stuff4restaurants

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Apple is apparently seeking to patent a system that would make it possible for customers to use a wireless gadget to place an order at a cafe or fast-food restaurant and pickup the order without waiting in line.
If the “wireless communication system” described becomes a product, then it would transform Apple into more than a computer and iPod maker and online seller of music and video. Instead, Apple would also become a middleman between restaurants, cafes, and possibly other merchants and their customers.
Apple as usual refuses to comment on any future products, but its patent applications can provide a hint as to where the company is at least thinking about heading. In the latest filing, Apple is apparently looking at going beyond its recent deal with Starbucks, which enables coffee drinkers to download music and video to their iPhones while enjoying a latte.
The latest application, filed Dec. 20, described a system in which a person approaching a cafe, fast-food, or take-out restaurant could place an order that would be received by an in-store computer. The person’s order would be treated as if the customer was standing in line, which means they would be served before people placing orders after the remote order arrived.
The remote customer would receive a confirmation that the order was received and the approximate time it would be ready for pickup. The notification could be displayed as text or an image on the device’s screen, or it could come via an audible message played through a device’s speaker or earphones.
Orders could be placed through a media player, wireless PDA, or cell phone. The obvious benefit to customers would be in avoiding the wait in line to order their favorite coffee drinks or hamburgers.
But the system would also have benefits to restaurant owners beyond providing better service. Each customer using the system would get a unique identifier for tracking the establishments they visited and what they bought. The information would be stored in the devices and synchronized with the computers of participating merchants.
The patent doesn’t address security or privacy issues, nor does it give specifics on the kinds of establishments Apple would be targeting with the system.
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Copenhagen will have its first floating hotel located beside a floating restaurant in Copenhagen harbour.
The hotel consists of 480 square metres, an indoor area of 300 square metres and an outdoor area of 180 square metres. In addition, there is a roof terrace measuring 150 square metres. The hotel is 30 metres in length, 7.2 metres in width and is 6.2 metres above the waterline.
The indoor area contains 12 rooms, a reception, conference rooms, a linen room and a storage room. All rooms have large windows and French balconies, as well as floor heating, flat-screen TV, wireless Internet access and coffee-making facilities.
The hotel is smoke-free, and on arrival all guests are provided with a key card to the roof terrace, which has deckchairs.
The barge Viva, located alongside the new hotel will provide the new floating hotel with food and service.

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Whatever your belief (or lack of it) I would like you to accept my my warmest good wishes for you and your loved ones festive Celebrations.

Tis the season to be jolly, even if it is only to make the ones that really piss us off, murderously jealous.

FohBoh is a new social network for the restaurant industry and is apparwently due for full launch in January 08.

FohBoh stands for Front of House, Back of House, I guess it’s obvious once you are told.

They have a site up now and it looks very interesting. Have a look it could go real big if they get the formula right, and if it does, it could provide owners with a great opportunity to build useful contacts. You will find it HERE.

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The internet is littered with the failed attempts of companies attempting to jump on the viral marketing bandwagon.

It has become the new “Gold Rush” of Advertising. The problem is, very few companies have the slightest idea of how to make this viral stuff work. They foolishly believe, all they have to do is publish their brag and boast video clips on YouTube and they will be eagerly downloaded by millions of eager potential customers. WRONG.

They will only be downloaded if they are regarded as “cool” by YouTubers and they will only go viral if they are spectacularly geeky and different.

Anyone that tells you this is easy will be noticeable by the increasing length of their nose.

Cherryflava (a great South African Blog) has a very good article on what Nando’s did to breakthrough.

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As a self confessed, guilt ridden, smoker, I’m getting a bit over all this anti-smoking legislation.

O.K. I know I don’t have the right to destroy others health, but I’m just a bit over all the new “Born again” petty officials, scared of future litigation going overboard with their “Thou Shalt Nots …”

So, I’m always pleased to see examples of anti smoking messages where they have at least tried to inject some humor into the equation.

The example above is of a smoking room in some pub somewhere (if you know where please let me know) which at least also generate some free publicity for its owners.

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Morristown Police Lt. Dan Cliff and Sgt. Nathan Antrican ordered dinner about 7:10 p.m. at Taco Johns and sat down to eat. Cliff, as most officers learn, examined his tacos before chomping down. “While we were inspecting our food, Lt. Cliff found what appeared to be a small pubic hair in one of his tacos,” Antrican wrote in a report. “He then looked at another taco and found another hair in it.”

Read the full story here

Oh dear, I do hope this is a food trend that doesn’t catch on… “Do you want…” No, lets not go there either.

C’mon, this is the season when we are meant to spread goodwill NOT body hair.

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Now, at last, here’s an invention to cure your secret disability.

Their promotional material states that:

“New Invention ‘Wobbleg ‘ Marks the End to those Annoying Wobbly Tables & Chairs

A simple yet highly effective invention called Wobbleg (www.wobbleg.com) has just been launched and looks set to finally bring the nations wobbling chairs and tables to a steady rest.

There is nothing more annoying for diners than to be seated at a table or chair that rocks and rolls around - and that’s before you’ve had a drink! Indeed a recent survey of over 500 diners revealed that wobbly tables rank as the number one gripe. A staggering 89% called for the abolition of wobbly tables in restaurants while only 13% said that children under 12 in restaurants are a big turn off.

Wobbleg is the brainchild of Yorkshire based inventor Julian Bradbrook. The invention came to him in a flash of inspiration whilst sitting at a wobbly table. “There has to be something better than an old beer mat to solve the problem” he thought, and so Wobbleg was created.”

So there you have it, an earth shattering, multi color, invention that could change the course of history…

As we enter this festive season, how reassuring it is to think, that in a world troubled by gaping religious divides, the starvation of millions and the excesses of millions more, we have courageous individuals, prepared to take on the big picture stuff of life, Stuff like ridding the world of wobbly table legs, banishing forever the outrageous discomfort and the wanton destruction of folded beer mats.

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This is an absolute “MUST HAVE” Christmas decoration for every bar and restaurant in the world.

If the humble beer bottle is a bit below your station and would risk your high class reputation, then make yours out of French Champagne Bottles.

As your newly appointed Martha Stewart, I must advise you, the bottles must be empty, if you need a little help with this, simply email me, as I’m always ready to help a worthy cause.

“Tis the season to be jolly… “

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These advertisements are for knives…

But the idea could easily be adapted to promote all sorts of food items.

Theses advertisements do a great job of focusing the viewer on the color and texture of the foods we are familiar with.

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This is clever and will, indeed has, generated a lot of additional “word of mouth” Advertising…

However, I’m not convinced it will do a whole lot for the recruitment agency thats paying for it. My first impression was - It was a great way to make a boring coffee machine stand out, I thought, for some time, it was an add for the coffee machine, Then later, much later, I realized it was actually an add for a recruitment agency. Maybe it’s just that I am particularly thick, (no I don’t require confirmation thank you).

My impression is- they, the employment agency, have spent a whole lot of money promoting coffee and entertaining passers by, however, their message gets a bit lost in it all.

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The bustling New Lucky Restaurant in Ahmadabad is famous for its milky tea, its buttery rolls, and the graves between the tables.

It’s a spot where old men page through newspapers and argue politics in the morning while young couples share candlelit meals and hold hands at night. That the candles sit atop graves only adds to the ambiance.

W.T.F. ! Yes I know, that was my first reaction when I read the headline on www.foodservice.com’s daily email.

In fact, I have just got back from a Christmas party, and to be absolutely honest, stuff in my head is happening a little slower than normal, in fact, any slower and I might be accessed as brain dead.

So, when I read their lead paragraph and then followed the link to www.sepiamutiny.com to read the full story, I really started to think someone must have slipped a little something illegal into one my drinks.

I guess I will have to wait till the morning when I’m feeling, well, a little less emotional… to see if this grave news is for real.

Ah well, tis the season to be jolly… I think I might be just a tad too jolly tonight.

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Heres a couple of restaurant signs that go beyond the “Joe’s Diner” format.

Just imagine, signs that are different… Wow! they might even be noticed and commented on, maybe even photographed and blogged about.

You have to be careful with this Advertising stuff, people will notice.

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A few years ago my wife, 10 year old son and I sat down for an outside meal at a restaurant in Hamburg Germany.

The waiter arrived, greeted us warmly passed the menu to our son and asked HIM what he would like, giving a good humored wink to my wife and I. We looked on as our son carefully read the menu and brimming with the honor bestowed upon him, ordered his meal.

The waiter then asked what he thought would be a good choice for his guests, well, I thought my son was going to explode with joy at his newly discovered role, again, he chose carefully, the waiter prompted him with some suggestions for drinks and accompaniments, our son then looked to us for approval of his choices, which obviously, he received.

When the waiter left the table, our son was dumbstruck, “Did you see that? He spoke to ME, I mean, really spoke to me… He listened, he didn’t ask you what I wanted, he spoke to me, he even asked me what you would like. Is that how they do it here?”

I assured him that he probably hadn’t discovered some new quirk in German culture… but instead, a very clever waiter that had just created three new regular customers, whilst increasing the average dollar sale by at least 50% (Yes, I cursed myself for allowing my cynicism to rear its ugly head yet again)

But this waiter was far from finished…

At the end of the meal he performed a masterful job of selling sweets for all, again to my son, and finished the transaction by asking him to sign his visitors book and presenting him with a personalized bonus card for his next visit.

All this was accomplished without the need for licensed plastic garbage, or one dollar of extra Advertising expenditure.

During our seven day stay in Hamburg do you think we could eat anywhere else?

Do you think my son was a little insistent that HE give the waiter a generous tip on each visit?

Do you think it was a coincident, that every table of this restaurant was packed with family groups?

How do you treat kids in your restaurant?

Could you include the awesome power of the “Nag Factor” into your marketing program ?

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McDonald’s Corp.has offered to help franchisees pay the $1 billion-plus cost of its bid to compete with Starbucks across the country next year.

They told franchisees this week, they will pay up to 40% of the costs to remodel restaurants to accommodate the machines needed to make lattes, mocha drinks and other specialty beverages.

McDonald’s claim the remodeling could cost as much as $75,000 for each of the 13,800 U.S. restaurants.
The price McDonald’s pays per restaurant will vary depending on the amount of remodeling needed, but if the company pays $30,000 a restaurant, the total would exceed $400 million.

In addition to the cost of remodeling, franchisees would have to pay about $25,000 per restaurant for the new beverage equipment.

McDonald’s officials have estimated specialty coffees could boost annual sales by an additional $125,000 per restaurant, or more than $1.7 billion across the chain. The restaurants now average about $2.2 million in annual sales.
McDonald’s executives say the launch of specialty coffees is the biggest expansion of its menu since the company added breakfast three decades ago.

McDonald’s move is a direct attack on Starbucks.

McDonald’s has had success with the premium coffee it began offering last year. McDonald’s officials said in the coming years they want to begin offering smoothies and bottled soft drinks as well.
This will be a war worth watching!