Tag Archives: internet

Social Media vital tourism communication and information source, also for Cape Town

Social Media marketing is one of the most important means of communication with potential tourists, in planning their trips, and these media are also used by them to share their holiday information experiences during and after their holidays.   This is one of the trends that Cape Town Tourism reported on its return from the “Future Day” Convention held in Berlin last week, running in conjunction with ITB (Internationale Tourismusbörse), the world’s largest travel trade fair.

The internet in general is the most important source of travel information, with 95 % of travellers searching for information on-line, and more than half booking on-line, up by 10 percentage points from 45 % in just two years.   In the USA just more than half of travellers use social media to research travel destinations and to make online bookings.  Travel tips from friends, interactive bookings and mobile travel guides are some of the social media travel applications that influence travel by travellers.  

Mobile phones play a vital part in this travel communication, because they are easily portable and accessible, unlike laptops, which are dependent on wifi access.   While on holiday or on a business trip, travellers can use their iPhones, Blackberries and other phones to find and share information about the destination.   With large increases in tourists coming from Asian countries, and China in particular (46 million travellers in 2010, and 155 million mobile Internet subscribers), and another 127 million in India, it is vital that tourism destinations such as Cape Town reach tourists via mobile phones, and smart phones in particular.   The World Travel Monitor has found that 40 % of international travellers travel with a smart  phone with internet, e-mail and other functions, with the balance holding a conventional mobile phone.   Of the smart phone users, 40 % use them to obtain destination information, and 26 % of leisure travellers and 34% of business travellers use them to change bookings while travelling.   Just more than a third of international travellers use their smart phones to access mobile social networks.   This leads to tourists posting content to their Facebook pages or Blogs, or photographs on Twitter or Flickr, whilst they are still at the destination.   In future it is likely to see that photographs and information posted will have GPS information, with screens providing travel information.

The travel and tourism trends which Cape Town Tourism brought back from ITB are the following:

*   Globalisation, demographic change and climate change are the three most important trends affecting tourism.  Climate change has created a moral debate amongst travellers about the effect of a long haul flight to a city like Cape Town on the carbon footprint, a potential threat to tourism to our country, if the local tourism industry cannot find ways to communicate to these travellers how they can offset their long-haul travel whilst in the country.  The Convention predicted that “individual carbon budgets could be in the pipeline”.  

*   The largest tourism growth has come from Asia and South America.   This year international travel is expected to grow by 3 – 4 %.  Cape Town Tourism is confident about the benefit of the massive Asian travel market, and our suitable weather in the low season to accommodate these travellers.  

*   Tourism marketing is no longer about the destination, but about the customer.  The traveller can be segmented as follows:

    *   the “too busy to care” traveller, who can not be bothered to give destination or product feedback

    *   Travellers leading complex lives and whose finances are under pressure, working harder and their leisure time reducing.

    *   Travellers looking for simplicity and a return to basics.   Their mantra is : “Slow living, slow food and slow travel”

    *   Wealthy travellers are harder to please, and set higher demands from the destinations they visit. 

*   Sustainability is now vital, and no longer a ‘nice to have’.  All elements in the tourism cycle need to be environmentally sustainable.

*   Despite an improvement in the economic well-being of the world since the recession struck three years ago, tourists are still being careful with their money.  Tourism spend is expected to increase by 7 % this year.  

*   The tourism businesses that can understand what makes their “customers tick” will be the ones that will “lead the way to prosperity”.

*   Neuromarketing is the new ‘science’ of communication, and is a recognition that up to 95 % of all decisions are made subconsciously.   Marketing communication is moving toward imagery and language that can influence the subconscious decision-making of travellers.   Four types of customers are identified:

   *   The Economical Customer relates to data, facts and efficiency

   *   The Relationship Customer relates to harmony, partnership, trust and a personal approach

   *   The Trendsetter Customer relates to opportunities, gut feeling and creativity

   *   The Exclusive Customer relates to aesthetics, quality and vision.

*   Finally, the ability to communicate in an instant is the “most interesting innovation in tourism marketing”, writes Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold.   Social Media is the communication tool which allows information to be personalised to travellers, and shared with them instantly.

To market a city brand such a Cape Town effectively, it must be authentic, it must appeal to locals first, it must have emotional pull, and must have real stories to tell, said Mrs Helmbold.   She also said that travellers spend the most time of their holiday experience in the “planning and memory phase of their holidays and sharing their experiences now takes place on Facebook and Twitter”, the holiday album becoming something of the past.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:  www.whalecottage.com   Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Hotel Review: Taj Cape Town dinner good, but staff service not 5-star!

I often stay in five-star accommodation, to see what we can learn from it.  When a special offer was made to members of Gastronauts, attending a dinner at The Taj Cape Town last week, I grabbed the opportunity to experience this hotel, and made a booking.   I had booked the hotel room to share with my colleague, to allow her to experience the advertised 5-star service, but a last-minute guest arrival prevented her from joining me.  I was relieved in hindsight that she could not join me, because I would not want the service I experienced at The Taj to be her benchmark for service quality.  I was so frustrated by the poor staff service that I experienced that I checked out of this The Leading Hotels of the World member hotel just after midnight.

It started when I knew that my colleague could not join me, so I called the hotel at 16h00 on the day of my stay, to ask for the room to be changed from a twin-bed one to one with a king bed.  I asked for the Reservations Manager who had handled my booking, and the call went through to his answering machine. I did not receive a call back, and called again an hour later, to be told that he wasn’t feeling well, and that he had been sent home.  Clearly no one was listening to his messages. 

When I arrived, I parked at Mandela Rhodes Place (free parking here is included in the package, as the hotel does not have its own parking), and I had to carry my overnight bag, my computer bag, and my dress bag from the parking garage to the hotel.  A Taj doorman saw me coming along, and quickly opened the door, and welcomed me back (odd, as I had just arrived!), but made no effort to help me with my bags.   There was only one receptionist on duty, and she was assisting a security officer linked to a VIP room.  There was no acknowledgement of my presence until she had finished with the other person.  She then asked me mechanically “How can we be of assistance?”.  It was quite obvious that I was checking in, given the luggage that I had with me, but this seemed to be a surprise to her.   I was then told that I had to sign the ‘Legal document’ – this is when my hair started to stand on end.  She asked if I wanted to go to the lobby for the check-in.  As if I was a tourist, I was asked for my passport, not a document I normally walk around with in my home city of Cape Town!   I was offered a non-alcoholic drink in a tiny glass, but requested a glass of water, lemon and ice from Andrea, when she asked me what I wanted to drink.   I was served a glass of lukewarm tap water without ice and lemon.  When I fed this back to Andrea, she seemed quite relaxed about it, without apology, and the water was replaced with what I had ordered.  

The ‘Legal document’ I signed had no details about my stay, other than my name, the rate, and the date of stay.   However it had eleven Terms and Conditions, in very small print, that I was asked to sign.  Being very cautious of such ‘legal documents’, especially as she used this term, I studied the document in detail.  Some of these terms are rather scary.  For example, it states that the rate on the ‘registration card’ is exclusive of taxes and is ‘for room only’.  It was confirmed to me that the rate included Breakfast, but this is not stated in the terms and conditions, and I had to write this into the ‘legal document’.   The hotel has the right to take a ‘lien’ on guest luggage and belongings if one does not pay what is due, and these can then be sold or auctioned off.   No responsibility at all is taken for theft or other loss.   The clause that caught my eye was the following: “The Management reserves to itself the absolute right of admission to any person in the hotel premises and to request any guest to vacate his or hers (sic) room at any moment without previous notice and without assigning any reason whatsoever and the guest shall be bound to vacate when requested to do so” – not the best way to inspire confidence and trust in the hotel and its operation on arrival.   A clause relates to ‘tenancy’ and ‘sub-tenancy’  and is not understandable at all, it is so full of legalese!   Very nervously I signed the ‘Legal document’; and asked for a photocopy, to record which rights I had signed away!

I was then chased along to go to the room.   Again I had to carry all my own luggage to the room!  I had to laugh when the staff member asked if she could book a table for dinner for me, but I had booked specifically due to the Gastronauts dinner at the hotel, which Andrea said was not reflected on my booking!  She kept calling me by my surname, which is a 5-star hotel habit, but it is so formal.  I asked her to call me “Chris”, but she clearly felt uncomfortable doing so.  It reflected what the problem is in this hotel – a lack of communication between staff members and departments.  Andrea asked me if I would be using the internet, a rather silly question, as I was clearly lugging my laptop with me.    Proactively she offered to expand my internet allocation to a 24 hour one, instead of the half an hour free service guests are entitled to, the only good service I received outside of the Mint restaurant at the Taj Hotel.   I do question the half an hour allocation – surely internet connection is an entry level service accommodation establishments should offer these days, especially at 5-star level.  The cost of the 24 hour service is a preposterous R230.   Andrea called for an ice bucket so that I could add ice to my bottle of water, which was at the bed.  It arrived without ice tongs, and I had to take the ice with my fingers.   Andrea asked me if I would need to know anything else, having switched on the TV, showing a promotional Taj programme.   She did not explain how to find the TV channels or how to use the phone, all of which became an issue later on.  Luckily I referred to the room directory, and I was guided to find it in the drawer of the desk – I would never have thought of looking for it there.  I found a welcome letter in my room, signed with ‘warmest regards’ from the Assistant Front Office Manager, and I was asked to note the ‘key facilities’ of the hotel, so that I could enjoy a ‘memorable stay’!  The room card holder gushes on this theme too: “Our team is committed to making your stay not only comfortable but also memorable in every way” – I am sure the experience I had is not the ‘memorability’ that the hotel had in mind!

The room has a beautiful view onto Table Mountain, especially on the 8th floor level.   It has a comfortable desk, with the clever placement of plug points above the desk, and not below it.  A table had a welcome bottle of Doolhof wine, some fruit, chocolates and a plate with pannacotta on it.  The bathroom is well-appointed, with bath and shower, and Molton Brown  bathroom amenities.  It is not the most luxurious hotel room that I have stayed in, but it appeared comfortable and spacious.

Prior to the Gastronauts dinner we had sparkling wine in the lobby, being a glass of Môreson Solitaire MCC NV (Veritas Gold).   The hotel would have known how many persons were booked for the dinner, but the sparkling wine had run out when I arrived, the waiter told us.   It took some time before he found some more of it.  We were served canapés, being gruyere profiteroles and white asparagus jelly.  We were ushered into Mint restaurant, and I was told at which table I was to sit.  I chose a place in the middle of the table, and was then forced to move from this seat, as the chair was booked by another member, I was told.  There were no name cards on the table, and I was most determinedly moved by the Beverages Manager.   In the end it turned out to be a blessing, sitting with Angelo and Tina Casu from Grand Dedale, Samarie Smith from Die Burger and her partner Paul Swanepoel, with Takuan von Arnim and his wife Christiane of Haute Cabriere, and Michael Pownall, GM of the Taj Hotel.   Michael came to South Africa for the opening of the Cape Sun in 1994, then opened La Vendôme Hotel in Sea Point, moved to the Mount Nelson Hotel, and then spent some time in America for Orient Express, the owners of the Mount Nelson, amongst others. Michael and Angelo worked together at the Cape Sun and at the Mount Nelson.  In 2008 Michael returned to open the Taj Cape Town, a challenge as he was involved in the renovations, which incorporated the old Board of Executors and the South African Reserve Bank buildings.

The set menu, without choices, was printed on hand-made paper with an orange and gold-embossed backing, and rolled up with a ribbon, looking elegant and unusual.   Three sets of cutlery were laid out per guest.  Willowcreek olive oil and balsamic vinegar were on the table, as was a basket of delicious mixed rolls.  The Gastronauts dinner and wine pairing was good, and the service excellent.   The dinner had been specifically paired with 2010 Gold and Double Gold Veritas award-winning wines, Bennie Howard, the Gastronauts’ chairman and Veritas Awards’ Deputy Chairman, and the Taj head chef Sayam Longani pairing the food courses and the wines.  The starter was a duck and goose liver terrine which was served with an interesting grape compote, and thinly sliced toast, and was paired with De Wetshof Finesse Chardonnay 2009 (Veritas Gold).  Bennie told us that De Wetshof makes eight excellent Chardonnays, and that the Finesse goes well with food, being rich and elegant.  I did not enjoy the sage-baked kabeljou, finding it dry and rather boring, but it was paired with a heavenly Cederberg Chenin Blanc 2010 (Veritas Double Gold), a delicious fruity wine.  For the pairing of the softest deconstructed Karan Beef Wellington, served with the cutest porcini mushroom pie, we were offered two wine choices – Bilton Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (Veritas Gold) and the Lamond Cape Agulhus Syrah 2008 (Veritas Double Gold), and for many the Bilton was the preferred wine.   Dessert was an unexciting dark chocolate parfait with orange jelly, and one had the choice of pairing it with a yummy Fleur du Cap Noble Late Harvest 2009 (Veritas Double Gold), or a Van Rhyn’s 12 year brandy (Veritas Double Gold).   Friandises were served with a choice of coffees, to round off a lovely evening.

After dinner I wanted another cappuccino, and I asked a staff member of the hotel when the Twankey Bar closes.  She told me at about midnight or 12.30 am.  I went to pop in at Brio first to have a coffee there, and then went to Twankey.   It was 23h20.   There were other guests in the bar.   When I asked for a cappuccino, I was told that the bar was closed, as they had cashed up already, despite the other guests still being there.  I asked the waiter if he could add the coffee to the room bill, to which he answered in the affirmative, but no coffee ever arrived.  He was very keen for me to use the hotel bar, which I did not see nor was I shown – I thought it was the Twankey!  When I returned into the hotel, I was welcomed back once again by the doorman, clearly a standard line.

On my return to the room at about 11.30 pm the turn-down had been done, and a letter of departure (I had not used the room for more than an hour at that time) was already waiting for me, thanking me for my choice of hotel, trusting that I “had a memorable time”, and wishing me “a safe journey onwards”.   It also requested that I complete a Guest Feedback Survey, and stated that “all at Taj Cape Town look forward to welcoming you back to our special hotel in the very near future”.   The survey has some oddities – it refers to “associates anticipating and meeting your personal preferences” and the “ability of our associates to ensure no disturbances occur…”, meaning that the staff must be referred to as ‘associates’, a first in the hospitality industry, to my knowledge.

Needing to do some work, and always working with the television on, I tried to find channel 23, which the TV list said was Deutsche Welle.   I wanted to pick up on the latest news about the resignation of the German Defence Minister.  I could not get the remote to change anything on the TV, and had to work out how to use the phone to call for help.  I could not be advised about the TV channels on the phone, and was told that someone would call me back.  A knock on the door presented the duty manager and her colleague.  She arrogantly told me that the use of the remote to find the TV channels was self-explanatory!   However, it was not that clear to her either, as she struggled for about ten minutes to get to channel 23 !  However, channel 23 was set on ProSieben (an irritating common channel) and not on Deutsche Welle.  I was told that they could not send an IT person to my room to fix the problem immediately, and would only be able to do so the next morning, when I was due to check out!   I explained to the Duty Manager that they just needed to change the programme selection within the German bouquet.   I heard nothing further, and had to call again.  I was promised a call back, which did come some time later, but I could not work out how to answer the room phone.  I then called the Front Desk.  Here a new person answered the phone, telling me that his colleagues had left for the day, and that I would have to wait for IT for the next day to fix the “Dutch TV” problem!!!   Once again a communication problem between staff was evident.  By now I had quite enough, and decided that I could only escape this service nightmare by checking out and going home.   Michael Pownall was standing at Reception when I left, and asked what was wrong.  I promised him a report.  Kindly he sent a staff member to accompany me to the Mandela Rhodes Place parking garage, and once again I carried all my belongings myself.  So I did not get to try out The Taj Cape Town bed, the bathroom, the pool, or the breakfast, but I was far happier once I had left for home.

The Taj Hotel has a nice GM, and good staff at Mint Restaurant, but the Reception staff have a ‘falseness’ about them, being like ‘tape recorders’, saying the same thing over and over again to each guest without the ability to vary their standard message, and do not have complete information about the hotel (e.g. the Twankey Bar closing time), or about their guests.   The staff arrogance is a shame, as The Taj Cape Town is so beautiful, and could be welcoming to Capetonians too.   I did not experience five-star service at The Taj Cape Town, and certainly did not have a ‘memorable stay’!

Taj Cape Town, Wale Street, Cape Town.   Tel (021) 819-2000.  www.tajhotels.com 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Restaurant Awards: how do chefs feel about them?

The latest Opulent Living magazine, one of the best lifestyle magazines available currently, and clever about marrying the magazine with a regular e-magazine that is easy to navigate, as well as with a blog, contains an interview with three leading chefs, and all three said that restaurant awards have both negatives and positives attached to them.

The three chefs interviewed were David Higgs of Rust en Vrede, number one on the South African Top 10 Eat Out restaurant list, Margot Janse of Le Quartier Français, and Luke Dale Roberts, previously of La Colombe and now owner of The Test Kitchen and number one Eat Out Top 10 chef in 2009.  All three chefs made it to the San Pellegrino Top 50 Restaurants in the World, Dale-Roberts’ ranking being the best ever South African performance, with his 12th position in 2010.

Acknowledging the  power of restaurant awards, in terms of increased awareness and resulting in bookings, the chefs felt that it created a negative pressure on themselves and their staff prior to the awards events.   “To be honest with you, the less awards, the less stars and all those things that we have to think about, the better our lives are” said Luke Dale-Roberts.   He added that he thought that awarding stars was better, as it means that there are no winners and losers.  Then it is no longer a competition, and one is just competing against oneself, to maintain that star.  David Higgs added that awards place a lot of pressure on chefs.

David Higgs said that he felt that South African cuisine is on a par with international restaurants, but it was felt that service levels were not yet on a par with the food.  All three restaurants work hard at this.  Rust en Vrede is only open five nights a week, and the other days are used for training, hands-on by the chef.   It was felt that South African chefs are not moulded by a particular food style as may happen in Europe, and there is more standardisation and duplication of dishes on European menus (e.g. cauliflower pureé with scallops, or foie gras).   As South Africa does not have a distinctive food style, it gives chefs a far greater opportunity to experiment, and to not be pigeon-holed in their cuisine style. 

All three the chefs focus on local produce, but introduce an imported product on occasion, to share a special treat (e.g. a French cheese, Kobe beef) with their patrons.   The three chefs agreed to sharing supplier names, but felt weary of too much sharing as they are sometimes blatantly copied.   The internet and television have added to the food knowledge of chefs and their restaurants, and David Higgs said that the public are appreciating food better.

POSTSCRIPT 15/4: It has been announced that David Higgs has resigned from Rust en Vrede, and will leave mid-June. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter:@WhaleCottage

Winestyle and TASTE crush Crush! digital food and wine magazine!

We have written about Crush!1, Crush!2 and Crush!3, Michael Olivier’s digital food and wine magazine, which he launched last year.   As other publications are being launched which embrace food and wine, both digitally and in print, I chose to evaluate Crush!4 against its competitors, putting myself in the shoes of a food and/or wine marketer, deciding where to spend a marketing budget, and as a food and wine lover, deciding where to spend my time reading.   I evaluated Winestyle, TASTE, and Crush!4, all three magazines focusing on food and wine, with a Postscript on Crush!5.

Winestyle

The first (Summer) issue of Winestyle was sent to subscribers (note one does not pay to receive the magazine) in December, and its concept is a most creative and environmentally-friendly “print on demand” one.  This saves the publishers from over-printing, saving paper and costs, and ultimately the environment.  It is published quarterly.  What makes it unique is that a weekly newsletter is sent by e-mail to each subscriber, updating them on food and wine news.  While the brand carry-over is not strong in terms of the banner design of the newsletter (initially I thought the newsletters were from wine consultant Nikki Dumas, who has a similar company name).   This builds brand awareness weekly, and bridges the quarterly print publishing period.

The 88-page magazine is larger than the standard A4 size, and has an attractive cover, although it is not photographed in a vineyard.  The paper quality is outstanding, as is the photography.  Editor Jenny Ratcliffe-Wright is from Warwick wine estate originally, where her mother Norma and brother Mike make excellent wines, and this makes Jenny well-connected to the wine industry.  In her editorial Jenny writes: “It is our intention to help everyone make full use of every wine-drinking day …. it’s your passport to all things enjoyable, to in-the-know wines, delicious and simple-to-prepare food and accessible travel – all in a large, sexy, glossy, collectible magazine”.   The theme of the Summer edition is celebration, and therefore champagnes and sparkling wines are predominantly featured.

Advertising support is impressive for a first edition, and reflects the confidence of the advertisers in the publication, and wine estates Graham Beck,  Glen Carlou, Clos Malverne, Kleine Zalze,  Nederburg, Highlands Road Estate, OBiKWA, Creation, Eikendal, Adoro Wines, Muratie, and Morgenhof have taken full-page ads.  Jenny anticipates having 2500 subscribers by the time the next issue is launched in March.

The editorial content includes a focus on sparkling wine producers in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, including JC le Roux, Simonsig, Villiera, Morgenhof, Cabrière, Graham Beck, Anura, and Sterhuis, and recommends accommodation and restaurants in the area.  A profile on a very casual looking Jean-Philippe Colmant, making excellent bubbly in Franschhoek and importing champagnes, is written by Cape Talk’s John Maytham.  A travel feature focuses on the Champagne region, which is informative and has beautiful photographs.  A food feature focuses on Tapas, with short recipes, and amazing photography by Christoph Heierli.  A Restaurant feature recommends places offering ‘alfresco dining’ in Johannesburg, Durban, the Winelands and Cape Town.   A feature on cocktails has some that call for sparkling wine. The results of a wine-tasting, a panel comparing South African sparkling wines Silverthorn, Colmant Brut, Villiera, Jacques Bruére, and Simonsig, with champagnes Moët & Chandon, Veuve Cliquot, Piper-Heidsieck, Pol Roger and Tribaut Brut Tradition, are featured.  Joint first winners were Silverthorn the Green Man Brut and Tribaut Brut Tradition.  A tasting panel evaluation of the 2010 vintage Sauvignon Blanc of Groote Post, David Nieuwoudt Ghost Corner, Neil Joubert, Arabella, Sophie Terblance, Delaire, Diemersdal, Klein Constantia, De Grendel and Du Toitskloof ranks them in this order.  An article on cigars concludes what must be the most excellent food and wine publication available locally now.

I cannot wait for the Autumn edition.  I do recommend that there be more synergy between the magazine and the newsletter as well as its website in terms of branding and design.  Of the three magazines reviewed in this blogpost, Winestyle is the best by far, and we congratulate editor Jenny on this achievement for her maiden issue.

TASTE

Woolworths’ in-house magazine is written and published by New Media Publishing, and they have regularly won ADMag and Pica Awards for Customer Magazine of the Year for it, most recently in 2009.   It costs R20,95, is published monthly, and is sold in outlets other than Woolworths too.   It is A4 in size, with 134 pages, and does not have a statement to describe what it stands for, but its cover photograph represents food.  Wines appear to be a secondary focus.  The editor is highly regarded Sumien Brink, with Abigail Donnelly ably at her side.

Advertisers are a mixed bunch, including car retailers, liquor brands (Darling Cellars, Krone, Bombay Sapphire, Veuve Cliquot, Brand House), watch brands, kitchen suppliers, decor brands, food brands (Lancewood, Lindt), investment companies, a restaurant (Cape Town Fish Market), and accommodation, most of the brands not sold by Woolworths at all.

The editorial content of the December issue includes a Trends feature, and food related trends are featured with beautiful large photographs by Lee Malan and Jan Ras.  Where recipes are featured, they are short and sweet, and do not dominate the look of any page (something competitors House and Leisure Food can learn from).  A Foodstuff feature focuses on products that are sold at Woolworths, but most are non-branded items, and the Woolworths link is very low key. It even has an interview with and one done by Andy Fenner, who writes the JamieWho? blog, a contributor to Crush! issues 2, 3 and 4, but he has withdrawn his support, probably due to his new (not yet clearly defined) involvement with Woolworths, and not wanting to be associated with his friend David Cope’s disparaging Twitter campaign against ourselves, in retaliation to our review of Crush!3.   A chicken feature by man-of-the-moment Justin Bonello, a fish focus by Sam Woulidge, a canapé feature by Mariana Esterhuizen of Mariana’s, a feature on Dewetshof by Woolworths wine consultant Allan Mullins, and a feature on Oded Schwartz of Oded’s Kitchen and his relishes, chutneys and preserves, follow.  Christmas recipes are featured, but are few in number.  Restaurants featured are the fabulous Babel on Babylonstoren (next door to Backsberg), and the heavenly Hemelhuijs.  Blueberries are featured, with recipes, as are Summer lunch recipes.  An exclusive extract from Australian Bill Granger’s receipe book “Bill’s Basics” is featured.  A travel feature by Judy van der Walt focuses on the Dordogne region, and the magazine ends off with a month’s worth of recipes for snacks, lunches, tea time, and suppers.

I hadn’t bought a TASTE magazine for a while, and remembered it to be more attractive and impactful.  The focus may be too much on recipes, and too little on wines.   The features are written by good quality journalists, and could possibly be expanded.   I liked the way Woolworths as a brand is not ‘in your face’ when reading the magazine – in fact I wouldn’t have minded more direct brand-linkage, to know what to look for when next I shop.  There are so many organic and other quality suppliers to Woolworths of fruit and vegetables and other foods, as well as of wines, which could all be the subject of features, not necessarily linked to recipes only.  A “new Woolworths products” feature would be welcome.  For a marketer, TASTE would be an important advertising medium to consider, given its association with Woolworths, and the profile of the Woolworths shopper, with a reasonable disposable income.    There is little carry-over between the magazine and its website.

Crush!4

The digital food and wine magazine Crush! has no print partner, and is haphazard in its publishing frequency. On Twitter the editorial team hint at how busy they are in doing work for the publication, but on average it appears to take them two months or longer to publish a new issue.  The arrival of the new magazine is announced on Twitter and by e-mail, as one has to subscribe to receive a link to it, and is free of charge.

Crush!4  has 44 pages and was published early in December.  It appears to have lost its restaurant reviewer JP Rossouw, and Olivier has taken over writing the restaurant reviews, something we suggested in one of our earlier Crush! reviews.   We are delighted with another of our recommendations that Olivier adopted, which was to let (lady) bloggers participate in his magazine, and he has done so by giving highly regarded blogger Jane-Anne Hobbs from Scrumptious blog a recipe feature, and he has introduced a recipe competition, in which the recipes of bloggers Colleen Grove, Jeanne Horak-Druiff, Meeta Khurana-Wolff and Nina Timm can be evaluated by readers.

The navigation of the pages, and more particularly the content on each page, remains tedious. The front cover looks better, the copy on top of the photograph being easier to read, but it is not yet perfect, especially when one compares the ‘less is more’ covers of the two other magazines above.  Most flashing gimmicks have been removed from the front cover, and have largely been discontinued.   Advertising support is poor, and appears reduced relative to previous issues, and compared to the two other publications above, with only Hidden Valley, Pongracz, Laborie, Old Mutual and Ultra Liquors advertising.

The content consists of a wine page written by Olivier, and features premium brandy cocktails, a vineyard dog, wine finds, a wine myth and an overview of Sauvignon Blanc.  The Essentials page, as before, has products with poor brand recognition, but the names are typed alongside each product.  A Plaisir de Merle feature is a good promotion for the wine estate.  The recipe pages by Jane-Anne Hobbs have fantastic photography done by herself (perhaps she should become the Crush!photographer!), but I could only get to see three recipes (soup, dessert, gammon) – I am sure there were more, judging by the six bottles alongside the opening recipe, and Olivier recommends a wine per recipe.   The names of the wines are not typed alongside the bottles.   The JamieWho? page by Andy Fenner is blocked by a Laborie promotion box, still has silly moving balloon captions, and focuses on Absinthe, Champagne, Hangover Cures, Jardine’s Christmas cake,  and Christmas cocktails.  In two of his mini-stories the copy ends mid-sentence.  The review of Babel Restaurant at Babylonstoren is blocked by a competition box, and one does not know how to close it.  Restaurant names at the bottom of the Babel article are harder to read on the right hand side, especially ‘Cafeen’.

A seven-day recipe card feature by Carey Boucher-Erasmus (a food consultant to the Pick ‘n Pay Cookery School, according to Google) is easy to follow and read, but no information is supplied about who Carey is.  There is no consistency in the colours used for the names of white and red wines alongside the bottles, the white wine names typed in blue (High Five) or in green (Quaff Now).   Sophia Lindop does great food features, but has used herbs in the last two issues (rocket in the current issue and rosemary last time), making it hard to see dishes prepared with these, and thus to have attractive photographs, even if they are photographed by star photographer Russel Wasserfall.   David Cope outs himself as a guest house reviewer, of South Hills, presented on a messy red and white check background which is similar to that which he uses on his ‘The Foodie’ blog.  A summer picnic spead looks good enough to eat off the screen, and is prepared by Luisa Farelo, but there is no indication as to who she is (I could not find any information about her on Google).  The focus on Parlotones wines, named after the group, is fun in having their music videos, but I did struggle to get one to play properly.  I also struggled to find the way to open the Prince Albert feature by Russel Wasserfall, eventually finding it at the bottom right, in the smallest possible type size.  A feature on trendy Artisan Breads tells the Knead story, with colour photographs, and mentions the names of only five other artisanal bakeries around the country – there are that many others in Cape Town alone!  Helen Untiedt’s organic vegetable garden, and a Book Review page conclude Crush!4.

My overwhelming frustration with Crush! is the difficulty of reading it, and the struggle to move forward or to close what one has opened.  The promotional boxes blocking copy remains a problem, which cheapens the magazine and is irritating to have to close.  Perhaps Olivier and the design team can look at Opulent Living’s e-magazine, only 8 pages long but published regularly – it is easy to read, has no promotions, with beautiful photographs – a top class digital magazine!   I was interested to see the Crush! blogger recipe rating, and the low participation is a surprise (the highest vote is by only 100 readers after two months), given Olivier’s claim that the magazine would go to more than 1 million readers!     If I were a marketer, I would not advertise in Crush!, as a digital magazine cannot present a food or wine brand with the appetite appeal that a print magazine can, especially given the poor pack presentation.  I would therefore love to see a print version of Crush!, as it contains lots of good information, and could make for beautiful pages of copy and photography, something one would want to keep.

POSTSCRIPT 8/2: 

Crush!5 was launched today.  JamieWho? (Andy Fenner) has been replaced by Neil Stemmet, a talented interior designer, and he adds an Afrikaans dimension to Crush!, with all five his recipes in Afrikaans on his “Soutenpeper” page (this is causing a problem for English readers!).  David Cope has lost his name, and is only referred to as “The Foodie”, with no red and white check background to his contributions anymore, and both his article on Paternoster, and on FoodWineDesign in Johannesburg (held in November!!), are long-winded and boring, with few attractive photographs.   Jane-Anne Hobbs (unfortunately) has been replaced by Clare Bock (owner of Appetite catering company, I learnt from Google) in a food/wine matching feature – by chance I worked out how this feature works – if you click on a wine bottle, an appropriate recipe pops up, rather than finding an appropriate wine to match the recipe!   The five food bloggers in the recipe rating section are complete unknowns.  Luisa Farelo (with an introduction in this issue – she is a chef and food stylist) does another feature, this time on Sunday lunches, and the styling is good enough to eat again.  A food and wine events calendar is a good new addition, while a classifieds section probably is not, the ads being so small that one cannot read them.  A feature on The Test Kitchen, and owner and chef Luke Dale-Roberts, is good with great food photographs, as is the one on Jordan Winery, but the labels underneath the bottles are so tiny that one may not see them.  The interview with Bertus Basson of Overture (Michael is a stickler for spelling, but misspells the restaurant name in his introduction) is weird, and probably does not do him a favour.  Advertisers are Fairview, Pongracz, Old Mutual, and Avocado magazine.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter: WhaleCottage