15 Aug Los Barrios Website Case Study

ABOUT LOS BARRIOS

Starting out as a small venture in an old Dairy Queen in 1979 by their founder and matriarch Viola Barrios, the Los Barrios restaurant group has expanded to four local area restaurants that serve authentic casero style Mexican cuisine to hungry San Antonians & tourists alike. Their famous puffy tacos have been featured on the Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay as well as in national publications such as Esquire Magazine. 

Los Barrios Restaurant Group
4223 Blanco Rd, San Antonio, TX 78212
(210) 732-6017

Los Barrios | La Hacienda De Los Barrios | La Hacienda Scenic Loop | Viola’s Ventanas
Facebook | X | Instagram 

PROJECT

In the autumn of 2023, Los Barrios owners approached Embark Marketing to help them consolidate their marketing efforts and ensure their budget was allocated towards maximum profitability. In researching their operations, one area Embark Marketing felt there was room for improvement was their online presence & utilization of marketing channels available to them. 

Previously, the restaurant group was paying a significant amount for an all in one website system for each of their restaurants. This included email marketing, social media posting, & the website. However, all three of these services were being underutilized under the current system & it was determined that it would be advantageous to shift to a more piecemeal approach for these services. In doing so, Embark Marketing would be able to provide a more personalized approach to their digital presence as well as save them a significant amount of funds each month.

WEB DEVELOPMENT

Due to the nature of the previous CMS system, a new website would have to be created in order to accomplish this. With this in mind, the first step was to design a new website that would offer each restaurant its own unique feel while also being consistent with the brand. In order to keep costs down while still maintaining a quality web presence, it was decided to move all four sites to the Squarespace platform.

This solution offered the opportunity to maintain the same look & feel across the board while also allowing for more flexibility in terms of custom design for each location. In addition to this, the cost of the new platform was significantly lower monthly and required less maintenance than other CMS options. 

MAINTAINING RANKING

In order to maintain the restaurant group SERP ranking it was important to include pages for each menu with specific content for each location as well as their unique specials. This approach was twofold as it would also allow for more targeted SEO efforts in addition to having individual links for each menu for social media purposes. 

Another factor was including all press achieved for this storied client in an easy to access location to lend credibility to the brand as well as capitalize on providing backlinks for improved SEO.

Additionally, with the move to Squarespace, Embark Marketing was able to have control over SEO aspects such as URL structure, metadata, & keyword density that would have been difficult to achieve with the client’s previous CMS.

CLIENT REQUESTS

Additionally, the owners wanted a focus on online ordering throughout the site. This aspect was achieved through not only a call to action button on the main navigation but also through the use of several callouts throughout the site & a dedicated page to the online ordering menu for use on their social media platforms.

Another area of focus for the client was to attract larger parties and events. The previous site did not have this functionality & the majority of information regarding this aspect of their business was housed in a PDF attachment, which was not mobile or SEO friendly. 

For this, Embark Marketing built out two pages for each location to highlight their unique offerings in terms of event spaces & party menus. In addition, each location now has a form for inquiries that go to the specific location’s manager & include all of the questions previously only included in the PDF.

THIRD PARTY INTEGRATIONS

To address another major concern from the client, Email Marketing, Embark Marketing integrated the client’s current email list into Mailchimp. This allowed for the client to have a separate database that could be segmented based on location & houses all previously gathered customer data. 

Squarespace allows for this integration free of charge as an internal link which keeps customers on the site instead of redirecting to a 3rd party link. This is important to consider when thinking in terms of SEO, as keeping customers on the site for longer periods increases overall ranking. Providing this solution to the client has allowed them to continue to communicate with their customer base, whilst still being a cheaper alternative to their previous email marketing provider.

Future plans for this client include updating their internal POS system to allow for customer journey tracking. At which point, the Embark Marketing team will be able to integrate the client’s POS system with the website & allow for a more customized user experience, as well as a better understanding of the customer’s journey on and off the web – a valuable tool for not only marketing but tracking feedback and analytics of the customer’s overall experience with the brand. 

CONCLUSION 

Embark Marketing has been able to achieve the goal of improving the digital presence of this brand with very little monthly investment compared to its previous CMS. In doing so, this left more marketing dollars available to invest in other areas of the business including targeted ads, content creation, personalized social media postings & more. It also allowed the client to upgrade their internal POS system to a more robust & user-friendly model that allowed for more accurate tracking of customer behavior & integration with their marketing efforts.

Are you a restaurant owner looking to improve your digital presence without breaking the bank? Embark Marketing can help with web design, development, & how to use your website to grow your restaurant business. Contact us today at 210-365-7635 to set up a free consultation on how we can help you reach your food and beverage business goals.