Tag Archives: Groupon

Restaurant Marketing: how to improve business!

restaraunt-marketing-ideasAn American article guides restaurants with 25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas, Tips and Strategy to win in the food business’, most of which are applicable to South Africa too.  Local restaurants are not known to be good at marketing their food and service!  The list of ideas suggested is as follows:

1.  Photographs are THE way to market restaurants, via Instagram in particular, ‘high-quality, drool-inducing photos’ being the best way to promote a restaurant.  It is worth investing in an excellent food photographer.

2.   Loyalty Programs on online food apps attract attention and reward loyal custom.

3.  In the USA Yelp is vital, positive reviews being a massive marketing plus.  It has not been heard Continue reading →

Time Freight Sweet Service and Tour HQ Sour Service Awards!

Time FreightThe Sweet Service Award goes to Time Freight, and is nominated by Marilyn Levin.   She wrote: I would like to nominate Lizette Groenewald from the firm Time Freight for your Sweet Award. She went out of her way to help me with an article I purchased through Groupon and went well beyond the call of duty – tracing the cupboard and keeping me informed as to its whereabouts. What a pleasure dealing with such an accommodating lady!’ Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 5 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Is it the right thing for Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom to feature in an ‘advertorial’ for Uber, (boringly) showing him booking his ride via phone in his Parliamentary office, and then being driven to the Cape Town International Convention Centre, where he addressed the eTourism Africa Summit as keynote speaker?

*   Graham Beck Blanc de Blancs 2009 has won World Champion Cap Classique, Best in its Class, as well as Gold in the 2014 Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships in London, with 650 wines from 16 countries evaluated.  Klein Constantia MCC Brut 2011 won Gold too, while Simonsig Cap Classique Kaapse Vonkel 2010 won Silver.  A total of 185 wines won a Gold or Silver medal.

*   Yuppiechef.com has been named the Best eCommerce Store in South Africa for the fifth year running, winning ahead of Continue reading →

‘Restaurant Babylon’: are SA restaurants snorting, spitting, and swearing too?!

Restaurant Babylon 2The ‘Babylon’ book series by Imogen Edwards-Jones, written on the basis of interviews with staff from the relevant industries, has become highly popular for its depth of behind the scenes insights told in a 24 hour operating day.   Her latest book is ‘Restaurant Babylon’, which was published last year, sharing the ‘saucy secrets of the world’s finest kitchens’.

The fictional Le Restaurant,  brasserie Le Table, and Le Bar are located within close proximity of each other in London, Le Restaurant being Michelin-starred.  The narrator is the restaurant owner.  For her book the writer interviewed sommeliers, chefs, maître d’s, owners, and ‘insiders’ working in the restaurant industry in the UK.

As Valentine’s Day is around the corner, it is apt to start with this event, being one of the most lucrative for the restaurant industry, with mark-ups and heavy drinking generating good profits for restaurants.  Christmas Day lunches and New Year’s Eve events are equally profitable.

Some of the key insights into restaurants are the following:

*   restaurant staff survive on extremely little sleep, as they enjoy a drink or more after they finish service, being hungover the next day.  Alcoholism is rife.

*   chefs burn out, due to the long hours, the stress, and lack of light in closed kitchens.  This leads to absenteeism, temper tantrums, and inconsistent cooking.

*   drug-taking is rife, to cope with the pressure and to stay awake, to cope with the hangover, or to be ‘sharp’ for service!  ‘Cocaine is everywhere‘ said the author in an interview.

*   claiming ‘organic’ ingredients ‘just makes the place look amateur‘.   The origin of one’s fish, meat, and vegetables is far more important to patrons.

*   some chefs over-order, and sell on their surplus, pocketing the income.

*   theft by staff is common, especially in the bar, selling bottles out of the back door and pocketing the income,  or pocketing cash income.

*   mark-ups are better on pizzas than they are on 7-course tasting menus!   Side dishes of chips, Continue reading →