April’s website of the month winner was Italian restaurant Romazzino! We caught up with Peppe and Giuseppe to find out about the challenges of running a local UK business in a recession and why their website is crucial to their success.

Tell us a bit about yourself and Romazzino.

Romazzino is owned by Peppe and Giuseppe. We went into this as a joint venture to create something new and interesting for people to try, and we thought Nantwich was a great location.

We’ve been working together for many years, previously in Stoke on Trent, but originally we’re both from South Italy. Peppe is from Naples and began his catering career in Switzerland; he previously owned the very popular and successful restaurant, La Bella Napoli, in Hanley for 19 years. I (Giuseppe) am from Salerno, and have been in catering for over 13 years now in various establishments. I was the Manager for Peppe in La Bella Napoli restaurant, Hanley, for 4 years. In August 2007 we launched Romazzino together and the rest is history!

What makes Romazzino different from other Italian restaurants in the UK?

Firstly, we offer an exclusive and extensive menu with specials changing daily. Most importantly we offer a welcoming and comfortable environment; every customer is greeted by friendly staff and shown to their table, the menu is explained and recommendations are made. The feeling whilst sat in the restaurant is totally authentic, from the efficient Italian staff right through to traditional décor. The overall experience we’ve been told is very pleasurable for all, including young children who we offer a separate menu for. We think that’s why we’ve had so many loyal customers and why they have visited us for many years.

If you were setting up Romazzino again, what (if anything) would you do differently?

From day one, we certainly couldn’t have put any more effort into the restaurant; the only thing I would have changed is to perhaps have put a little more focus on the Internet from the beginning. I say this because unlike newspaper adverts which are printed and then thrown away, once an online reputation is built, it is there forever, so the sooner it is put into motion, the faster and bigger it will grow.

A lot of small businesses are struggling in the recession. What advice would you give to someone looking to set up their first restaurant?

Our advice would be to provide fresh ingredients and really importantly offer good value for money, as people are more aware now of what they’re buying and careful about how they spend their money.But the main thing is to offer something that your competitors do not; something unique will make your business stand out. For example, fresh fish, fresh pasta, homemade desserts make it into a really special restaurant, which is quite rare to find these days! The best advice I could give though is to provide amazing service: it costs nothing, but it’s the main thing people remember!

Why is having a website so important for local businesses like Romazzino?

The internet is the best thing that was ever invented for business; it allows us to promote our restaurant professionally to the world, unlike local advertising featured in magazines etc. which is costly, the website is an on-going promotion that lasts, it can be updated weekly and can hold all the information that we want to inform our customers of.

Your website was designed by Stilu. Why did you choose Stilu and how did you find the process?

We have been approached by a lot of companies offering web services, but I chose this one because Helio from Stilu put a lot of thought into explaining the options which were available to me in a very honest way, and without pressure. He related the concepts of the Internet and online marketing to real-life examples without focusing only on his business like a salesman would have; instead, he gave me enough knowledge to think for myself.

What kind of look and style did you want for your website and why?

I wanted the website to be an online reflection of my restaurant: modern and welcoming. I also wanted it to contain everything which our visitors could possibly want to know, and have that information as simple to browse as our menus.

How does your website complement your physical business and how do you use the two together?

The website harmonises with our business by providing a base for our customers to begin making their enquiries or bookings, it brings our customers to us initially and we can refer our customers to it afterwards. It features the most important details like opening hours and contact details, but also the current menu and party menu, so large parties have the facility to pre-book from it. From time to time we have various offers where the website is perfect to display these; we can email our customers and remind them of the current promotions. The testimonial page is great for our business too; it confirms to our customers that we are doing a good job and are worth visiting. The website connects us with our client and communicates our message; it’s the ultimate tool for any business.

How did you go about asking people to vote for Romazzino in the Website of the Month competition?

We preached to our own contacts and made sure that our fans knew that the website was being nominated for a competition, Stilu also used their social media channels like Twitter and Facebook to reach even further to their fans too. And of course, we made use of our website itself to ask our online visitors to vote!

What are your future plans for Romazzino?

The plan for Romazzino now is to continue working hard and maintain the standard we’ve set, offering more variety and continuing to impress our customers. We also would like to look at expanding the restaurant possibly using the upstairs space which is currently used as an apartment, and if we are lucky enough in the future…. to expand the business in other attractive locations.