Tag Archives: Hotel & Restaurant

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 23 March

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The cost of the devastating fires to the Table Mountain National Park early this month is estimated at R6 million, not only for the fire-fighting costs, but also for facilities damaged or destroyed, and lost income in having to close the Silvermine and Tokai recreation areas for the next 6 – 24 months.

*   Sun International is to buy the Peermont Group, consisting of nine casino resorts in our country and in Botswana, for R9,4 billion.

*   The second season of the ‘Clover Little Big Cook Off‘ will be aired from 28 June on SABC3, with judges and hosts Continue reading →

Thelema Wines to sparkle with new MCC this year!

Thelema Banner and candle Whale Cottage PortfolioThelema hosted a tasting of its Thelema and Sutherland brand wines for hotel and restaurant staff as well as writers at Dear Me in the city centre yesterday.  At the tasting it was announced that a Thelema MCC will be launched later this year.

We were welcomed with a glass of 1994 MCC, a once-off production, which had been made for a family wedding.  It was disgorged three years ago. Thelema was bought by Gyles Webb in 1983, then a 157 ha fruit farm. It is one of the highest and coolest wine estates in the area.  The first wines were produced in 1988. The Thelema Family Trust bought the 100 ha Sutherland farmThelema MCC Whale Cottage Portfolio in Elgin in 2002, and half of the apple orchards were replaced with vines.  The Sutherland wines are slower to ripen, being grown in the cooler climate Elgin, have more minerality, are more approachable, and can be drunk sooner. They are made at Thelema’s cellar in Stellenbosch.  Rudi Schultz has been the winemaker since 2000, with Webb the Cellarmaster. Thelema is particularly well-known for its Cabernet Sauvignon. Continue reading →

kulula and Robertsons #SkyDine demonstrates Partnership Marketing, but is it credible?!

Robertsons #SkyDine 1012150_615996955141343_1635024227_nA workshop held above Truth coffee shop about ten days ago, at which One Up Agency’s Alex Harrington-Griffin and Cape Town Magazine Managing Director Marcus Zandhuis spoke, focused on the concept of Partnership and Collaboration Marketing, and used Robertsons’ recent #SkyDine collaboration with kulula.com as one example of such marketing.

The Robertsons #SkyDine promotion is an interesting if not bizarre example of Partnership Marketing. Chatting to the brand’s Social Media Manager at The Ultimate Braai Master Cape finals on Saturday, he explained that Liquorice, the company he works for, only handled the Social Media aspects of the campaign.  Durban-based ad agency The Hardy Boys, handling the Robertsons’ account, conceptualised the campaign. A planeful of bloggers and food journalists from Cape Town (and Johannesburg) was invited by marcusbrewster, the campaign PR agency, to a surprise flight to Johannesburg, and on the return flight to Cape Town, Reuben Robertsons Riffel introduced the surprise 3-course meal which he had designed, and which was prepared by airline catering company Foodirections. Utilising plane crockery and an airline catering company, food plating and presentation was disappointing.  We recognised Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 26 – 29 December

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The price of petrol will increase by 38 cents a litre on 1 January, taking the new petrol price to R13,20 at the coast, reports the Weekend Argus.

*   According to eTV News (another) new (national) liquor law will force all bars to offer free condoms and free drinking water!   A bartender interviewed said that he did not see it as his job to offer sex education!  In a related article, Hotel & Restaurant writes that other guidelines applicable to accommodation establishments and restaurants that are contained in the draft liquor legislation are that the minimum drinking age may be upped to 21 years; that condoms supplied for free must be tested for efficacy; that pregnant women may not be served alcohol; the street outside the establishments must be kept clean and no loitering outside is allowed!;  women with long fingernails and sharp objects such as nail files and scissors may not be allowed in on-consumption premises!;  and any noise linked to the establishment selling alcohol must remain inside the establishment.

*   Global digital agency Critical Mass has been appointed by SA Tourism to develop a campaign which will attract more UK tourists to South Africa, something that has been in decline in the past three summer seasons!

*   The next Stellenbosch Street Soiree will be held on 15 January, from 18h00 – 20h00, in the lower part of Church Street.  The cost Continue reading →