Should You Consider a .NYC Domain For Your Restaurant?

Remember that day in February this year when Bryan Mitko, a New York-based programmer, pulled a prank on start chef Guy Fieri? He registered for himself the chef's restaurant domain name 'Guy's American Kitchen and Bar' which had been left unattended. He then came up with an alternative witty menu for the restaurant which instantly became a hit and collected tens of thousands of likes and tweets. Apart from sparking some fun online, this probably also got some people thinking about their websites.

Fast forward to July 2, when the International Consortium for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved New York city's application for receiving a dot-nyc top-level domain name (TLD). This has been in the waiting for a while now, ever since in 2009 Christine Quinn, the NY City Council's speaker, promised to get the city its own internet domain. The consequences of having received a personalized domain for the city are numerous and will further change a lot about online presence and brand positioning. This is especially true for restaurants whose online presence is increasingly becoming important and influencing their growth and development.

To .NYC or not to .NYC?
This one is a no-brainer, obviously. Especially, if you're Guy Fieri. Jokes aside, the upcoming availability of an .nyc domain (sometime in the fall) means, first of all, a lot of revenue but more importantly – it will offer businesses, small, medium or big ones, to take advantage of New York as a brand itself. As Quinn herself said in 2009: “A local business won't have to outbid a guy in Kansas to get Tony's Pizza.com.” And then she added, just recently after it was announced that the request was approved: “New York won't just be the greatest city in the world--we'll also be the greatest city on the Internet.”
In other words, a .nyc domain is a possibility for businesses to cash in on the already established fame of one of the world's biggest and most well-established city brands. It is also a way to localize one's business in the digital landscape. .com won't be equal to .nyc, because with the Internet becoming more and more particularized and even individualized, such differences will become increasingly important.

And restaurants?
What that means for restaurants, as can already be inferred from Quinn's statements, is that if you own a local business or have a branch in NYC, setting up a website with that domain name means that users will be able to find you much faster. If, as in the above example, the name of your establishment is something which someone else might have thought of as well, the personalized .nyc domain name will save you the trouble of not being able to use the name you'd like. It will also put you further up in search engine results if users are searching for a place particularly in NYC. So if someone is searching for Tony's Pizza in NY and you have that address with a .nyc, you'll be first in line. Instead of standing alongside all such restaurants from all over the world who have that or a similar name. First come, first served, as the saying goes.

Therefore, considering a .nyc domain for your restaurant is certainly both reasonable and advisable. It's like your big brother (pun intended) helping you out for free. You'll basically strike it lucky because it's an investment in the long run, though it seems like it will lift up quite fast once the domain is available.