Where there are guests to feed at a Riverina function, you will likely find Albury-based Riverina Catering Co. Owner Tulsi Paudel bought a closed-down catering business and a van and began touring markets and public events back in the early days. These days the street-food-style catering business is in hot demand for all kinds of events, including birthdays, weddings, baby showers, reunions, and corporate events. "We've catered close to 250 events, including almost 90 weddings so far," says Tulsi.
The company trades on its ability to provide top-quality catering services at affordable prices. Its range is vast: pizza, tacos, sushi, lamb koftas or burgers with loaded fries, to name a few options. Or sweets and cakes if you prefer; it's all on offer. And its customers overflow with compliments. How do you show all that on a website without complicating things? That was the challenge faced by the business, which relies on its website for bookings.
Creating a simple, professional website
Method&Matter offers web design, development, and support services to businesses nationwide. When Tulsi met the founder Fiona Fell, he felt he’d stumbled across a way to say everything he wanted people to know about Riverina Catering Co. on his website simply and authentically. He had been getting by with a website he’d created himself, which had all the correct elements but "lacked professional appearance and detail," he says.
Fiona's extensive experience and ability to translate clients' needs into fit-for-purpose solutions resulted in a professional layout that heroes the catering without unintentionally leading people off in different directions. In other words, it gives people exactly what they have come to see. For example, it was essential to Tulsi that visitors to the site see pictures of real, not photoshopped, food.
"I was glad to find Fiona with a recommendation from one of our customers who is a client of Method&Matter," says Tulsi. "She was very professional and helpful right from the start."
Uncovering opportunities to up-level the current site
Fiona started with an audit of the previous website. Then, she outlined opportunities for adding critical information and up-levelling what was already there. For example, Fiona suggested switching out ordinary photos for scaled photos. She gave valuable tips like getting customers to hold food items next to a wine glass or on their palms to give an idea of portion size.
The resulting site combined Tulsi's thoughts with Fiona's recommendations. "I expressed my ideas and what I expected them to do on the page, and Fiona used her expertise to bring the best possible results," he says. "And the best part? It took only a few days after briefing Fiona for her to complete the website. The whole process was smooth, and there weren't any unexpected challenges," Tulsi says.
More online enquiries. Fewer complicated phone conversations
What does Riverina Catering Co think of its new site? They love the flow, which makes it effortless for customers to browse catering options to get inspiration for their event and instantly see how various dishes have gone down with other customers in the testimonials weaved among them.
In addition, they appreciate how easily customers can get in touch via the Contact form and have all their questions answered. This page is more than doing its job in raising the number of online enquiries and reducing the time staff spend on the phone explaining things to customers.
Critically, Riverina Catering Co’s new site attracts people living up to a 200-kilometres away through its new digital "front door" whenever they come across the website via Google, Facebook and other channels.
But most of all, Tulsi loves the natural photography it features, which says everything about the brand. As a result, customers know exactly what they are getting and feel confident about booking. Giving them that kind of reassurance about their catering choice is "gold". He couldn't be more delighted with the outcome:
"I'm thrilled with Fiona's work, and I'm proud to present my website to my clients," Tulsi says.
Check out the Riverina Catering Co. website for yourself.