Mani's Bakery Cafe: Small Business Blog of the Day

Today's first blog is our second blog to include an umlaut (the other was for the Lärabar). You know, those two weird dots that appear above a letter in certain languages? I wonder how Päjämä Märket would look in a logo?

What it is
Mäni's Bakery Café blog represents a healthy bakery and restaurant/café in Los Angeles, California. The blog is written by the staff at the café and each post is clearly labeled with the employee that wrote it. Nice personal touch.

Features
Descriptions of menu item preparation, information about employees, special "web extras" that offer things like "free cookies" to readers of the blog. Anything free for reading a blog is pretty cool in my book.

Favorite Post
Only in LA?? is a short post describing an interesting group of patrons...10 German-speaking Harley riders.

"He was looking around for something more to eat when he saw a loaf of jalapeno-cheddar bread behind the counter.  He told his server, Sergio, to cut the loaf in half, throw some ham & cheese on it, and give it to him.  I think it was the biggest and most expensive sandwich we have ever served.  All I know is when I heard the roar of the bikes driving away, there was nothing left on their plates…"

Further Comments
What's not to like about this blog? This is a business with a clearly defined USP (unique selling proposition) in that they serve "normal" food, except that they alter several traditional ingredients with healthier alternatives. The blog reinforces this idea over and over again with descriptions of their foods, details of how they are prepared, and stories surrounding their philosophy of healthier ingredients without sacrificing taste.

A nice touch at the end of each post is a link to "send to a friend." I'm sure other blogs have this nice little link, but I haven't really noticed it elsewhere.

The design of the blog is at the top end of the spectrum, incorporating seamlessly with the main company website. The graphics are slick and professional-looking, the navigation is very easy to use, and the colors work well together. Of all the sites I've looked at, this is probably one of the two or three best-designed.

Tags: manis, manis bakery, manis restaurant, manis cafe, manis los angeles, manis la, healthy restaurant, good blog design

Comments

[Larry Maiman]

Pajama Market:
As co-founder and operator of Mäni's Bakery Cafe in LA, I must say this is one of the most accurate articles ever written about us.

Thank you for taking the time to do your research. Over the last 18 years we've been in dozens of local and national publications, but never written about so correctly.

Kudos!

[Brian Brown]

Larry, are you applying to be my press agent or something? Ha! Seriously, it was my pleasure and good luck with the blog and the cafe.

[Denise aka The Blog Squad]

Brian, just saw the article in MyBusinessMag.com and was a litle jealous that you got mentioned since Mani's Bakery is my client! However, I want to congratulate you and Mani's for the coverage. Any press about business blogging is good for all of us. Keep up the great work; your blog reveiws are excellent.

Blog on!

[Brian Brown]

Thanks Denise! I haven't seen the article yet. I'll have to find it.