News - The Magellan Network

The Magellan Network (TMN) Announces Expanded Online Reservations Product Suite, TMN1

September 9, 2008

First-of-its-Kind Guarantee of New Revenue for Restaurants Using TMN1
(Durango, CO), Sept. 9, 2008 – The Magellan Network (TMN), a leading provider of online reservations and Internet-based marketing solutions for restaurants, today announced the availability of TMN1, a product suite designed to increase restaurant revenue and guest convenience.

Upon signing in to their online reservations service, restaurants will notice that the TMN1’s user interface has been redesigned for ease of use and to accommodate TMN1’s advanced features, including:

• TMN Reservations: Today’s restaurant guests have come to expect the convenience of making online reservations 24/7. TMN Reservations adds the reservations function to a restaurant’s own web site to make it an interactive communication tool between the restaurant and guests wanting to dine there. Guests can invite friends, and all email addresses are captured in an ever-expanding guest database that the restaurant owns.

• TMN Toolkit: An upgrade to the existing online reservations link, TMN Toolkit allows guests to make reservations, receive special offers, write reviews and get directions without leaving the site.

• TMN Analytics: Provides a real time feedback mechanism from guests to their restaurants as to the Guest buying habits, interests and decisions. Analytics reports are detailed and optimized for the guest experience.

• TMN Search Marketing: TMN Search Marketing registers a restaurant’s most current and searched upon data to more than 88 search engines and restaurant specific listing sites including Google and Yahoo! This ensures guests will find accurate information closer to the top of their search results every time.

• TMN Web Site Services: At no additional cost, TMN offers worry-free, secure and reliable hosting and management services for its customers’ web sites. TMN Web Site Services’ state-of-the-art technology keeps customer sites up and running with minimal downtime.

Optionally, TMN1 customers also can purchase TMN Email Marketing, which includes a guest database that makes it easy to create email marketing campaigns that won’t end up in a spam folder. Reports tell who opened the emails and who clicked through to the restaurant’s web site.

“TMN1 is the new industry standard for internet marketing platforms, and represents a significant upgrade. We’ve taken best practices for user interface development from TMN Seating Management, which was recognized by Nielsen Norman Group (NNg) as one of the 10 best-designed application user interfaces worldwide for 2008,” said Chris Poelma, TMN Chief Operating Officer.

“TMN1 trials have demonstrated that this Internet marketing platform, a first of its kind, delivers significant return on investment (ROI) for our restaurants. We are now able to guarantee a minimum of 50 customers on TMN Reservations or their money back. With this and never a set-up fee, we expect to continue to see wide adoption.”

Current restaurant customers are now receiving TMN1. Customers can call TMN’s customer service department is available at 888.502.6821 or support@goTMN.com with any questions.

About The Magellan Network
Established in 2006, The Magellan Network (TMN) designs and develops technology-based products and services that connect restaurants and guests with better information, service and opportunities using internet technology they already have in place. The companys cost-effective products improve operational efficiencies and guarantee increased profits for restaurants and increased convenience for guests. The Magellan Network is privately held and is headquartered in Durango, CO. For more information, see www.goTMN.com

For further information contact:

Margaret Bonilla
Birnbach Communications
603.548.0693
mbonilla@birnbachcom.com

Nielsen Norman Group Selects The Magellan Network’s Seating Management to Its List of 10 Best Application User Interfaces (UIs)

August 28, 2008

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Seating Management Increases Restaurant Revenue, Guest Convenience

(Durango, CO), Aug. 2526, 2008 – Nielsen Norman Group (NNg) has named Seating Management, an online reservation and seating management application for restaurants developed by the Magellan Network (TMN), to its list of the 10 best-designed application user interfaces for 2008. The list comprises submissions from companies around the world. Winning applications were recognized for their emphasis on user experience to meet the exact needs of the customer, without the burden of unnecessary features and technology.

TMN, which develops technology-based products and services that connect restaurants and guests with better information, service and opportunities, designed Seating Management as a replacement for and upgrade to the reservation book, wait list and floor plan typically found at the hostess stand in restaurants. The application manages all reservations and walk-in guests to coordinate seating and table turns.

Seating management also organizes and prioritizes daily restaurant operations. It gives hosts and hostesses feedback about their performance in estimating wait times and minimizing empty seats, while collecting information that can be used to improve guest relations.

“We have incorporated TMN’s products into our daily operations, and they’ve offered obvious value from the start,” says Gianfranco Marrocco, president of Mediterraneo Caffé, Providence, RI. “They improve our guests’ experience, increase our profits and are simple for our employees to use.”

NNg selected Seating Management because of the way it enables restaurants to manage large amounts of information while giving users a single view of complexity. For example, Seating Management “shows which tables are expected to be vacated (and when), as indicated by color-coding on a floor plan of the restaurant. As an application monitoring a physical environment, Seating Management didn't set out to interrupt hostess work in any way. If a hostess wants to seat five guests at a table that the database says has a capacity of four, the system won't halt the running of the restaurant by saying that it can't be done. Maybe that party looked friendly enough that they can squeeze in an extra chair.”

According to Chris Poelma, TMN chief operating officer, “Our goal was to develop a product that is as easy to use as pencil and paper, an application that will help hosts and hostesses to do their jobs more effectively and increase both revenue and customer satisfaction for the restaurant. We are honored to be recognized by NNg for achieving that goal.”

About The Magellan Network
Established in 2006, The Magellan Network designs and develops technology-based products and services that connect restaurants and guests with better information, service and opportunities using internet technology they already have in place. The company’s cost-effective products improve operational efficiencies and guarantee increased profits for restaurants and increased convenience for guests. The Magellan Network is privately held and is headquartered in Durango, CO. For more information, see www.goTMN.com.

About Nielsen Norman Group
Nielsen Norman Group is a user-experience research firm that advises companies on how to succeed through human-centered design of products and services. NNg principals Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman and Bruce “Tog” Tognazzini are each world-renowned experts in usability and the human use of technology. NNg offers high-level strategic consultation on usability of websites, consumer products, software designs and anything else that needs to be easy-to-use. For more information, see www.nngroup.com.

For further information contact:
Margaret Bonilla
Birnbach Communications
603.548.0693
mbonilla@birnbachcom.com