Move over .com, .net and .org—the restaurant and food industry is set for the biggest digital evolution in its history with the global launch of the .menu Top-Level Domain.

.menu offers a new, intuitive and targeted namespace which will allow restaurateurs and food service industry professionals to expand their web presence beyond .com to a more relevant corner of the Internet.

This week marks an important milestone in the launch of .menu as it officially transitioned from concept to technical reality when it was added live to the Internet.

ARI Registry Services, the appointed technology provider for .menu, facilitated the delegation of .menu to the Internet’s authoritative servers this week to enable it to technically operate on the web.

Adrian Kinderis, CEO at ARI Registry Services, congratulated .menu on the achievement.

“The launch of the .menu Top-Level Domain will be a game-changer for the online restaurant scene. It’s easy to imagine the creative capability of the namespace; just think italian.menu, gordonramsay.menu or subway.menu,” Mr Kinderis said.

“I predict the floodgates will now open as restaurants, chefs, food bloggers and anyone else involved in the service of food will rush to register their very own .menu domain name.”

A .menu domain name will provide restaurants and other food service businesses with a unique tool to attain broad global exposure. The word menu means the same thing in over 30 different languages and reflects the most important item of information consumers look for in the food and beverage industry.

Following this week’s milestone, the next steps in the launch process for .menu will include the following processes (Subject to change):

Sunrise
Open: Dec 07, 2013 (15:00 UTC)
Close: Feb 05, 2014 (15:00 UTC)
Landrush
Open: Feb 10, 2014 (15:00 UTC)
Close: Mar 12, 2014 (15:00 UTC)
General Registration
Open: Mar 17, 2014 (15:00 UTC)

Please contact your retailer of domain names for more information about where you can purchase a .menu domain name.