Restaurant-Specific Domains .Rest and .Bar Are Here

Restaurant and bar owners can now make the nature of their businesses hyper clear on the internet: According to a press release, Mexico City-based "domain portfolio" Punto 2012 has pre-released access to the new generic top-level domains .rest, .bar, and .cafe. The industry-specific categories — which were announced back in May at the National Restaurant Association Show — were designed to be "snazzier than the obsolete and overly-saturated (boring) .com address," and had previously been available as part of an exclusive-sounding "VIP registration" program.

Earlier this week, Punto 2012 placed the domains on the market as part of a "landrush" stage, "wherein any person in the world can apply to obtain" a specific name. (Generally speaking, domains offered during the "landrush" stage are extremely generic — "new-york.rest" and "frenchwine.bar" are among the domains currently up for grabs — and thus, come at a premium cost, attracting squatters who plan to resell the name later.)

After the landrush phase, anyone can register their .rest or .bar domain name starting July 14, officially kick-starting a rush on restaurant-specific domains. Earlier this week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers gave approval to the domains .wine and .vin.

· What is .rest? [Punto 2012]
· Domain Boom for Restaurants and Bars Begins [BusinessWire]
· All Internet Coverage on Eater [-E-]