19 Years
Birmingham Restaurants newsletter, Wine & Dine Weekly celebrates 19th anniversary.
By Jan Walsh
On March 1, 2006, I launched BirminghamWine.com and its newsletter, Wine Weekly. I was an unintentional pioneer back in the early (www) wild, wild, web days. In 2006 most businesses did not have a website, including wine shops, food markets, and restaurants. Twitter launched the same month as Birmingham Wine. Facebook had become a public site two years prior.
At the time I was a food and wine writer for print publications, locally, nationally, and one international mag, Wine Spectator. I also had a local wine events calendar in Birmingham magazine.. Yet I found it difficult to get events from wine shops and restaurants in time to meet print deadlines. They did not always plan that far in advance. I proposed that the magazine take the events online instead. But I got a head shaking no response and was told they did not “like” the internet. They were generous though by offering me the option to do it myself and syndicate my wine column there as well. I did like the internet and took them up on it.
First I contacted my friend and former student from my teaching days, Richard Phillips, who had recently graduated from Auburn with a graphics are degree. He took my ideas and developed the logo. I bought the domain name, BirminghamWine.com. And after meeting with several developers (including one who told me I could not use my own graphic artist, Richard – so they were fired before being hired), I chose Infomedia to develop the original website.
I did not actually intend to make money from the website. But I did not want to lose money either. So, I formed an LLC and planned to launch the site once I had enough wine retail and restaurant sponsors to pay for its development. I was delighted with the quick response. And BirminghamWine.com was launched March 1, 2006 along with its e-newsletter Wine Weekly. I had always wanted my own business, and I finally had it without bricks and mortar.
I knew that a Birmingham Restaurants website was also needed. I was determined to launch it next. But I was hungry for information on what to develop and how to best monetize it. So I bought (of all things) a book on how to make money on the internet. On one of the first pages the author wrote that no one would ever make money selling advertising on the internet except Google. Given I already was, I tossed the book in the garbage and continued to research and figure it out for myself.
I envisioned Birmingham Restaurants as a one stop shop for foodies to find the best restaurants in Birmingham along with their menus and events. I did not know much about internet search at the time but instinctively thought the name just had to be BirminghamRestaurants.com. Unfortunately, this name was already sold. And I had no means of finding who the owner was because it was privately held, as were many domain names back in the day. Thus I could not even make an offer on it. Putting this problem aside, I began planning the design and functionalities of the website and working with Richard and Infomedia on the logo development. Drawing from my previous experience at a local software company, IACT, I drew rough ideas on paper. It was at IACT where I sat in development meetings with programmers, and I got it as I watched them draw ideas and interrelationships of functionalities on the walls on big white sheets of paper. I saw the connection of the frontend user to the backend programming and came to the realization that (pretty much) anything you can dream up, you can develop if you have the money—a BIG if.
I also searched for online models to get ideas and honestly did not like any of the restaurant directory models. I thought we could do better. The website was to be profile based with multiple pages for overview, menus, map, food pics, chef bios, and more. After a few months I had an agreement with Infomedia for the original development, the logo and branding developed, a list of the best restaurants to invite to become members, a plan for the functionality, and an agreement with Birmingham magazine to syndicate my restaurant and food columns there. They still were not interested in the internet.
But what I did not have was a domain name. Making one last attempt to find the owner of BirminghamRestaurants.com, I found that it had been put into an online, after market auction.It was meant to be! I clicked “buy it now” for $800, pulled out my credit card and became the proud owner of BirrminghamRestaurants.com!
With the domain in hand, I once again presold the clients and launched in the green, on March 1, 2007 BirminghamWine.com’s first anniversary. And Wine Weekly became Wine & Dine Weekly. The website won the award for "Best New Website" in Birmingham the same year. And it quickly became the online destination where millions of people (over the next ten years) would find a restaurant for business lunches, weekend brunches, birthday dinners, anniversary dinners, date nights, prom nights, wine dinners, holiday meals, and even popping the question. Beyond locals the website has been and is used by people all over the country and the world, who are planning a trip to Birmingham for business or personal reasons. For example, Food and Wine magazine used it to find restaurants to dine at for an article on Birmingham as a food city.I am forever grateful to the chefs and restauranteurs who took a leap of faith in 2007 and signed up for something that did not yet exist before the launch and who have remained members during the years and versions since.
We are also celebrating that iContact graded Wine & Dine Weekly 2025 all A+ scores for the newsletter!
Today I am also an Apple App Developer and have launched a Birmingham Restaurants App for those who prefer apps to emails.
Download Birmingham Restaurants App
Copyright ©2025 Birmingham Restaurants