Well, after a long grind RestaurantMafia.com is finally a reality. Everybody who works in the restaurant industry, regardless of whether you're an owner, employee or supplier, knows that it's a subculture of its own. Think of the people you've worked with past and present, the people you spend your free time with, the suppliers you deal with on a daily basis. They're all like a part of your family. It's the reason why you take care of them, hooking them up with discounts or a free drink here and there, and that's why they do the same for you. So the concept behind RestaurantMafia was to have a website that would help further connect the industry and foster that notion of taking care of your own. The idea was to build a website for the industry that is part social networking, part classified ads and part industry yellow pages. While this is all still a work in progress, I think I've managed to put those bits of functionality together plus a few others that I hope you'll like.
The Locator is one feature I hope will become especially popular. How many times have you gotten out of work at midnight and wanted to know where your buddies are hanging out or whether your favorite bartender happens to be working that night? That's what the Locator is for. And wherever you go, you can "check-in" to that location with a brief message so your friends can see what you're up to, and if they happen to be nearby they can stop by and say hello. Or use it to post your work schedule if you're the kind of person that likes getting visitors at work. You can also choose to have your check-in messages automatically post to your Twitter account, so think of it as tweeting with a little geographical special sauce.
Hopefully people will find value in the Directory as well. For those of you who sell to the industry, it's a free way to market your products and services. With any luck, the Directory will grow into the de facto industry yellow pages. That would be a valuable resource for everyone.
I know things are a bit raw right now but in return for your patience I promise to constantly improve things and incorporate your feedback every step of the way. So please enjoy the site and thanks for joining the RestaurantMafia family!
