Help us buy you dinner with Top Chefs for Mental Health
3 Comments
Karen Hamilton
May 1, 2011
It’s true – me and my friends want to buy you dinner – a swanky dinner for 8 via the Top Chefs for Mental Health fundraiser.
Tickets are $4,000 for the exclusive experience of having one of BC’s top chefs come to your home and cook an unforgettable meal for and 7 of your friends.
Since I don’t have that kind of money laying around, I’ve asked the BC Mental Health Foundation and the Chefs’ Table Society of BC, the cohosts of this fundraiser, to let me raise the money on Tiny Bites throughout the month of May, all the while profiling the participating chefs and raising awareness on the topic of mental health.
The goal? To give away all 8 dinner spots to those that helped us afford the ticket.
Happily, they gave me the green light last week – and sponsors have already stepped up to offer other cool prizes – so now it’s time to ask you to donate. But first…some background.
Mental health matters to me
Why am I raising funds for mental health awareness? It’s quite personal.
Last fall, I was diagnosed with 3 separate mood disorders. I had known about the major depression for about a decade – it runs in the family and I had briefly sought counselling for it in 2003. However, I was blindsided with the pronouncement that my levels of anxiety, panic, and OCD were also on a clinical scale. It got to the point where my mental health impacted every aspect of my life, isolating me from my loved ones and even manifesting as physical health issues.
The diagnosis came at a very rough point in my life. I was experiencing an identity crisis as my new role as a mother clashed with my lifelong assertion that I was a careerwoman. Being told that I had these disorders made me feel ashamed. I felt like a weakling: my mind and body wasn’t as strong as my spirit wanted them to be. Talking about it, even to my husband, was the last thing I wanted to do.
But talk is what I did. To my family, my closest friends, my therapists, my doctors…and I began to realize that I wasn’t alone. Many of the people I care about have either suffered, are suffering, or have lost their lives due to mental illness, and it is a private hell unlike any other.
There’s unfortunately a huge stigma attached to mental health issues. It makes it hard for people afflicted with mental illness to admit there’s a problem, seek professional help, and find solace and support from their friends and family.
This fundraiser is part of my personal journey to air my challenges so that I can fully come to terms with my illness. I hope it inspires others to find the courage to seek help or support if they need it.
Please let mental health matter to you
Between now and May 31, 2011, we ask you to join us in raising the necessary funds to afford a BC Top Chefs dinner for us to give back to you.
As part of this dinner drive, me and my friends will profile some of the chefs and restaurants that are participating in Top Chefs for Mental Health. I’ll also be opening up a thread on my Facebook Page for people to share their stories about mental health – questions, personal journeys, resources, tips, and anything else you can contribute.
It would mean the world to me and those that are quietly suffering from mental illness if you take part in any way that you can.
Option 1: Donate
Every $50 you donate earns you 1 entry to win one of the 4 dinner spots we are giving away by random draw. The top 4 donors overall will be guaranteed the other 4 dinner spots for being so awesomely generous.
Don’t worry if you give less than $50 – everyone will be entered to win one of the many fabulous prizes that our sponsors have kindly donated. We’ll let you know what they are as the month unfolds.
Our dinner drive counts as a lottery and is therefore not eligible for tax receipts. If you prefer to donate to get a tax receipt, I encourage you to donate directly to the BC Mental Health Foundation. It won’t count towards our $4,000 dinner drive target, and I won’t be able to tell that you contributed (unless you contact me), but your support will be much appreciated.
Option 2: Buy your own BC Top Chefs dinner
If you’ve got the time, interest, and funds, please consider buying your own BC Top Chefs table direct from the BC Mental Health Foundation’s website.
Option 3: Be a good Friend and spread the word
Please tell everyone you know about Top Chefs for Mental Health and this dinner drive on Tiny Bites. If you want to participate on an official basis, review this PDF and tell us how you want to take part.
Thank you for your support
I hope that you stick with us throughout the month of May while we run this dinner drive. I already have a very good reason to get better:
Hearing your stories and getting your support will make the road to recovery all the more sweet.
More info and the fine print
Visit the Tiny Bites dinner drive page for frequently asked questions and more info on the logistics of the fundraiser and giveaways.
Categories: Blogging for Social Change, Events, Featured, Food, Food Purveyors, Restaurants
5 things that diners look for on a restaurant website
12 Comments Tiny Bites ConsultingMarch 3, 2009
We pulled from personal experiences and the testament of our network to highlight some of the key pieces of info that people look for when visiting a restaurant’s website.
Restaurant overview
If your restaurant has been recommended by a trusted source, it’s likely that your site visitor already knows who you are and what you serve. But don’t leave it to chance. Have an easy to find summary of what cuisine you deliver and the vibe your space gives off. While it’s highly convenient to have this info on your front page, you could also go into more detail on a dedicated About page.
Take a look at Fude, a restaurant in Winnipeg’s Osborne Village. A highly visual graphic header and descriptive About page tells you about their regional focus and already makes you curious to dine there.
Location and hours
Don’t make your readers work to find where you’re located and when you’re open. Many restaurant websites include this critical information at the top or bottom of every page. We like that.
If you wish to be even more helpful, list a clearly marked Location page with an embedded map (a Google map, for example) and link to a service that can provide custom directions.
We like how Seattle’s Le Pichet does it.
Online menu and pricing
One of the first things we do when choosing a restaurant from a list of possibilities is to compare menus. Some nights call for a culinary adventure. Other times, humble, homestyle meal will hit the spot. Let site visitors easily figure out what you serve and what you charge.
It may seem easier for you to upload your menus as a PDF download, but your site is not for your convenience: it’s for your customer’s convenience. The best restaurant websites let people peruse the listings as a regular page that loads quickly and is easy to scan.
We love the menu section of Seasons 52.
Photos of your food and space
Although your menu may describe your dishes well and clarify price range, people still want to know what to expect when they walk in the door and when a plate is set in front of them.
To prove that your meals entice, use vibrant food photography from the home page to the deepest corners of your site. Have a special gallery of your wares and decor if you have a collection of great photos. Don’t let your visitors leave your site without craving what you make.
Browse through the photo gallery of Atlanta’s South City Kitchen and see if you can leave it without a little rumble in your tummy.
Reservation instructions or contact info
If a diner has been won over by the allure of your restaurant, a search for phone numbers, email addresses, or reservations instructions may result. Consider integrating a real-time reservation application into your restaurant’s contact section. People do appreciate the convenience.
New York’s Restaurant David Drake has a reservations link that seats tables using Open Table.
Common search obstacles
People do not go to restaurant websites to look for:
- Splash screens
- Animations
- Music
- Menus in unusual places
Often, the items above interfere with a diner’s hunt for these 5 things, causing your reader enough frustration to result in a lost table.
Table talk
It’s time to chat. Please respond to the questions below or let us know which restaurant sites are doing a good job of fulfilling your information search quickly.
Diners: what else do you go to a restaurant website for?
Restauranteurs: how easy does your site make it to find these 5 things? What else do you offer at your restaurant that you promote on your website?
Categories: Consulting, Featured
Client Spotlight: Scout Magazine
1 Comment Tiny Bites ConsultingMarch 3, 2009
Last fall, Andrew Morrison of Urban Diner fame contacted Tiny Bites Consulting to help out on his new vision: an online magazine on Vancouver food, culture, life, and style.
Over a series of dinner meetings and meet-ups at the lounge in Boneta, we hammered out the specs for a WordPress-powered site with a heavily customized Revolution theme. Scout had a number of goals, such as:
- Building a large, loyal, local readership
- Encouraging online conversations amongst readers and visitors
- Maximizing ad revenue potential
In order to accomplish Scout’s objectives, Tiny Bites Consulting:
- Helped in purchasing scoutmagazine.ca and hosting the site on Bluehost
- Set up WordPress for site management and phpBB for forum management
- Implemented the Scout’s bold, media-rich design to spec using PHP, HTML, and CSS
- Created dynamic sidebars to allow adspace to be unique for the default view and each of the 4 topic categories
- Showed how Twitter can be used to promote articles, distribute polls, attract a wider audience, and encourage conversation
- Tested that the site looked good in the major browsers, mobile devices, and didn’t break in Internet Explorer 6
But don’t take our word for it. Check out the site for yourself.
Categories: Consulting, Featured, Our Clients, Web Development
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