Dublin restaurant puts its gourmet food online

A new website which will allow you to order the entire menu for a dinner party over the Internet, and have it delivered to your home, has been set up by Dublin cafe and caterer La Maison des Gourmets.

The online order form lists the different dishes - and their prices - from which users can choose and fill in their credit card and delivery details. A 24-hour advance notice is usually required and food can be delivered to anywhere in the Dublin area.

The site was set up by web solutions company irish-net.com, which has developed software which it hopes can be applied across a whole range of food delivery services. The site transmits orders over a secure e-mail to a computer at La Maison's shop in Castle Street.

Mr Colin Gerstein, sales and marketing director of irish-net, believes ordering food online will be a growing market for busy corporate customers.

"We're going to be targeting our advertising at places like the IFSC, where people have access to computers and money, and would use that sort of service," he says. Mr Nicolas Boutin, joint owner of La Maison, is not relying on the website as the sole source of business, but sees it as a good way of raising the profile of the new company. The site is rented from irishnet.com for less than £100 per month, which means the only starting up cost is the purchase of the domain name. Mr Boutin also hopes to attract suppliers as sponsors on the site which would help bring costs down further.

For the busy but hungry browser there is certainly plenty of tempting food available. Canapes of fois gras on brioche, or crispy prawns and mint are amongst the suggestions for drinks party nibbles. The main courses are available in pre-prepared, vacuumpacked sachets and the choices include lobster thermidor, or salmon with sorrel sauce. Both chefs have worked in Dublin's well-known Les Freres Jacques restaurant.

Irish-net.com is hoping to extend the technology used for La Maison to other food delivery businesses. The company believes that ordering online could replace the familiar engaged tones people get when they are trying to order a Chinese take-away on a Friday night. For small companies like La Maison, Mr Gerstein sees the website as complementary to, rather than a primary source of attracting business. "I don't think they're sitting there waiting for it to create a business for them," he says. "The idea is that it increases their customer base, it makes people more aware of them, and it gives people another opportunity for trading with them."

The La Maison des Gourmets website can be found at www.gourmetmaison.com