Profitable Hospitality

Great discussion by Jeff Jarvis today on his new MediaTalk USA podcast. They've set this up so you can listen to the talk session through iTunes, find out the names and links mentioned on the MediaUSA website, follow the Twitter updates, and discuss or comment on their Facebook group...

Last week I saw a set of witty, original wine labels (on bottles)...and wanted to buy a case for gifts and drinking. Found the website, thinking that would lead me to a supplier. Big mistake - it was one of the most frustrating and over-designed sites I've ever experienced...

The imaginative campaigners at SugarStacks have illustrated the amount of sugar in popular beverages, breakfast foods, snacks and desserts. Here is a popular staff drink, using 4 gm sugar cubes as a measurement. Diabetes anyone?

You can't watch this and not smile...

Good response from Gary V. about the Dominos snotty pizza fiasco - this is not a reason for large companies to avoid participating in video and other social media. And a request to have webcams in kitchens and back of house so consumers can see how clean they really are!

Retailers often analyse the typical customer 'basket' size and composition. Did they buy just one sweater, or add accessories and a t-shirt? How many grocery or hardware items did they choose? The restaurateur or bar manager would be asking: how many items do lunch customers buy...

Enjoy the final dance sequence from Slumdog Millionaire...

Just enjoyed a great concert with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. A few words in the printed programme leapt off the page....not Mozart and Bartok, but 'blog', 'download' and web addresses...

Great short video made by my brother and a buddy in Phoenix, with night and day shots of his favourite local restaurant Palatte. We have a mutual challenge to each create 25 videos in 25 days (and I am waaaay behind)...

Jeff Jarvis in his new book What Would Google Do? promotes the importance of releasing a product in an 'almost finished' or beta stage [see the short video below]. Google are masters of the process, with many of their popular products still technically 'under development'...

He's your new waiter or function sales guy...'stop having boring tuna, stop having a boring life!' Hat tip: Marketing Headhunter

On again, off again - an SMS promo from a large club thumps onto my phone, after no news for almost two (2) years. Offering a crazy, unconvincing Jackpot deal...delete...

On 26 January, there's only one thing to do...

Sydney people are watching the 'social media' campaign by pubs to overturn restrictions on the 48 'most violent' hotels in the inner city. It's been called a fightback against tough new drinking laws and is heavily backed by the local branch of the Australian Hotels Association...

Explaining a concept our parents think we've long forgotten...

Most people find it easier to change the subject, make up a story or just never reply... they can't say No. No Thanks, No Way, Not Now or Not Interested...

What a pleasure to find originality in cafe presentation - I recently visited two from each end of the spectrum... On the right, Tea & Treasures at Port Macquarie is all roses, cane chairs and chintz. On the left, Liar Liar in Melbourne is cool, sleek and modern - here's a pot of their herb tea...

One of 14 amazing foodscapes by Carl Warner - here a tiny pea pod boat sails over a sea of smoked salmon. See more here...

The video title does need some work (their choice), but the crew at The Slug and Lettuce have assembled a nice collection of YouTube videos. But don't stop now gents - this sort of effort needs regular new contributions so it doesn't just look like a 'marketing exercise'...

US reviewer Zagat and online booking service OpenTable have both released free applications for the iPhone. They will use your location to find a local venue and OpenTable will show availability and organise the booking...

I was reading about another over-priced 'Real Time Interactive Guest Feedback Solution', this time using text-messaging. Nice idea, but the sort of add-on expense most people will be avoiding right now and throughout 2009...

This cartoon is a simple but compelling view of how food supply and nutrition has changed:

Wow! Pizza Hut now have more than 380,000 Facebook friends - all attracted by the prizes and gift card offers. Plus there are more than a thousand wall posts, videos, etc...

In Chicago outside our hotel, preparing for a promo campaign - one of the largest SUVs I've ever seen. But green is more than just a new paint job, and the whole oil/ethanol debate remains complex.

Interesting - World Vision have dived into fair-trade action with their Don't Trade Lives campaign, directed at the local chocolate industry: Your favourite chocolate bar might not taste so sweet when you consider that with each bite you are supporting an industry where children may be forced to...

Groan...another call from a company selling listings in a 'supplier directory' - I had a flashback of the school library catalogue. It seems to be mainly industry associations that still labour to produce these clunky tomes instead of putting their energy into a proper online directory...

An inspiring Vision Statement (or is that a Mission Statement?) from the Butt Littering Trust: "The Trust seeks to be Australia’s recognised leading organisation on butt littering reduction and provider of Butt-Free Solutions to reduce cigarette butt littering." Yep, there's no end to the...

The poo in the icecream at the Sydney pub horror story broke several weeks ago, after an incident on October 5. It's now becoming a textbook case of how not to manage the issue. The pub was first in denial, ducking and weaving with their responses...

The new cafe at the super, duper facilities in the middle of nearby Centennial Park. Must have been a requirement to have 'recyclable' cutlery - it's wooden! But where are the reusable china cups, like they had before millions were spent on the upgrade...

Woohoo - I just did a quick count and can see there are more than 400 training resource entries in our Restaurant, Hotel & Club Training Resources Blog. It's been non-stop since 2005 and is choc-full of goodness...

$$ I'm enjoying NPR's Planet Money podcasts on the early morning walk - they have access to some of the sharpest and most objective minds. It's helping to make sense of the chaos.

Here's a great comparison of the emails from both sides of the US campaign. The heavy ones are a lot like the regular shouting/selling emails from hotels and restaurants that land with a dreary thump in my inbox... How do yours compare?

Andrew Winston reports on WalMart's recent Sustainability Summit in China, when they laid down their new 'sustainable supply' requirements in no uncertain terms. This is a company with serious buying power that knows their customers are expecting nothing less...

Spring has sprung in Sydney, and good coffee as always at Tamarama Beach (below) It's not tiny town, but done with some smarty-pants photo technique called 'tilt shift'...

Wild and wonderful wine marketer Gary Vaynerchuk gives everyone who's still doing 2007-style advertising a well-deserved whipping:

Seth Godin gives a nice description of the advantages and workings of RSS: I can highly recommend a wide range of RSS tools, which can take your browsing efficiency way up. And if you're not a subscriber (to this blog and others) today is a great day to start. RSS is a little like radio...