefox to scroll across a large page. Just give me the whole thing and let me deal with it myself.

Just one of the many things I’ve been trying to talk clients out of for years (food-related or otherwise): no contact info when the majority of visitors are looking for just that, Flash used just to show a few pictures, important info like menus or hours buried in PDFs, and worst of all, music.

If I had a dime for each time I’ve had to explain this, I’d be retired. Imagine how many people do their evening-out planning from work (or their shopping or even their home-buying). Now imagine that person reaching your site, and blaring U2 (it's always U2 for a bar site), MiDi synth or cheesy Italian music starts up. That person, in some cubicle farm somewhere, scared for their job (or just plain embarassed for blaring cheesy Italian music from their desk) closes the window to your website AND NEVER COMES BACK. If, after imagining that, you still want music on your site to ’set the mood’, you’ll want to reavaluate what your website is for.

If I can't talk a client out of using music I just line-item the music out of their budget.

Also some free advice: PDFs, while ubiquitous, and easy enough to have a waitress update and upload the daily menu, may be easy for the restaurant, but not for every user. Some solutions like Flash Paper or PhP solutions will allow PDF's to be read in the browser by a majority of web users, but consider the millions of hand held devices being used to figure out where to eat - most neither read PDFs or can handle full-fledged Flash.

kiplog wrote:Just one of the many things I’ve been trying to talk clients out of for years (food-related or otherwise): no contact info when the majority of visitors are looking for just that, Flash used just to show a few pictures, important info like menus or hours buried in PDFs, and worst of all, music...

Forget contact info--how about, like, an address!?! I've been to restaurant websites filled with all kinds of whiz bang stuff except where they are if you actually wanted to eat there. I've been to some restaurant sites where this was buried three clicks away (bad enough), but I swear to God I've been to at least one where it wasn't to be found at all.

aw geez, here I decide to join the 21st century, and find out I'm doing it all wrong.
this hit the toobz last night:
http://feedrestaurantchicago.com

I thought the designer did a great job, as this was just a preview. it ain't done yet.

dk wrote:aw geez, here I decide to join the 21st century, and find out I'm doing it all wrong.
this hit the toobz last night:
http://feedrestaurantchicago.com

I thought the designer did a great job, as this was just a preview. it ain't done yet.

Your Web site looks great! It gets the feel for you joint and makes me hungry. The music is great, but a little loud. Does anyone have a solution to the "music" embarrassment" problem?

Here's a fun new comic from The Oatmeal on a similar topic: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/restaurant_website

As mentioned on the Mercat thread:

..As much as I like it at Mercat the resto, I detest their website with the intro and crappy tinny music and zooming noise for no reason other than to remind you that you need to close the browser.

http://www.mercatchicago.com/

I think they commit every cardinal sin mentioned above in this thread.