Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

Our blog has been running a Restaurant Winter Specials list for the past few months, with more than 100 restaurant offers attempting to attract locals into restaurants in Cape Town and the Winelands towns, in what is traditionally a poor time for the hospitality trade.  The winter special of The Kove in Camps Bay only is good value relative to what the restaurant normally charges for its dishes, and does not compare favourably to many of the restaurant specials offered.

The Kove is part of a quartet of restaurants owned by Paul Kovensky (the surname being the inspiration for the naming of The Kove, no doubt), three of them being almost next door to each other in The Promenade building in Camps Bay (The Kove, Zenzero and Paranga).  Pepenero is located in Mouille Point.   The latter restaurant occupies a large space, and clearly was not able to attract enough custom to fill the space, and since last year has attracted food bargain hunters by offering specials.  The Kove is the only other restaurant in the Kovensky Quartet to be offering winter specials this year.

When we entered the restaurant on Saturday evening, after having left the over-heated and over-priced Zenzero next door, we were offered a table closest to the fireplace, which we declined, not without some attitude from the Manager Bevan (the type that knows better than you do where you would like to sit).   The first thing I noticed was the tattoos on Bevan’s arms (I am sorry, but it is the most off-putting thing, something that I experienced at Leaf Restaurant recently as well).   Waiter Casper presented himself soon thereafter, and gave me one of those looks that declares attitude without saying it.  By “mistake”, waiter Richard also presented his services to our table, and he was genuinely nice and we requested that he be our waiter, and he did a great job in looking after us with what seemed like genuine interest.  

The restaurant has a raised back section, with different chairs compared to the street level section, in which the chairs look like lawn furniture, in smart white and silver frames, with white or green chairbacks (the same grass green as at Leaf Restaurant), with green blankets over the chairs, should one still be cold inside the warm interior.  The lighting is dimmed to very low, making it difficult to read the menu.  We had flashes of white light from the World Cup TV above us, when it changed its picture!   Music was vibey, from an iPod playlist, along the lines of the Gotan Project.   Riedel glasses are on the table, and good quality linen and cutlery is used.  A faux library on both sides of the restaurant is meant to add a homely touch, I assume.  The ceiling of the street level section of the restaurant is adorned with a mock grapevine in autumn colours, and there are plastic marigolds on the table.

The menu for the Winter Specials covers two pages almost hidden at the back of the menu, and one is not told about them spontaneously (as at Five Flies and 1800 Restaurant at the Cape Royale).  One has a number of choices of specials, making it feel like one is really getting a good deal, but the Specials prices are average compared to other Cape Town restaurants.  First, one has the option of a two-course special, consisting only of a starter and a main course, and a glass of wine, at R 120.   The problem starts with the wine.   Why would a reputable restaurant offer an unlabelled unidentified white and red wine as part of the special?  It cheapens the Winter Special immediately.  They must have paid next to nothing for it, if they have to hide the wines’ origins.   Starter choices are mussels, Prawns 3 Ways, calamari, chicken livers and a house salad.   My partner had the prawns, brought to the table with a finger bowl, and the “3 ways” are 2 minute prawns each served with mustard and brandy, garlic and ginger, and orange and cumin.  It was a struggle to get them out of their shells.  The main course choices are fresh line fish, sirloin steak, baby chicken, beef burger and pork ribs.  The portion sizes are not indicated, and a starch is served with these.   (On the a la carte menu, one has to pay extra for starches, sauces and salads).   The steak was served medium rare, as ordered, but was not as tender as my partner would have liked it to be, with a tendon running through it, showing that a cheaper cut of meat had been used.   A good spicy and creamy Pepper Sauce was served with the steak.  No desserts are offered as part of this special.   Two small slices of older white bread were served, which I did not even bother to try.  To do the mathematics on the special: normal price for 1/2 prawn portion R45 + sirloin steak R85 + sauce R 20 + mash R20 = R170 (Special price charged plus glass of unidentified wine R120) - however, paying R125 for the 200 - 250 gram sirloin, mash and sauce on the a la carte menu is excessive anyway. 

In addition to the two-course special, one can order oysters at R 9 each, 1 kg of prawns or Karoo lamb chops at R99, fish and chips at R79, 400 gram ribs at R75, and a seafood platter at R129.  On the surface these prices are not bad at all, until you realise that these are standard prices elsewhere, and more expensive than some of the other specials offered elsewhere at the moment (e.g. a 6-course dinner for R150 at Myoga and at La Mouette).  I had the lamb chops, three served on a large plate with the mash served lukewarm after the meat was brought to the table, in a side dish. The steak knife provided was super in getting to the bone.  I loved the ‘braai’ taste of the chops, which Richard told us came from the special basting sauce.  I would have liked to have a finger bowl.   The chops were ordered medium, but the meat closest to the bone was raw.  Ten cocktails are part of the specials list, at R25 each, but we were given the cocktails menu (with peeling plastic cover), showing a Mojito at R40, and were not told about the specials.  As part of the Winter Special, The Kove also serves “tappas” between 3 - 7 pm, and two cost R 45 and three cost R60.  One has a choice of twelve, including hake goujons, pop-corn prawns, deep-fried halloumi, teriyaki salmon and stuffed jalapeno poppers.

The a la carte menu has starters ranging from R 50 for a mussel pot, seafood chowder, goat’s cheese tartlet and buffalo wings, to R 90 for 12 of the prawn 3-ways (having seen them on the special, and being seawater prawns, this is hugely expensive for what one gets), and salads cost R 40 - R 75.  A wide selection of steaks (fillet, sirloin, entrecote, chateaubriand), each in two weight options, is offered, a 250 g sirloin costing R85 and a 500g Chateaubriand costing R200.  Unspecified Venison costs R120 for 250g, as does baby chicken.  Starches are extra at R 20 each, as are a selection of five sauces, also at R 20 each.  A Braai section offers a 1,2kg fillet to share at R395, “kreef” at R 195, ribs, an identified skewer and fish.  A number of seafood options are available, a seafood platter costing R295, calamari costs R80, and baby kingklip R130.

For dessert we shared an odd item on the a la carte dessert menu, being waffles with syrup and cream, perfectly executed, at R 45. Other desserts include apple crumble, and pecan nut pie, costing between R35 - R45.  The Cappuccino was made with LavAzza coffee, but was thin and not the best I have had. 

The wines-by-the-glass at The Kove are very expensive, being based on three glasses out of a bottle.  The difference in price between the cheapest shiraz (Spier 2009) at R 30 and the next up at R95 per glass of Kevin Arnold made me choose the former, a grave mistake, in that it was so bad that I could not finish it.   I asked for the wine to be poured at the table, but the manager was about to refuse this, when he changed his mind.  I wondered what I would have been served (perhaps the same unlabelled wine for the special?).   No vintages are specified on the winelist, nor are the wine varietals or brands described.  The 15-page beverage list is Fleur du Cap-branded throughout, on every page, even though only two of their wines are offered out of the more than 100 wines on the winelist (and typed as “Fleur de Cap”!). 

The winelist is introduced with notes on “Matching wine with your food”, highlighting the essence of “paring” being “seeking to achieve a balance in your personal tastes”.   It indicates which wine types (e.g. “high acid wine”) go with which food types, and lists white wines with high acid as including Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and sparkling wines; and red wines with high acid level Pinot Noir, Sangiovese and Gamay. The effect of adding salt to the taste of the wine was an eye-opener, in that it reduces the astringency of wines.   Riedel gets a half page punt and branding, and the benefits of decanting wine is highlighted (although not practised, in that it may have made the young Spier more palatable). 

Fifteen champagnes are offered, ranging from R1 000 for Laurent Perrier Brut Rose and Louis Roderer Brut, to R6000 for Dom Perignon Rose’.  One can order seven of these by the glass, starting at R 140 for the Moet et Chandon Brut Imperial to R 220 for Veuve Cliquot Vintage. Only five Methode Cap Classiques are offered, two Graham Beck and Pongracz each, and Boschendal, ranging from R180 - R320. The Graham Becks are served by the glass too.     A large selection of Chardonnays is offered, dominated by Hamilton Russell (R420), with Muratie Isabella at entry level (R175), and Sauvignon Blancs (between R180- R250).  Fewer red wine choices are offered by varietal - the Shiraz category costs from R200 - R280, but has the Spier at R130.  Four Organic wines (Avondale Chenin Blanc,  Reyneke Reserve white, Waverley Hills Cabernet Sauvignon and Stellar Merlot), and two Kosher wines made by Backsberg, are also available.

Bevan came to the table, to give us our Loyalty Card, and annoyed me when he told me that it is only for South Africans.  10 % of the value of one’s meal is added as points to one’s Loyalty Card ‘account’, redeemable at any time on presentation of the card.  This would bring value to dining at The Kove, but problems with the system in the past two years has made me sceptical about the accuracy of their record keeping, as they claim to have lost details of our guests having eaten there in the past, and therefore the redeemability of the points.

The Kove is one of the few places that has served a good steak in Camps Bay in the past, but the winter special does not reflect this quality.  It is expensive if one orders off the a la carte menu, and its “winter specials” are only specially priced relative to the normal high prices the Kovensky Quartet charges, and seem to be poorer quality cuts, with unacceptably poor quality wine, thus not making The Kove value for money.

The Kove, Shop 2A, The Promenade, Victoria Road, Camps Bay.  Tel (021) 438-0012.                  www.thekove.co.za (full menu and winelist featured).

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

I was invited to attend the opening of The Good Bakery in Muizenberg yesterday by Robert of 6 Spin Street Restaurant, who had tried the bread of the new bakery earlier in the week, and had pronounced it to be excellent.  The Good Bakery is focused on a small range of breads, which is baked from an unglamarous garage outlet alongside the railway line.  It opened two weeks ago.

Martin Moessmer is the young enthusiastic owner of The Good Bakery, who worked at Jardine Restaurant as an apprentice pastry chef with George Jardine.  He spent a year working in the kitchen at Murrayfield Golf Club in Scotland, then returned to South Africa to work at the restaurant at the Botanic Gardens in Pietermaritzburg, and cooked for a BBC crew that was filming in the Kruger National Park.

Martin enjoys baking bread, especially when he has had to endure the poor quality bread generally available in Cape Town.  He never baked only one bread, but baked a number at a time, and realised that he is really good at it.  His regular customers think so too, and his prices are extremely reasonable:  80 % and 100 % rye loaves cost R 15, ciabatta R 12, focaccia R 22, kitke R 18 and croissants R6 each.  Martin supports organic and local products in the creation of his breads, and these include Eureka Mills Stone Ground unbleached wheat and rye, Khoisan salt, free range milk, and Cremelat or Ayrshire butter. 

Martin will deliver, on arrangement, and he is working on distribution points in town, to make his breads accessable to Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl customers.

While you are in Milner Street, do pop in at Kitch-Kombuis close to The Good Bakery - it serves excellent cappuccinos, homemade sandwiches, shortbread, apple tarts and many more treats, at Muizenberg prices!

The Good Bakery, 12 Milner Street, Muizenberg.   Tel 074 174 5554.  No website. 

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

Google Street View and Google Maps are two products that will change the world of marketing, wine estate owners and marketers were told at a presentation at the Protea Fire & Ice Hotel on Thursday.  South Africa is the first African country in which Google has introduced the technology, and the South African wine estates are the first in the world to have been included on Google Street View. 

Google Street View is the largest photographic project in the world.  Google Maps has already covered 100 countries in 350000 maps, in 40 languages.  Google Street View was launched in South Africa just before the World Cup (with some errors, in that the Metropolitan Golf Club is shown to be inside the Cape Town Stadium!).   Google Maps provides summary information about a wine estate, for example, and then shows the reviews about the estate on Tripadvisor, SafariNow and on other websites, providing a potential visitor with different sources of information which they can use to prepare for their visit.   At the presentation wine estates were encouraged to club together, and to design custom-packaged wine tours - e.g. a Pinotage tour in a specific area can be prepared via Google Maps, as the “pinotage” word would be Google-searched by the visitor from the reviews that contain that word, for example.  Wine estates can also apply Google Maps into the management of their businesses, in controlling their security, crops etc, they were told.

Google Street View cars (or even bicycles), with a massive camera on them, take photographs as they drive down roads, which are then processed to put them onto Google Maps.  To protect the privacy of the public, Google blurs car registration numbers and faces of persons who may have been walking while the photographs were taken.   The imagery is not real-time once it is accessed on Google Maps, given the time that is needed to process the photographs.     Google states that it respects the laws and norms re privacy on Google Maps, an issue that is being hotly debated in Germany at the moment.  If a resident finds his/her visual on Google Maps, even if the image is blurred, they can request it to be removed completely.   Even one’s house can be deleted, on request.

Google Street View allows users to virtually explore and navigate a localised area through panoramic street-level photographs.   A Street View button needs to be clicked on the Google Maps, one clicks onto a camera icon above a city, and then zooms in.  One can see a 360 degree panorama of that specific area, so good and real that one almost does not have to go there as one has seen it on Google Street View already!   Not only can one find the exact location of where one is going for a meeting, for example, but one can also see which coffee shops and parking garages are close by.   One can check out the real environment of a hotel one has booked at, which might be hidden in the photographs provided by the hotel in its Image Gallery, possibly due to its location close to a noisy or ugly part of town.

Visitors to a wine estate or to a town/city can upload photographs of one’s property, as well as provide information about one’s property, on Wikipedia.   Wine estates and tourism businesses were encouraged to add Google Maps and Google Street View onto their websites.   One can customise these applications, which are free of charge, in changing the photographs, or in enlarging or reducing the size of the maps.

Wine estates that are on Google Street View are Warwick Wine Estate, Vilafonte, De Wetshof, Fairview, Paul Cluver, Rustenberg, Meerlust, Morgenster, Bouchard Finlayson, Jordan Winery, Klein Constantia, Journey’s End, and Groote Post.

Google Maps can be added to one’s website (www.maps.google.co.za), so that one can create one’s own map.   One can also add one’s content to Mapplets, which are map layers or applications available on Google Maps.  One can use these to display information to Google Map users, giving content to Google Maps (www.google.co.za/apis/maps/documentation/mapplets/).  Google Places (www.maps.google.co.za/places) allows one to put a business on Google Maps, searchable by Google on its Google Maps, Earth, Search, and Maps for Mobiles applications.   One can personalise this business information with contact details, opening hours, photographs and more.

Leading Johannesburg wine consultant Juliet Cullinan endorsed the Google Street View application for wine estates, saying that this is the first opportunity South Africa has to launch top wine estates, icon wines, and the best wine cellars, and is the closest one can bring the consumer to a winemaker, and ‘almost’ get them to taste the wine on-line.  

Mike Ratcliffe from Warwick and Vilafonte wines, one of the most tech-savvy wine marketers in South Africa, has embraced Google Street View, and even got Google to include the Big Five safari trip they offer Warwick visitors.  Ratcliffe reiterated the growth of social media marketing, and quoted international advertising agency WPP in stating that 26 % of the agency’s business now is on-line communications.  The fastest growth has been magazine readership, which readers subscribe to on-line.   He hinted at the launch of “Google Me’, Google’s answer to Facebook.  HD also is coming, giving even higher screen resolution.  Ratcliffe encouraged his wine colleagues to embrace Google Street View, as it gives the South African wine industry an edge, before it is adopted by wine regions in other countries. 

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

The Sweet Service Award goes to Artscape for hosting the Youth Music Festival in the Artscape Theatre last Saturday, providing a platform for twelve talented musicians to perform with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra.  The concert celebrated exceptional musical talent in the Western Cape, musicians ranging in age from 10 years (violinist Nicholas Bosman) to 25 years (soprano Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi).   All were beautifully dressed, especially the young girls, wearing lovely silk dresses.  Pianist Lourens Fick brought the house down with his Liszt performance.

The Sour Service Award goes to Col’Cacchio Foreshore, in the Spearhead building in Cape Town.  A first visit to this branch, after supporting the Franschhoek and Camps Bay branches in the past, was really bad, with a cheeky waitress Neena, and a non-effective manager Patrick.   It seemed obvious that there is no management hand in this outlet after hours, and that Neena had not been taught how to speak to customers.  She did not bring the company’s newspaper with the bill, nor the Lindt chocolate advertised in the bill holder, and had a silly excuse for forgetting these.  The massive footballs hanging from the ceiling look very dated, one month after the end of the World Cup.  Having to pay to park in an empty parking lot to eat at the restaurant in the evening was a further irritation, the cost of which should be borne by the restaurant.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

In the wake of the World Cup, which exposed South Africa to 1,26 billion TV viewers around the world, South Africa will be marketed by S A Tourism as the world’s leading adventure destination, said the Chief Marketing Officer of S A Tourism, Roshene Singh, at a presentation to tourism leaders at the Harbour Bridge Hotel in Cape Town yesterday.

The country’s R 800 million marketing budget will be focused on a number of different international and domestic marketing campaigns, which began prior to the World Cup, and are one year programmes designed for different target markets, to continue the positive momentum created by the World Cup to improve the country’s global competitiveness.   Those travellers that did not visit South Africa in June and July will be encouraged to feel that they missed out, and will be enticed to visit our country, given the country’s top infrastructure, great experiences and welcoming people.   Existing advertising campaigns with CNN, BBC World, SkyNews, EUROsport, Global Cinema, Conde Nast Traveller, Vogue, Vanity Fair and the Financial Times, combined with cinema advertising, social media marketing (including a Blog and Twitter), online media, Public Relations and websites, will continue in the next year, creating a reach of 1,4 billion consumers.  South Africa’s 130 embassies around the world can play a far greater role in marketing the country, it was said.

Domestically, the focus is on Sho’t left, which kick-started the ‘Fly the Flag’ and ‘Welcome’ campaigns, as well as a ‘Thank You’ campaign to thank South Africans for being proud hosts.  From next month, being Tourism Month, attractive travel packages will be rolled out for the next six months, to encourage South Africans to travel in their own country, supported by advertising on etv and all SABC TV stations.  Travelling will be built into the storyline of ‘Rhythm City’, an etv soapie, an outdoor billboard campaign, Twitter and Facebook communication, a mobi site on mobiles, and sponsorship of the travel sections of You, Huisgenoot and Drum are further means of boosting domestic tourism. Tollgate promotions, shopping mall promotions, and joint promotions with Thompson Holidays, Computicket, Flight Centre and Kulula, amongst others, have been planned.  Domestic tourism is the ‘bread and butter” of the tourism industry, said Singh.

Next month a new advertising campaign breaks, consisting of four commercials, following four couples who visited South Africa during the World Cup, each of the four couples having enjoyed 20 experiences in 10 days.  An Indian couple goes shark diving, bungie-jumping, motorcycling and enjoys good food. An American couple raves about the wonderful people they met here, the sunset safari they enjoyed, and the beauty of the country, saying that they will come back.  A British couple jumps down a “foefie slide”, goes shark-diving and kayaking, sees a rhino close-up, and expresses surprise about the many different parts of the country.  A Nigerian couple watches African dancing, has dinner in an aquarium, with sharks watching them, plays golf, enjoys wellness spoiling, and they say that their visit has made them fall in love with each other all over again.

To focus on the Adventure positioning of South Africa, the “Adventurers Wanted’ campaign with National Geographic seeks an “Adventure Ambassador” in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the USA.  Collectively, they will form an “Adventure Tribe”, and will enjoy an ‘adventure of a lifetime in South Africa’, which will be filmed by the magazine.

Asked when the boring, unexciting “It’s Possible” payoff line for South Africa will be replaced, it was promising to hear Singh indicate that the International Marketing Council is focusing on changing its positioning for South Africa, to “inspiring new and different ways”, which means that S A Tourism will adapt its payoff line to be aligned with that of the country.

Social media marketing will become a stronger focus, especially via Facebook.  Expedia, Tripadvisor and WAYN.com are websites on which South Africa will be featured.  All communication will reflect the “warm, friendly, welcoming, exciting, amazing, awesome, ubuntu, people, place, culture destination by deploying authentic WOM (word of mouth) ambassadors”.  The major message of communication campaigns will be “triumphant, excited, passionate and celebratory”.  It will say “We did it! Thanks for coming, see you again soon.  We made 450 000 new friends …. and you have made 48 million new friends”.

Country specific campaigns planned  by S A Tourism are as follows:

*   Africa:  A “Thank You” campaign in Botswana, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, President Zuma thanking fellow Africans for their support in making this the best World Cup ever and for showcasing the best of South Africa, via newspaper and radio advertising.

*   Germany:   Promotional and sponsorship campaigns, around celebrities sharing their travel tips and experiences of South Africa

*   Italy:   Italian travellers share their South African experiences on blogs, billboards, ads, etc, focusing on food, design and adventure.

*   France:   focus on adventure and nature, via a mix of above and below the line media

*   Netherlands:   Blog competitions, and treasure hunt promotion

*   India:   “Super Six” promotion, plays on the country’s cricket interest and our Big Six.  Multi-media focus.

*   China:   Travel fairs, photography promotion, social media.

*   United Kingdom:   “1001 things you did not know about South Africa” promotion with Lonely Planet, advertorials in Times and Conde Nast media groups’ publications, travel offers sent to 1,8 million Travelzoo subscribers, a travel road show to sustain the momentum by motivating agents to sell South Africa, a partnership with Emirates in an advertising campaign, and many more activities for this market.

*  USA:   Direct mail to Conde Nast database, promotion with National Geographic, and advertising campaign, inviting Americans to “go places you’ve never gone before, take the journey”.

*   Brazil:   Media invited to South Africa, to experience the country.  The SABC has been invited by Brazil to assist with the broadcast of the 2014 World Cup.

The visuals shown for the marketing campaigns have a strong focus on wildlife, the giraffe featuring most strongly to communicate this strength of South Africa.  Disappointingly, little of Cape Town is shown, Table Mountain, Blouberg and Boulders’ Beach being the most featured Cape Town images, and Cape Town was most prominent in the Chinese and Japanese communication programmes.

The Olympic Bid for 2020 is on S A Tourism’s agenda, said new S A Tourism CEO Thandiwe January-McLean, who took over the helm six months ago, having previously been the South African Ambassador to Portugal.  Dirk Elzinga, new Chairman of FEDHASA Cape, reminded SA Tourism that Cape Town has added on 25 % more hotel rooms in the past year, and that the city needs help in improving occupancy via events and conferences, which receive little focus from the marketing body, he felt.

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

The Board of Cape Town Tourism has diplomatically told the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde, that it is not happy to turn back the clock, and support his proposal for a centralised provincial tourism marketing agency, in that this would impact on the running of Cape Town Tourism, and of the marketing of brand ‘Cape Town’.

Last month MEC Winde announced his plan to consolidate Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Routes Unlimited into one centralised provincial body, and to market one centralised Cape Town/Western Cape brand, which created an outcry, and resulted in a carefully worded statement from Cape Town Tourism (read our blog post).

In a recent meeting between the Chairpersons of Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Routes Unlimited, and of MEC Alan Winde for the province and Alderman Felicity Purchase for the City of Cape Town, the way forward was discussed between the two parties.  It was agreed that an apolitical body was needed which would not change every time a new politician was elected at provincial or City level.   They also agreed to appoint an independent Change Manager to lead the process of negotiation between the two parties.  Both parties importantly agreed that Structure must follow Strategy.

Given the consultative nature of the process, Cape Town Tourism called a meeting of its members, to inform them of the MEC’s plan, to present to its members its counter-plan, and to hear the industry speak.  It was disappointing to see so few, and so few heavy-weight, members attend.

Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, provided background to the process of tourism unification, it not being the first attempt to unite the two tourism bodies.   In 2002 the provincial government and the City decided to unify the marketing of Cape Town, by taking this role away from Cape Town Tourism (Sheryl Ozinsky was the CEO of Cape Town Tourism at the time), through the creation of a Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO), named Cape Town Routes Unlimited.  The role of Cape Town Tourism was to unite seven local tourism bureaus, stretching as far as Somerset West, into one Visitor Information network, with unified Cape Town Tourism branding.  Cape Town Tourism was re-created, with a new Board of Directors and a new Constitution, created as an apolitical industry association, a body for members run by a Board elected by its members, and reasonably independent of the City of Cape Town’s funding, in that it focused on the generation of own-income.

A review organised by the City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member Simon Grindrod in 2007, and a report full of negatives about Cape Town Routes Unlimited, led the City to withdraw its funding of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, having been a 50 % funder of the body, and gave the body the required one year notice.    In 2008 Cape Town Tourism was appointed to market Cape Town, and it was allocated the monies that would have gone to Cape Town Routes Unlimited, after Cape Town Tourism had asked its members’ support in taking on this role - the industry was unanimous in expressing its support.  This led to a city and a provincial marketing body, each marketing Cape Town, and with overlap in marketing the province as well.

MEC Winde is proposing that tourism marketing for Cape Town and the Western Cape be centralised into Cape Town Routes Unlimited, but that this body change its name.  It would be the primary body marketing Cape Town, and would be largely funded by the City of Cape Town.   This, Cape Town Tourism’s Board believes, is turning back the clock, as Cape Town Routes Unlimited is exactly such a body established six years ago, and has failed dismally.  The MEC wants a single destination marketing organisation, a single marketing strategy, and a single brand (currently it is the mouthful of ‘Cape Town and Western Cape’).   Further, the MEC has proposed that Cape Town Tourism market Cape Town domestically, while the province market it internationally.  Major events should be marketed by the province, and smaller localised events should be marketed by each affected or organising tourism body.  Cape Town Tourism stated that it felt that the MEC’s proposal contained too much emphasis on structure, even though he himself has stated that Strategy should drive Structure, especially given that the MEC has specifically suggested that the Board of the new body be appointed by the Premier and the Mayor, once again politicising tourism marketing.

Cape Town Tourism stated that the implications for Cape Town Tourism of the MEC’s proposal would be as follows:

1.  All marketing policies would come from provincial level

2.   A joint Cape Town/Western Cape brand is not feasible, Cape Town Tourism correctly stating that “Western Cape” is not a brand but a ‘collection of brands’.

3.   Strategy, structures and policies will once again be approved by politicians, given the proposed structure.  The body should be apolitical, and tourism must be protected against political changes.

4.   The province is proposing to only fund the establishment of the new DMO, and is expecting the City of Cape Town to fund all marketing costs, reducing the marketing budget dramatically and adding more administrative costs, reducing the monies available for marketing.

In its carefully worded response to the MEC, the Board of Cape Town Tourism stated that it was important that the marketing of world cities such as Cape Town should be driven by international best practice.  It does not support the establishment of a single DMO, but rather would like to see distinct roles and responsibilities for the two parties.  It was emphasised that Cape Town Tourism does not want to take over the marketing of the province (although many a Cape Town Tourism member would like to see this happen!).

Cape Town Tourism stated that its counter-proposal to the MEC was as follows:

*   create a joint integrated tourism marketing network

*   brands must be managed at local and regional level

*   Cape Town is the key tourism brand in the province, with its own unique identity, and cannot be straight-jacketed into a provincial marketing programme.

*   International best practice shows that successful city marketing is city-driven tourism, based on public/private partnerships.

*   The lifetime value of Cape Town’s ‘customers’ must be harnessed, via Customer Relationship Marketing.

*   Duplication of marketing activity and expenditure must be eliminated.

*   Cape Town Tourism should take over responsibility for the Convention Bureau and Events, two functions sitting with the province, and dominant sources of tourism income.

*   Cape Town Tourism should be the hub of tourism stakeholders, including the citizens of Cape Town.

In concluding the discussions at the Cape Town Tourism member meeting, the members were given an opportunity to state their views.  The tremendous success of Cape Town Tourism in marketing Cape Town and in dealing with the world’s media based in Cape Town during the World Cup demonstrates how successful the body is, and that it should not be re-engineered if it is working so well, the members were told.   Given that both bodies are spending taxpayers’ monies, it is expedient that such money not be wasted by creating a new structure.

POSTSCRIPT 24/8: An e-mail sent to Cape Town Tourism members during the course of today includes the following: “In a new development, the MEC has given his assurance that no decision will be taken on the issue of tourism structures before a tourism strategy for the Province has been agreed, in consultation with key city and regional stakeholders. Cape Town Tourism fully supports this move and will be taking part in the strategic planning process”

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

On Friday I received the second edition of Crush!, “South Africa’s finest digital food & wine magazine”, says the e-mail providing the link.  To make sure one knows how good it is, it promises “yet more brilliance for you in this issue” - that is if you thought that the first issue was brilliant!   I did not think it was, and wrote a blog post about Crush1, which respected food and wine guru and Crush! editor Michael Olivier was not happy about, but I am happy to see that he has taken note of some of the feedback (we did invite Michael to comment, but he declined).   Crush!2 is much improved, but it is not there yet.  Let me tell you why:

1.   The cover design of Crush!2 is much better, with barely any distracting design features on it - it reflects the best story of the issue, a wonderful chocolate spread, with the most beautiful photography.

2.   On the “editorial page” Michael’s face is covered by the play button of the video again.  The video was shot in Sophie Lindop’s kitchen while she was preparing the Chocolate article, he says in the video, and one can hear the ‘kitchen clanging’ in the background.   I could only get the video to run halfway, and then it broke off abruptly.  I re-tried it numerous times.

3.  Michael has addressed the feedback about providing details of his editorial team (the button for it being very subtle), and a block can be opened to read this detail - Petaldesign is the design company, with Matthew Ibbotson the Art Director, and Graham van de Ruit responsible for Flash animation.   The Crush! team is thin, it being mainly Michael and his wife on the editorial side, with guest input from JP Rossouw, David Cope and Andy Fenner.   The block is so small that one struggles to read all the names.

4.   A “How to Use this digital magazine” block is welcome, but contains numerous symbols that one must remember to be able to read the digital magazine more effectively.

5.   The magazine has grown to 36 pages, and the multi-page Lindt Chocolate feature is wonderful, proving that the content does not have to be crammed onto one page, which happens on the “Michael Says” page.  On this page, there are 3 book reviews, a focus on a Vineyard dog, “Michael’s Wine Finds”, a focus on Lynne and John Ford of Main Ingredient, and a “Wine Myth”, despite there being numerous other wine pages on which the wine stories could have been featured.

6.   Advertiser support by Old Mutual, Pick ‘n Pay, Pongracz, Arabella Wines, and the Paranga/Zenzero/Kove/Pepenero group has been retained, with new ads for Welgemoed, Arumdale and an advertorial for Spier.  Michael has assured me that Pick ‘n Pay is not the owner of the magazine.

7.   On the “Essentials” page one cannot read the labels on the Dalla Cia Grappa, NoMu and Morgenster Extra Virgin Olive Oil packs, making pack recognition difficult.   If you click onto the packs, they are a little bigger.  A green i-sign provides more information.  When one has clicked on a section to blow up the size, it does not guide one as to how to reduce the size again, so one has to click to a previous page to get back on the page one was on, making this repeat process tedious over time.

8.   The Spier double-page advertorial is weak, in being an illustration of the Spier estate.  One assumes that if one clicks onto each of the “noticeboards”, that one can obtain information.  If, however, one has opened one such information block, and not closed it, one cannot open the next block.    The worst problem about this page is the dominant Uwe Koetter competition announcement, which clashes with the Spier promotion.

9.   The brand names of the wines presented with the recipe for Vegetable Cauliflower Cream Soup are unreadable, with the exception of Glen Carlou.  When one clicks onto the “Rollover” flash, it enlarges the packs a little, but does not make the labels more readable.   Once again, when one has enlarged the labels to such an extent that one can read them, one cannot get back to the full page, and has to go ‘backwards’ to get back to where one was.  A different recipe is matched to each brand of wine when one moves the mouse over it.  However, the Glen Carlou recipe rollover provides no details about serving numbers, difficulty of preparation, and prep and cook times.

10.   The “JamieWho?” page is really odd, in that Michael is clearly trying to add a younger and more hip touch to Crush!.  Blogger Andy Fenner, who recently “outed” himself as being “JamieWho?”, when he relaunched his blogsite, has almost two pages to himself, with his branding in the centre.  As an ueber-brand and marketing conscious person, I am sure he must be shocked at the presentation of his page, with the funny petal-shaped buttons, inviting readers to read his La Mouette review, his muesli recipe, his visits to L’Avenir and Delaire Graff (very disappointing short one-paragraph summaries), and a lovely feature on Roxanne Floquet, the “Queen of Cakes”.  I am not sure if the thousands of readers Michael claims his magazines go to will know who “JamieWho?”/Andy Fenner is, and will be impressed by his involvement.

11.  The “High Five” wine page has the same problem with label readability, as described above.

12.  The “Eating Out” page is interesting in that it is prominently branded with JP Rossouw’s name over two pages, but has a flash in the top right corner saying “The Foodie Fast Eats”, which is a short write-up by “The Foodie” (see below) of the Sunrise Chip ‘n Ranch (I did not pick up that there were mini write-ups about Jardine’s Bakery and Cookshop too, until alerted to these).  However, “The Foodie” has his own pages in the magazine elsewhere.   A review of Johannesburg-based DW Eleven-13 by Rossouw is of no interest to Cape Town readers, probably making up a large proportion of the magazine subscribers.   A competition block blocks the readability of the restaurant review.   At the bottom of the page it mentions four restaurants under the heading “Crush also liked”, listing Blue Water Cafe, Wild Woods, Casa Labia and Foodbarn (the name of this restaurant is barely visible), with only a telephone number and address, but no review, or summary about what these restaurants stand for.  One is not sure if they are recommended by JP or by Michael.

13.  The “Quaff Now” and “Cellar for Later” wine pages have the same problems with pack recognition and branding, but a neat label at each bottle helps one to identify each brand name.  One wonders why this approach is not used throughout the magazine to assist one in reading the pack names, rather than using so many different design styles.  An Old Mutual information block seems out of place on this page, other than to communicate that Old Mutual encourages one to drink a lot, with an inevitable outcome, requiring insurance cover!

14.   The “Quick & Delicious” page has recipes for a week ahead, nicely presented as ‘recipe cards’.   But the content is blocked in part by a block asking if one has subscribed.

15.   As stated above, the “4 Ways with Chocolate” feature is fantastic, with mouth-watering photography by Russel Wasserfall.  One wonders why Russel does not do all the photography for Crush!

16.  By contrast to the “JamieWho?” pages, “The Foodie”’s pages are a disappointment - “The Foodie” does not receive the same branding and identity treatment compared to that of his friend Andy Fenner, and his pages look more messy and unfocused.  What is a huge surprise is that “The Foodie” is outed as being David Cope, an identity which David has been at great pains to protect.  David’s blog “The Foodie” does not even identify his surname!   David works at a PR agency, and writes for such clients as the Chef’s Warehouse and Cookery School.   He, like Andy Fenner, likes to hang out at &Union, and one wonders if Michael’s readers have heard of ”The Foodie”.   He writes about a Houseboat stay at Langebaan and has a recipe for making “Perfect Guacomole”.  I wonder why Michael has chosen two “man’s men” bloggers to contribute to Crush! when there are many talented (lady) food bloggers who may have far greater credibility and be of greater interest to the readers of Crush!

17.  Crush!2 was sent out early on Friday, a bad day of the week for distributing newsletters, and getting them read.   This is evident by the few comments made about it on Twitter (many Twitter users read their Tweets on their phones, and Blackberry and iPhone do not support Adobe Flash required to open the magazine on their phones).  Also, Crush! does not appear to have editorial deadlines - Crush!1 was a month late in being launched, and this edition was published 7 weeks thereafter, not at the beginning of a month, if it is meant to be monthly or bi-monthly.

My overall impression: the “style over substance” approach to this digital magazine will not win it loyal readers - if only the style were good - and that has huge potential to improve.  Its “journalism” is light-weight,  and as someone said to me: ”this is not an online magazine  - it is a picturebook”!  Harsh words, but perhaps he is right.  Crush!2 says it is “Food & Wine with Passion” - the passion is there, but the execution is not yet!

Once again, I invite Michael to comment, which I am more than happy to post.  Read Crush!2

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

What Spill Blog had predicted three weeks ago, but what Reuben Riffel had denied vehemently to the media and to ourselves, has been announced in the Sunday Times today - Reuben Riffel will take over the helm of one of the restaurants at the One&Only Cape Town, establishing a Reuben’s restaurant in the space vacated by Gordon Ramsay’s maze at the end of July, on 1 October.  This will be the third Reuben’s, joining the restaurant family in Franschhoek and Robertson.   Reuben has committed to spending three days a week at the Hotel, to look after the restaurant.

Following speculation about him taking over the restaurant, which he denied, Riffel had warned restaurateurs to heed the example of Ramsay spreading himself too thin, and in not having a hands-on control over one’s restaurants, as quoted in sake24.  

We congratulate Reuben and his team, and wish them huge success in a very large space of 170 seats to fill, with all eyes from the Cape Town and international market focused on how he will fill Ramsay’s shoes.  Reuben’s largest challenge will be the service level offered, it not having been a strength of his restaurants in more recent times. 

The full Sunday Times story follows:  

“One of South Africa’s top chefs, Reuben Riffel, has been picked to be the apple of hospitality tycoon Sol Kerzner’s eye.

Riffel - who has gone from eating pig’s head as a youngster to feeding well-heeled patrons his signature ginger and caramel pork belly - will replace famed UK chef Gordon Ramsay at Kerzner’s One&Only hotel in Cape Town. Ramsay’s Maze restaurant was expelled from the premises following rumours of crisis talks earlier this month. In an exclusive interview this week, Riffel recalled the day Kerzner, his daughter, Andrea Kerzner, and Alan Leibman, the president of Kerzner International, visited Reuben’s, his restaurant in Franschhoek. The high-profile party feasted on chilli salt squid starters, blue cheese tomato jam tarts, tomato soup with coconut sorbet and lamb shanks with waterblommetjies. Afterwards, Kerzner made Riffel a business offer he could not refuse. “I was flabbergasted. I mean, to be asked this by such a massive industry person. So I told him I’d think about it,” said Riffel. Leibman was full of praise: “Mr Kerzner enjoyed the experience tremendously, he described the food as bursting with local ingredients, extremely tasty and heart-warming. He was also impressed with the extensive wine selection.”

Riffel’s contract, signed on Tuesday, stipulates that he will man the restaurant at the hotel at least three days a week. This follows on Ramsay’s striking absence from Maze. Reuben’s at the One&Only will be decorated in Riffel’s trademark ox-blood red with bold artworks. “I want it to be more relaxed, unlike the traditional idea of hotel restaurants being stiff, that colonial feeling,” he said. The softly-spoken chef, who was raised in Groendal outside Franschhoek, got his big break when he landed a job at the Chamonix Restaurant in Franschhoek, where his mother worked temporarily as a kitchen hand. He has since risen to become one of South Africa’s most celebrated chefs”.  

The Food & Beverage Assistant Manager at the One&Only Hotel Cape Town has confirmed Reuben’s appointment, as has Maryke, Reuben Riffel’s wife.  Maryke has confirmed that they will take over some of the existing staff at the hotel’s restaurant, and that the Franschhoek and Robertson staff of Reubens will assist in the opening of Reuben’s at the One&Only Cape Town on a temporary basis.  She said that Reuben is itching to get into the One&Only kitchen, to “eat it and smell it”, but will be spending the next few days in Robertson to run a cookery course.

POSTSCRIPT 23/8:  The One&Only Cape Town’s media release, released today, is short and sweet, and appears rushed in containing unforgivable typing errors:

“(23 August 2010) It has been announced that Reuben Riffel - one of South Africa’s best loved celebrity chefs - will open his first urban restaurant at One&Only Cape Town later this year. The annoucement (sic) was made in Cape Town late last week by Alan Leibman, President of Kerzner International (EAME). 

Talking to the annoucement (sic) Sol Kerzner, Chairman and CEO of Kerzner International explained that he had dined at Reuben’s restaurant in Franschhoek while he was in Cape Town over World Cup. “I saw in Reuben an opportunity to capture the essence of South African spirit and pride the world saw as we hosted this major event and invited him to bring his acclaimed local flair to a new restaurant at One&Only Cape Town. We are very pleased to have him on board and feel it’s quite fitting that One&Only’s first urban resort is also the setting for Reuben’s first urban restaurant.”

“I’m really excited and proud about the pending launch of my new restaurant,” said Reuben Riffel. “Reuben’s at One&Only Cape Town will serve wholesome bistro fare, made from locally-sourced produce. With the resort’s central location, I hope to not only introduce my food to more Capetonians, but also visitors to the Mother City. The restaurant will have a sophisticated - but decidedly unfussy - brasserie feel to it, while the food will provide an exciting combination of local flavours appealing to any palette.” 

Reuben’s at One&Only Cape Town will open on Friday 1 October and reservations can be made by calling 021 431 5222 or emailing restaurantreservations@oneandonlycapetown.com“ 

POSTSCRIPT 23/8: Fin24.com writes about the appointment of Reuben Riffel at the One&Only Cape Town today, and questions his denial to them two weeks ago about expanding his Reuben’s restaurant chain: http://www.fin24.com/Business/Gordon-Ramsays-replacement-named-20100822

POSTSCRIPT 31/8: The One&Only Cape Town website describes the opening of Reubens at the One&Only Cape Town as follows:

“One&Only Cape Town is proud to launch Reuben’s first urban restaurant on 1 October 2010. Reuben’s serves deceptively simple, wholesome bistro fare, with fresh flavours, generous portions and beautifully plated dishes. The restaurant has a sophisticated, but unfussy, brasserie feel and the food provides the exciting combination of local flavours that one would expect from one of South Africa’s most loved chefs, Reuben Riffel.

Five Flies restaurant in Cape Town has been around forever, and I had not been there for ages.   When my friend Elisabeth Kretschmer suggested it as a city restaurant for lunch in early June, we decided to make use of the Monday-Wednesday-Friday winter special offer, a 2-course meal at R125 per person and 3 courses at R 150, inclusive of a glass of wine (the normal prices are R 200 for 3 courses, R 230 for 4 courses and R 279 for 5 courses).

The restaurant once was the home of the Dutch Club, and is a Historical Monument.  It has a namesake D’Vijff Vliegen in Amsterdam.  It is located on Keerom Street, home to the city’s lawyers and advocates, and probably gets a lot of business from these learned persons.   The restaurant has not had an update in ages, other than having had the interior painted.   It is a conglomeration of two buildings, with a central courtyard linked to interleading rooms.  We could not sit in the courtyard (it was a summery winter’s day) because it is the smokers’ area.  However, all the doors connecting the courtyard to the other rooms of the restaurant are wide open, contrary to the smoking legislation.  The rooms are smallish, allowing one to book them for private functions.   Elisabeth noticed the beautiful bunch of fresh roses in the entrance, whereas I loved the artwork which brightened the cream walls.  Strangely. no one had  a pricelist for these, because the walls had recently been painted, we were told, and the prices had been removed and lost in the process.   The artworks are rather modern, a contrast to the historic Cape Dutch feel of the restaurant interior with the “riempies”-style chairs.

I arrived to find the hostess in the reception hall rather short and abrupt.   She took me to the end room and mumbled that I could choose any table.  When I chose the one nearest the window, she told me it was already booked, although none of the tables had a “Reserved” sign on them.     Not a welcome start.  I was given the menu/winelist, but not told that it was a Winter Specials price day, given that it was a Friday.  The waitress was quick to offer the price when I asked her.  I wondered if she would have told us and charged us correctly if I had not asked.   The waitresses are dressed in a casual black T-shirt with the Five Flies logo on it.   The hostess seemed out of place, wearing her “civvies”.  The music was blaring, and I had to ask the hostess to turn down the volume.

We each chose two dishes from the menu, and realised what a problem this causes when different dishes are ordered - Elisabeth ordered a salad and a main, and I had a main and a dessert.  Elisabeth loved the bread and could not get enough of it.   I had to wait for Elisabeth to eat her beautifully presented salmon, rocket and dried caper salad, served with shaved parmesan and a red mustard seed dressing, which she loved the taste of, before we both received our mains together.  My sirloin steak was a little chewy, and was served with pumpkin, courgettes, potato gallette, camembert (I did not taste the cheese) and Madeira wine jus. Elisabeth loved her veal escalopes with spinach fettucini, stir-fry vegetables and parmesan cream sauce.   It meant that Elisabeth then had to watch me eat my dessert (delicious layers of meringue and Lindt chocolate, served with pecan nut ice cream and chocolate sauce), a waste of time for both of us working persons, given that it was lunchtime, and that our working day had not yet finished.    I ordered a cappuccino to be served with my dessert, but it arrived when I had almost finished the dessert.

The winelist is short and sweet, and seems to reflect how many cash-strapped restaurant-goers choose their wines, unfortunately white and red wines mixed, in price bands of R115 (e.g. Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Leopard’s Leap Shiraz, Groote Post ‘The Old Man’s Blend’), R135, R165, R185, R205, R300, R400, R475, R550 (e.g. Vergelegen White, Cloof Crucible Shiraz, Rupert & Rothschild Baron Edmonde), and R750 (includes Vilafonte Series C, Rudera Cabernet Sauvignon, Rust & Vrede, Sterhuis Astra).  The champagnes and sparkling wines had no prices, and it took some time for the prices of these to be found.   The Moet et Chandon costs R850 and the Louis Roederer Crystal R4500 a bottle.  The Simonsig bubbly costs R180, while the Pongracz Desiderius costs R475.    The free glass of white wine, which is part of the special, was an unwooded chardonnay from Leopard’s Leap, and the red was Peacon Stream Pebble Hill by Waterford.  Surprisingly, one size fits all at Five Flies, in that only one size of wine glass is on the table, irrespective of one drinking white or red wine.

In a clever move to keep one coming back to Five Flies, each guest receives a R 100 voucher towards the next meal (on checking the detail, the voucher is for a table of two, and can only be used in October, November or December this year!).

The Five Flies brochure says: “It’s classic in a contemporary way.  It’s a restaurant but it’s also bars.  It’s got a lot of heritage but it’s very now, and it’s well worth a visit”.  I am not sure if it is still “very now”.  Five Flies is a professional restaurant, where things work functionally, but it lacks warmth, character, care for and interest in its patrons.   No management, other than the pushy hostess, was visible or came to our table in the two hours that we were there.   Yet the food was generally good, well presented, and the winter special package is excellent value-for-money.

Note: The Five Flies special has changed to two main courses for the price of one (the content of this special seems to change regularly, despite its ad in the Weekend Argus of today claiming that this has been the special since July - I have seen it advertised as 50 % off as well, which does not apply if you are a single diner), on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  The special offer was sent by e-mail, but is not featured on the website.

Five Flies, 14 - 16 Keerom Street. Tel 021 424-4442.  www.fiveflies.co.za (Not the most exciting restaurant website, but functionally good detail, with winelist, menu, nice photographs of dishes, but not of those that we had).  Open for lunch Mondays - Fridays, and for dinner from Mondays - Sundays.  Ian Bergh was the Executive Chef, who trained under Franck Dangereux of the Food Barn, but has since left.   (Greg Baverstock is the new chef).

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

The Sweet Service Award goes to Ian of Exclusive Books in Sea Point, who kept the store open on a Sunday afternoon so that I could pop down quickly from Fresnaye to buy the ‘New Concise Larousse Gastronomique”, it being the only branch in Cape Town to stock the book.

The Sour Service Award goes to Woolworths, for misleading consumers through a promotion which is downright dishonest.  I am a regular purchaser of its 240 gram cheddar and gouda cheeseblocks, and noticed a “save R6″ flash in the top left corner of the pack.  I asked Lance, the duty manager of the Piazza Da Luz branch, what the exact price is, as the shelf price showed R25,95. He seemed out of his depth in answering my question, as I showed him a slip of two weeks earlier, when the same purchase had also cost R25,95 without the promotion.   He went to the till to scan the products (one pack with, and another pack without the R6 flash), and on scanning them, both showed the price to be R 25,95.   Lance took no interest in how long I had to wait for him at the cheese shelf, and took other calls while I waited for him.  He made no attempt to call Head Office, saying the offices were closed on a Saturday afternoon, and refused to call his store manager and the Customer Care department.  He took my details, and I only heard from Nazeem of the Woolworths’ Customer Care department five days later.  He was full of excuses about his delay in making contact, had not been briefed by the store, and I still have not been called by the Promotions department of Woolworths, even though my complaint was picked up by the Woolworths Twitterer, and I was promised contact on Monday.  After almost a week, I am still mad about this dishonesty, and at Woolworths for not caring about its customers!

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.