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The Black Point Inn’s restaurants in Scarborough are among several local establishments using the microblogging site Twitter and social networking sites such as Facebook to build name recognition and draw in new customers.

enlarge 2006 Press Herald File

Behind the historic shingled exterior of the Black Point Inn in Scarborough, there’s a lot of tweeting as line cook Kelly Arsenault posts news and photos about what’s going on at the inn’s two restaurants.

TWITPIX AND TWEET-UPS

HERE'S A SAMPLING of Maine restaurants on Twitter, with name of restaurant, Twitter handle and number of followers as of Aug. 7:

Sea Dog Brewing Company , 1,034

The Frog and Turtle, 32

Black Point Inn, 272

Portland Harbor Hotel (Eve's at the Garden), 49

Grace, 232

Big Sky Bread, 165

Top of the East, 412

Gritty's, 810

Leonardo's Pizza, 368

Charlie Beiggs, 81

Dysart's, 76

The Lobster Shack (Ogunquit), 60

Natalie's Restaurant, 36

Brevetto Kitchen & Wine Bar , 18

Binga's Wingas, 104

Little Caesars Pizza, 136

Congdons Restaurant, 239

Billy's Chowder House, 83

The Edge Restaurant, 564

The Foreside Tavern, 161

Hurricane's Cafe & Deli, 64

OTHER TWITTERERS

HERE'S A SAMPLING of some other food-related Twitter sites, both local and national:

James Beard Foundation, 4,070

Emeril Lagasse, 25,462

Giada De Laurentiis, 18,970

Bobby Flay, 20,489

Jamie Oliver, 166,221

Food Network, 9,924

Paula Deen, 33,616

Anthony Bourdain, 27,537

Maine Restaurant Association, 1,133

Jim Britt (Restaurant Week ME and Maine Fare), 128

Baxter Tea Company, 702

Shipyard Brewing, 1,809

Maine Mead Works, 236

Emma's Family Farm, 147

Kimberly Mayone (food writer), 820

Portland Taps, 189

Pineland Farms, 28

Linda Bean's Perfect Maine, 98

Native Maine Produce, 117

Bella Cheesecakes, 180

The Gelato Fiasco , 98

Meredith Goad (me), 218

For weeks, Kelly Arsenault, a line cook at the Black Point Inn in Scarborough, had been "tweeting" about the food, the specials and the kitchen staff at the inn's two restaurants.

Her posts to the microblogging site Twitter included details about the evening's menu, but also her own observations as a new employee – her discovery of the inn's herb garden, for example – and photos. Lots of photos.

The captions gave an interesting behind-the-scenes look at life in the kitchen: "Chef is prepping some quail to grill and serve with a maple sauce tomorrow. Man, I love quail!"

Other "twitpics" posted by Arsenault showed a cook briefing servers on a new peach tart tatin, and the pastry chef cutting the chocolate-orange biscotti to be served with capuccino.

But Arsenault was still new to Twitter, so when she organized a "tweet-up" at the inn for the folks who had been following her posts online, she hoped that maybe 15 people would show up.

"And then people just started piling in," she said.

To Arsenault's surprise, 37 diners drove to Scarborough to take advantage of the inn's tweet-up specials – $5 mussel appetizers, $2 beers and $5 glasses of wine. Many were new to the inn, and some of them stayed on for dinner.

Arsenault now has 272 followers online – not bad for just a couple of months on Twitter.

"I was like a blip on the radar, and then all of a sudden people are listening and coming to the inn, and know Black Point," she said.

The Black Point Inn is one of just a few Maine restaurants taking advantage of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to build name recognition and draw in new customers.

IT'S TIME TO TWEET

Maine restaurants have been slow to embrace social networking at a time when they may need it most. Business at Maine eateries was down by about 10 to 15 percent in July, according to Dick Grotton, president of the Maine Restaurant Association, and some coastal restaurants that depend on hotel and resort traffic are off by as much as 20 to 30 percent.

"We're way behind the eight ball here," Grotton said. "We're having a very tough summer."

Social networking sites can help create the buzz restaurants need to get more people in their seats or to build anticipation about a new restaurant.

Grace, a Portland restaurant located in the renovated Chestnut Street Church, was on Twitter for months before it actually opened for business. Its Twitter page often linked eager foodies to a blog where they could watch the progress of the renovations and hear first-hand when the owners finally hired a chef.

But Grace is the exception. Most Maine restaurants on Twitter have joined just since late spring, said Becky Jacobson, operations manager and twitterer at the Maine Restaurant Association.

The association has been trying to convince Maine restaurateurs that tweeting is worth the trouble. It's planning some workshops for the fall to teach them how to use social networking sites.

"We're pushing it heavily," Jacobson said. "I think there's a lot of evidence that the people who are using these media are drawn to businesses who use them as well."

James Tranchmontagne, chef and owner of the Frog and Turtle in Westbrook, says he is still surprised how many restaurants in Maine, especially in the Portland area, don't have any kind of online presence at all. Those that have Web sites often don't update them for months at a time.

"For a town that boasts being one of the best food towns in America, and how many people come here, you know, it's amazing how little interactive Web there is," he said.

Tranchemontagne uses Facebook, Twitter, Open Table, and e-mail marketing software to keep his regular customers up-to-date on specials and what bands are playing at his restaurant. Initially, he was skeptical about whether he really needed Twitter, so he just...