All posts in Restaurants

Some pals and I often buy our lunch at the intersection of Belvedere and Landsdown roads, there’s a Debonairs, St Elmo’s, Jewel of East, Coimbra and others, so it’s a decent area for variety. Anyway, on Friday we decided to go to St Elmo’s because on FourSquare they have a special – yes, I’m not kidding, finally a local brand having a special on FourSquare, you can imagine how excited us geeks got ;)

We raced down to St Elmo’s, ordered some pizza’s, checked in and showed the manager the check in – “Sorry, they did something like that at head office perhaps, but we don’t know about it so you can’t have the free pita” said the manager.. uhm, say what?!

Let’s not comment on the spelling.

This really was disappointing, not so much the fact that we didn’t get a free pita, but the fact that a brand as established as St Elmo’s couldn’t get something as simple as this correct, this post would have been the complete opposite if they’d got it right! *smh*

So, which digital agency handles the St Elmo’s account?

You know that from time to time I love jumping onto my blog and shouting at restaurants that have awful service and such, but it’s not always a bad story that I have, in fact, tonight I’ve got a great example of an eatery that’s doing things right in the digital world.

Eat Out The Box, run by Marius, Deon and Nicol, is effectively a take-away joint, but there’s a little twist, their kitchen is a “no fry” zone and they aim to offer healthy, tasty and balanced meals aposed to the usual oil dripping stuff that we all order. Pizzas, burgers, pasta’s and more, there’s something for everyone. Eat Out The Box has a fantastic website, it’s creative, it’s easy to use and the shopping cart integration is done really well – I used my iPad to go through the menu and build my meal – no hassles at all.

Twitter

This is where things get exciting – So, my fiance and I placed an order for 2 burgers as they have a 2 burgers for R99 special going (this includes the fancy burgers btw) and I decided to send out a cheeky tweet:

Just ordered the 2 burgers for R99 from @eatoutthebox – I shld get discount for this tweet to 6500 people :P

— ChristopherM (@ChristopherM) May 6, 2012

A couple people jumped in and someone who follows me actually ordered the burger special right after my tweet. After a few tweets, @EatOutTheBox jumped in with the following tweet:

@ChristopherM Thank you, we have loaded a 20%Disc on your next order, please tell us if you enjoyed yr Hangover and Chicky Chicky #Burgers

— Eat Out The Box (@EatOutTheBox) May 6, 2012

Tell me that that isn’t absolutely awesome? Not only did they reply timelessly, they engaged, knew my order and even gave me a discount on my next order! #brandplus to Eat Out The Box, you’ve set the bar incredibly high for other take-away joints, I’ve got your number on speed dial now.

I’m really impressed.

I’ve been trying to work on balancing my life a little more, separation between work and play is so important and I’ve allowed the two to cross quite badly and feel that it’s taking a toll on me. So, yesterday, Chris came over, we braai’d and watched the rugga and then headed out to Home Bar and Restaurant in Harfield Village.

Because I’ve bought a house in Harfield Village, I figured I’d start revisiting a number of places in Harfield Village as all of them are in walking distance from the new house, so familiarizing myself with the surroundings will work in my favor.

I always have a good time at Home Bar and Restaurant, it’s been a good number of months since I’d been there, so it was great to go back. Champange on tap and frozen Jager Bombs were the order of the night. A frozen Jager Bomb is absolutely awesome! It’s one of their recipes, so you won’t see it anywhere else for the time being, but essentially they put Jager and RedBull into a snowflo machine, and serve it in shots – it’s quite something else, freezing cold, icy and powerful! :)

If you haven’t been to Home Bar and Restaurant, you really should go – they have an awesome menu for dinners and the restaurant caters for smoking and non-smoking, plush couches, a relaxed, yet busy vibe and the people in general are always friendly.

To showcase their commitment to delivering faster and hotter than ever, Mr Delivery today unveiled their new manifesto, pledging better service delivery, to the public at the Jan van Riebeeck High School voting station in Gardens, Cape Town where they handed out pizza to voters’ queuing outside

Armed with posters, placards, an election manifesto and pizzas from one of their contracted restaurants, Directors David Chait and Alon Rom along with a team of campaigners pledged to deliver, as promised, faster and hotter than ever.

Playing the part of the consummate politician, Chait said, “We at Mr Delivery promise better service delivery for all and the municipal elections are a great opportunity for Mr Delivery to unveil its manifesto to improve its services to the public in a light hearted manner.”

The Mr Delivery Party showcased at the event is an interactive social media competition where people stand a chance to win a party for themselves and 9 friends at a cost of R10 000 sponsored by Mr Delivery. To enter the competition, go to http://www.facebook.com/MrDeliverySA.

Under the guidance of entrepreneurial duo Chait and Rom, key positive changes have taken place to improve the core service of delivering hot food to its loyal customers. These changes bring with them many improvements, both in business strategy and service delivery, setting the pace for a faster, more evolved and more efficient Mr Delivery.

A key part of the campaign included the very public ‘firing’ of the long time chef in the company’s logo to herald the change in ownership and the focus on customer service delivery. Mr Delivery is now using new Acutemp disc technology to ensure hotter deliveries.

“We are going to really engage with our customers and add more value and services. Customers can look forward to some new exciting initiatives and rewards in 2011 as well as a new look for the brand,” says Rom.

Mr Delivery is looking to expand its service offering beyond food delivery and offer the ultimate experience in bringing the last mile to your door.

Chait, previous owner of Vida e Caffe and Rikkis Taxis, explains that today’s fun event at the polling station was to ensure these changes are effectively communicated to customers and the public.

“There are exciting times ahead for Mr Delivery as we usher in a new era of change to meet the needs of our customers. We are introducing innovation and fresh new ideas to deliver the best possible service to the public”, said Chait.

The election campaign is part of the brand’s ongoing marketing exercise to make people aware of Mr Delivery’s commitment to great service delivery and to maintain their position as the largest home delivery service in South Africa.

From their humble beginnings in Sea Point, Cape Town in 1992, Mr Delivery pioneered and revolutionised the restaurant food delivery service and currently makes between 80 000 and 100 000 deliveries monthly in 48 locations across South Africa. Mr Delivery has grown to deliver food from over 1 600 individual restaurants to more than 1.2 million loyal customers.

You might remember the photographs I shared when I received Chef’s CMMA complaint and plea:

• http://www.twitpic.com/44y17m
• http://www.twitpic.com/44y0en
• http://www.twitpic.com/44xzw9

Awesome campaign all in all, thoroughly enjoyed being part of it!

Here are the new logos:

I don’t normally eat from McDonalds, because I think their food is quite disgusting, but this evening I didn’t have options so I went past and go myself a burger. If it wasn’t for the 3 week old lettuce I had to remove, I would never have seen the SNAIL:

This was from the McDonalds in Cape Town next to Kenilworth Center, I’d advice staying away, this isn’t the first time I’ve received disgusting food from there.

This is how quickly the word spreads, so this is payback for wasting my time and money this evening McDonalds:

Guess I’m not the only one annoyed with McDonalds..

This past weekend I was on my way back from Llandudno when I saw that Salt actually has a Vodka Bar. Now, if you don’t know Salt, it’s a lovely upper class restaurant at the Ambassador Hotel in Bantry Bay. Now, on the other side of the road, away from the sea, is Salt’s Deli and Vodka Bar.

The deli is awesome, full of delicious treats and then upstairs is the Vodka Bar, which offers all sorts of cocktails, trendy decor and a fantastic view. I popped in and had a Long Island Ice Tea, which was made to perfection and Fe had a Mojito, which was delicious too.

I snapped a few pics:

Sorry, the quality isn’t too great, but you should be able to get the point.

It would make for the perfect function if you had to book it out – which they do!