The Restaurant Zone – a classifieds website devoted solely to the food industry – has just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.com, with a fundraising goal of $10,000. The Restaurant Zone is a unique online marketplace that fosters an exclusive community of restaurant owners, job seekers, recruiters, chefs, businesses. Employers big and small have already tapped into The Restaurant Zone’s resources, and HR executives from companies like Denny’s Canada and Goodwill are already offering up glowing reviews of the site’s services (testimonials here).
In an industry with a job turnover rate of approximately 62.6%, the restaurant world spends billions of dollars advertising job vacancies online. Familiar sites like Monster, CareerBuilder, and even Craigslist make up the bulk of job postings for the sector, but listings get lost easily on these massive sites. That’s where The Restaurant Zone comes in. A number of general classified sites have 100-200 categories. Meanwhile, Restaurant Zone has 9 categories for restaurant and hospitality professionals. In addition to helping match potential workers with employers, the site concentrates on promoting specialized ads for restaurant equipment, property, software, and events. Its sister site, www.restaurantzone.org, provides subscribed employers with access to myriad industry-focused resumes that span all experience levels.
Before subscribing, employers qualify for a free trial on The Restaurant Zone (and the resume database as well), allowing them to familiarize themselves with potential candidates and witness the benefits of the sites’ services. Meanwhile, job seekers can access the site free of charge, browsing the job listings and submitting resumes.
At its heart, the Restaurant Zone is Matthew Rodgers and Kenny Benavides: two young, self-proclaimed foodies who know a thing or two about just how important the needs of the restaurant industry are. They’ve got backgrounds in business and finance, as well as product development and marketing, and have spent countless hours talking to restaurant professionals about building a classified system that meets the unique needs of this industry. Matt and Kenny were heavily inspired by Airbnb’s success in becoming the go-to room-sharing classified niche.
