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Xando.com

by Lura Lee

This site review is from June 2000. This site no longer exists.

Name: Xando Coffee and Bar
URL: www.xando.com
Coffee Genre: Coffeehouse

An Upscale Cafe Deserves a Cutting Edge Web Presence

Many cafes have a disconnect between the physical location and the web presence. This is not the case for the East Coast based Xando Coffee and Bar. Xando excels at creating a web site that is just as sleek and well designed as the cafe. Xando has developed an excellent Flash-based site that allows the user to enter the virtual cafe.

visit the XANDO home page

XANDO.com Works

Having been to Xando locations in Washington DC and Northern Virginia, I can attest that Xando.com captures the feel of the cafe. Both have an upscale, relaxing look that makes you want to sit back and sip your beverage instead of running out the door with a travel mug.

The Xando Flash Tour includes:

  • A beatnik character and an upscale business woman that act as virtual guides through the site.
  • A history of the cafe and an explanation of the term "Xando".
  • An overview of the menu with a detailed explanation of some house specialties, such as the Mocha Martini.
  • A map showing cafe locations with addresses and phone numbers
  • Lots of puns using the letter X (example: "Xando Xpando").

Xando Xtras

Xando has also included a 360 degree panorama tour of the Hartford, CT cafe. This provides the guest with an opportunity to check out the entire cafe from your browser. This is a great idea for any cafe that wants to showcase its ambiance.

Take a walk around tour.

Room for Improvement

The majority of this site is done in Flash, which means that anywhere from 10-12% of users will not be able to access the information. They should offer a non-Flash version of the site for browsers without Macromedia's Flash plugin. Additionally, the site doesn't have enough navigation icons. It takes some investigation to find the left side navigation.

Is the site being updated? Last night I walked by the Xando in the Old Town section of Alexandria, VA that isn't listed on the site. As new Xando locations open, the web site should be updated.

Summary

Xando.com has succeeded in transferring the beauty of a well-designed cafe into a swanky web site. All coffee houses that pride themselves on ambiance should take note of Xando.com and use their site as a web role model. INeedCoffee is proud to award the June 2000 Site of The Month award to Xando Coffee and Bar.

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