Chef Julia Hattingh hosted a media launch at her brand new Reverie Social Table Restaurant in Observatory last night, serving a four-course dinner for a table of 18 guests 
ahead of the official opening on 1 October.
My Google Maps App became confused with the one-way streets of Observatory, but I found the restaurant on Lower Main Road, a well-lit restaurant with a collection of guests being visible from the street.
One notices the table for 18 on entering the restaurant, Continue reading →
Cape Town Tourism has been conducting a series of ‘Brand Cape Town’ workshops since late last year, to share with its members as well as bloggers and other stakeholders what the outcome has been of a brainstorming session to find a positioning for Cape Town and what it can/should be, and to focus its marketing activities, not only from a Tourism perspective, but also from a general Business approach.
Scanning the external environment, it identified threats such as the economic crisis, global urbanisation, and a greater consciousness about the impact of flying on the environment and climate change. It also faced the reality that the seasonality in Cape Town’s tourism industry, unique to our city compared to others in the country, reflects that Cape Town does not have enough business tourism, being the result perhaps of too large a focus on Leisure Tourism in the past, and too little on attracting businesspersons to have their meetings, events and conferences in Cape Town. Comparing the positioning of major world cities, e.g. Paris is Romance, New York is Energy, London is Tradition, it has historically been Beauty for Cape Town. Through its analysis, it was identified that the positioning of Inspiration is an overarching one that can position Cape Town beyond its more narrow tourism focus, to a broader one, reflecting the strengths of the City in respect of beauty, freedom, innovation, hope, creativity, diversity, dreams, ideas, and solutions to problems.
We have been critical about what we have seen in print about the Brand Cape Town workshops, but a completely different picture emerged in the presentation, which I was invited to attend last week, the last in the process of sharing the outcome of the brainstorm, and in obtaining input to the content of the branding and marketing debate. To justify the positioning of Inspiration, Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold took the attendees through the various ways in which Cape Town inspires its citizens, its local visitors, and its international tourists. It was an inspiring presentation, and afterwards I felt proudly Capetonian in having learnt a lot more about the achievements of our city and its people. The following were some of the Inspiration highlights identified for Cape Town in the presentation:
* Nelson Mandela took his first steps of freedom in Cape Town, and Cape Town should own this historic moment
* quality education facilities, with four top class universities in Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Stanford has set up a satellite campus in the city, and Harvard is said to follow suit. UCT had been voted top university in Africa, and best value for Money MBA in world in a Financial Times survey
* safe CBD
* excellent and modern infrastructure, including the airport, the IRT bus system, the station, highways, and the Cape Town Stadium
* ‘cosmopolitan entry point into South Africa and Africa’
* Focus on Biodiversity, with the smallest but most bountiful floral kingdom. Kirstenbosch has won gold or silver for the past 33 years at the Chelsea Flower Show in London
* Excellent healthcare facilities, with pioneering medical leadership, including Dr Christiaan Barnard’s heart transplant world first
* One of best value guest house and B&B cities, offering not only 5-star accommodation
* An historic port city
* The V&A is South Africa’s leading tourist destination, and has further development plans
* The Green Point Urban Park
* A living heritage in the Castle, the oldest building in South Africa
* A historic showcase of creativity at the Iziko museums and galleries
* Living contemporary culture with African and European roots, which is not gumboot dancing!
* Rich music tradition, in goema and Cape Minstrel music, but also current, with Goldfish, Jack Parow, Freshly Ground, Kyle Shepherd, Locnville, Die Antwoord, and Abdullah Ibrahim. The Cape Town International Jazz Festival has become a world event.
* Sporting tradition, in hosting the world’s largest timed Argus Cycle race, and the Volvo Ocean Race includes Cape Town, and sportspersons such as Para-Olympic star Natalie du Toit, and the development of the paddleyak
* A theatre tradition, with Athol Fugard receiving a Lifetime Achievement award at the Tony’s for his plays
* Africa’s first billionaire and space traveller Mark Shuttleworth, and his Shuttleworth Foundation, supporting IT development. Development of Silicon Cape.
* Sustainability Institute of the University of Stellenbosch
* The Cape Town International Convention Centre is the leading convention centre in Africa
* The leading builder of twin-hull catamarans
* The favourite film and photography location, because of the beauty of and good light in the city, and the potential of a James Bond movie being shot in the city
* Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Past President FW de Klerk
* Table Mountain, which is a finalist for the New7Wonders of the World
* Visits by magnificent Southern Right whales, home to penguins
* Environmentally-friendly Green Cabs, and the opening up of cycle and pedestrian routes in the city
* Leading environmental and sustainable city, with all new low-cost housing built with solar geyser panels, and wind-farming in Darling. ‘Smart Living Handbook’ for sustainability written by City of Cape Town
* Three wine routes within Cape Town and 16 on the city’s doorstep, with many boutique wine farms
* Beer tourism is a new segment, with 40 micro breweries within a 2-hour drive of Cape Town. Inspiring new BOS ice-tea 
* Fresh produce markets, with organic foods, outstanding restaurants such as The Test Kitchen and Mzoli’s Meat define Cape Town, and the plan is to develop a Master Chefs Cape Town series. Having Justin Bonello showcase South African food is a boost for the city. Charly’s Bakery is a passionate, all-women team, who baked a cake representing Cape Town for the Design Indaba.
* Cape Town is one of three finalists for World Design Capital 2014, with Bilbao and Dublin, spearheaded by the Cape Town Partnership. The judges will be in Cape Town from 24 – 27 July, and the winning city will be announced on 26 October. The Design Indaba is a design highlight for the country, with its annual conference and exhibition. At the last exhibition, attendees were asked to write in support of the city’s bid – this comment summarised what Cape Town stands for: “Cape Town’s people are her most beautiful landscape”.
* Cape Town has a vibrant fashion scene, designer Dion Chang saying that “The tip of Africa is the tipping point”.
* Cape Town is at the center of the magazine publishing industry.
* The city has excellent furniture designers
* The Joule electric car is being built in Cape Town, the first in Africa.
* Cape Town has more Social Media users than any other part of the country
During her presentation, Mrs Helmbold made a number of statements about our city:
* Economy based on tourism, finance, infrastructure, food and wine, logistics, and creative industries.
* Cape Town is at the tipping point, either sinking into oblivion, or living up to the accolades it is reaping
* Cape Town has been in a brand vacuum since the World Cup – not spending money on marketing the city will lead us to the example of Sydney, which is seeing a steady decline in visitors as it decided to not market the city after the 2000 Olympics
* A destination is not just a slogan or a logo
* Cape Town is a city of contrasts, of haves and have-nots
* Brand Cape Town’s strength is Tourism (Visit), it is neutral on its education and residential facilities (Live and Learn), and weak on its potential as a centre of employment and investment (Work and Invest).
* Cape Town underperforms in domestic tourism, mainly relative to Durban
* Conversion of holidaymakers into business tourists is needed for Cape Town, and business visitors must be encouraged to return as holidaymakers, as Cape Town is weak as a Business Brand
* Cape Town is a ‘challenger brand’ which does not have a long-established history, and stands for freedom, freshness and transformation, attractive to a world that has got tired of visiting boring places. “Challenger brands harness the power of authenticity, locals first, emotional pull, storytelling (Word of Mouse)”.
* The pillars of Cape Town are Robben Island; its cultural diversity; the food and wine industry; Biodiversity; Table Mountain; Cape of Good Hope; hubs of innovation, creativity, enterprise and government; higher education and skills training; Sports and MICE; and Colour and Light.
Cape Town Tourism is to assist business-related bodies in the city to market the city with a ‘brand box’. It has worked with Accelerate, Cape Town Routes Unlimited, Wesgro, Cape Town Partnership, and the City of Cape Town in developing the new positioning for Cape Town, to establish it as ‘one of the top world cities to live, work, invest, learn and visit, in order to drive inclusive economic growth and social transformation in Cape Town’. The presentation we attended was the last, and the implementation phase will now commence, Mrs Helmbold said. In question time, FEDHASA Cape chairman Dirk Elzinga stated that great things are happening in Cape Town, but ‘we are not telling the world’, he said.
Mel Miller, former ad agency owner and creative director, and ex Cape Town Tourism Board member, is very critical of Cape Town’s new ‘Inspirational’ positioning, saying that it has been used by Edinburgh (‘Inspiring Capital’) already. Miller points out that a previous tourism strategy consultant to Cape Town Tourism comes from Edinburgh!
Mrs Helmbold showed a video presentation by Silver Bullet meant to represent Cape Town. It was certainly not one of a beautiful Cape Town, but one of a very cloudy looking Cape Town, with a lot of focus on clouds billowing over Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles, and what appeared as a fast-speed race through Cape Town. I was NOT inspired by it, and it did not represent any of the Inspiration that Mrs Helmbold had presented to the audience.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
My favourite lifestyle magazine is House and Leisure, and I have subscribed to it for years. In fact, it is the only magazine (I don’t classify Noseweek as a ‘magazine’ as such) that I subscribe to. Its new brand extension launched earlier this week is a great disappointment.
I had read the pre-publicity about the new House and Leisure Food, described by editor Naomi Larkin as an “inaugural collectors’ issue”, and was excited about the idea of the publication. I chased after the issue at Exclusive Book’s when it hit the street on Wednesday, having to have it, and being sure that subscribers would not be sent a copy. In fact, nowhere in the latest House and Leisure issue was there any reference to the new publication, which is silly in marketing terms, as current subscribers to House and Leisure should be the most obvious priority target market.
In her Editor’s Letter Larkin drools: “Whether you’re seduced by the mouthwatering food pictures or enchanted by the beautiful lifestyle images – designed to get you in the mood – there really is something for everyone”.
Oh my gosh, what a let down, when I paged through the magazine. Here’s why:
1. A big song and dance is made about the chefs that have ‘contributed’, and the names that are dropped are Chefs Luke Dale-Roberts of The Test Kitchen, Bertus Basson of Overture, Richard Carstens of Tokara, Mike Bassett of Terroir, Clare and Fiona Ras of Sprigs in Durban, and Jackie Cameron of Hartford House, as well as cookery school owners Marlene van der Westhuizen, Andrea Bergener, Toni Scorgie and Susan Greig. The main contributors to the magazine are billed as Jules Mercer and Sarah Matsuhara, both names I have never heard of before. Yet, none of the names of the chefs or their photographs are to be seen on any page, except in the Editor’s Letter. The content of the magazine is purely a recipe book of 75 recipes, not one recipe attributed to any of these named chefs! I have tried to re-read and re-read the Editor’s Letter, and I can only assume that House and Leisure Food is a rehash of previously printed recipes from past issues of House and Leisure.
2. An even bigger flop is the ‘Connoisseurs’ picks of top South African wines to match”, as shouted on the front cover, and the editorial page proudly highlights the names of Wade Bales, Michael Brampfield-Duggan, Michael Olivier, Thato Goimane, David Cope and House and Leisure wine writer Leigh Robertson as “Wine Connoisseurs”! A “connoisseur” is defined “a person who is especially competent to pass critical judgement” or “a discerning judge of the best in any field”. Most of the ‘connoisseurs’ are not widely known, and some may argue that they may not all be ‘connoisseurs’ either! There is not one wine pack shot in the magazine, except in the few paid-for advertisements for Reyneke, Robertson Winery, Barista, and Krone. The wine recommendations are featured in the smallest possible type size underneath the title of each recipe! There is no description of each wine’s taste and flavour, no motivation for the match, nor is a vintage recommended. Only the initials of the “wine connoisseur” is indicated, and is most often those of Leigh Robertson!
3. But the biggest disappointment of all is the endless 130 pages of 75 recipes, interspersed with a handful of advertisements, the Paul Kovensky Restaurant Collection being the largest advertising supporter, advertising its Kove, Zenzero, Paranga and Pepenero restaurants. Not all food lovers cook, and many may have liked to see interviews with chefs, cooking hints and tips, chef profiles, and even restaurant reviews and profiles. The Indochine Restaurant page is a paid-for promotion, but would have made good editorial, in the way the chef Jonathan Heath is profiled and one of his dishes is featured, with an interior shot of the restaurant at Delaire Graff. In this regard the magazine fails badly.
4. The magazine is divided into four sections, and the recipes are spread over these. The categories are “Easy Living”, “Summer”, “Winter Warmth” and “Luxury”, not sounding a logical delineation, and the first and the last of these categories not clearly defining which types of recipes one might expect. The magazine index does list which recipe is in which section.
5. Even worse, is the most irritating “talking ad” for Cell C, as one turns the pages. The spokesperson Trevor Noah never gets to say more than “Welcome to the world of Cell C. The power is in your hands”.
Credit must be given for some excellent food styling and photography, and the photographers’ and stylists’ names that are mentioned are Russell Smith, Retha Erichsen, Julia Stadler, and Elsa Young. Some lifestyle photographs break the monotony of the recipe pages.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
The current social media “wars” taking place both in the food and wine arena should be a reason for bloggers to get together, and to write a Code of Conduct for blogging. This serious call came from Emile Joubert, a PR consultant to the wine industry, and writer of the Wine Goggle Blog, when he addressed the final and best attended meeting for this year of the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club at the Grand Daddy Hotel in the Cape Town city centre.
Emile was a most entertaining speaker, and challenged wine bloggers in improving their ‘game’. He had brought along two De Wetshof wines from Robertson-based winemaker Danie de Wet, the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, as well as Kanonkop Pinotage, the only South African wine in a recent list of “100 most exciting wines in the world”, and a magnum of Glen Carlou Pinot Noir, which were tasted by the bloggers. Emile praised the initiative of the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club, which was established in May this year. He has seen the benefit that his wine clients have enjoyed through the increasing number of bloggers, all wine lovers with an opinion, he said. Social media is a perfect platform for wine promotion. Every wine has a story, he said, making it eminently ‘blogable”, unlike spirits or beer, which are more generic beverage categories. Wines have a brand name, a culture and a personality, and these characteristics can be used to good advantage by wine bloggers. Emile acknowledged the leadership of Mike Ratcliffe in being the first wine blogger ever, for Vilafonte, about six years ago.
Emile was critical of wineries embracing social media by opening a Facebook page, and paying lip service to social media through poor writing on their blogs and in their Tweets, which give the wine industry a poor image, he said. He said that many wine bloggers “are more enthusiastic than talented in writing” about wine, wasting the time and space for serious wine lovers. They are boring, he said, and if they contain spelling errors, they are an embarrassment. He said that many bloggers are too obsessed with readership numbers, using links non-stop, no use he says if their blogs are lousy! He encouraged bloggers to develop their “own voice”, and to create their own ‘blog brand’. “Speak your own voice clearly, succinctly and passionately”, he urged.
Most social media programs of wineries lack a strategy, in his opinion. He recommended that a 1/3 each of one’s action should be focused on SOCIAL, MEDIA and MARKETING. He described the wine industry as ‘ego-sodden’ terrain, with over-intellectualisation of wines, for example, referring to wine tasting of “tar” and “figpaste”, having run out of new adjectives to describe the taste of wine! Emile feels that bloggers will make traditional mainstream media wine writers obsolete, and that is why Neil Pendock too has taken to blogging. He mentioned that the recent ‘Swartland Revolution’, a marketing activity by a number of Swartland wine producers in Riebeeck Kasteel to make their wine region “sexy” via social media marketing, had made TIME magazine.
In developing a Bloggers’ Code of Conduct, Emile called firstly for anonymous comments to be disallowed, saying that this would never be allowed on a letters’ page in a newspaper. He also called for a boycott of restaurants that ban writers! When asked, he explained the split in the wine industry, based on wine writers being pro- or anti-Platter. The anti-Platter writers are unhappy with sighted tastings to judge the stars awarded to each wine, as they can influence the livelihoods of those affected by lower star ratings. He called Platter “the best phone book” for the wine industry. It would appear that this group of writers is also critical of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), in that they feel that the monies spent on marketing South African wines is not effectively spent. Accepting ‘freebies’, including airline tickets and more, is frowned upon, and leads the anti-Platter faction to expose their ‘colleagues’ guilty of this practice without disclosure. This leads to backstabbing, infantile behaviour, and persons dishing out insults without being able to take them in turn.
The Food Blogger Marisa Hendricks from The Creative Pot blog praised her Twitter and blogging friends for their friendly support and ‘chattiness’, which makes Social Media enjoyable to her. She was honest in saying that she is a ‘messy’ cook, that her family does not eat fancy food every night, and that there are irregular meal times in her household. She focused on three aspects of a blog, in making it more successful. The design of the blog is paramount, as it expresses one’s personality.
Secondly, food photography needs attention. In her household photography is mainly done at night, which is complicated as far as lighting is concerned, making dishes look too yellow. She says that cellphones are not made to give good photograph quality, and that one should choose the right camera (she uses a Cannon), read the manual that comes with the camera, and experiment with the camera settings. Natural light is best, and it can be softened by gauze, she said. Food should also be lit from the side, and not directly from above. Food styling is equally important for successful photography, creating a desire of “I want to lick my screen”, she said! Styling can be enhanced through the use of cutlery, glasses, doilies, napkins, etc. White plates are classic in food styling, but bright plates offer a contrast for a one-colour food dish. The styling should be natural, in how one would eat the dish. This helps one when one submits one’s food photographs to what she called ‘foodporn” sites such as Foodgawker! Thirdly Marisa spoke about advertising, and she only allows text-based ads. She does not want her blog to look like a “billboard”. She knows that advertising could be off-putting to her readers. She also discussed affiliate links, to cookery books sold by Amazon, for example, which can work well if used properly.
In discussion it was mentioned that bloggers’ “user-generated content” is becoming more trusted for recipes and information than are recipe books and magazines. Marisa called for better hardware to read blogs. Disclosure of receiving free products is paramount, it was said, and PR companies should not expect bloggers to write about the products they have handed out, much like a print journalist will not guarantee that he/she will accept a media release. It was felt that one should not write about something one did not like.
A competition amongst attendees to find the most frequent Tweeter during the two-hour Bloggers’ Club meeting led to a flood of Tweets. Hila Jonker (who Tweets as @LadyRaven) won the prize of a bundle of fresh greens from the gardens of the wonderful new restaurant Babel at Babylonstoren.
The 2011 programme for the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club will be announced closer to the start of the new year. The first meeting of the year will be hosted by Pigalle on 26 January. More information is available from info@whalecottage.com.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage