Rugby at Night
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Eat Out Guide
We are now featured in New Zealand's Eat Out Dining Guide. Check it out! We have also been interviewed by Food Service Magazine for the June issue. We were going to wait for Dan to take food photos for us, but these turned out pretty well, yeah?
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Plants, Books and Reggae
Last time I posted I was thinking that our next big rush would be the Lions Tour. Not so. A couple of huge events have delivered our biggest weekend ever: New Zealand Music Month and the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. Add that to the fact that we are now listed in Google and in the Auckland dining guides, and we have lots of new customers discovering Mexican food . . . and they love it!
JB and I placed 4th in one of the big annual golf tournaments at Titirangi. We were expecting a sleeve of balls or some sweeps, but they do things a bit differently here (seems like I say that all the time!) The prize was a potted plant. I remember Gene Taylor from COCC (he did a job share with a fellow from Invercargill a few years back) telling me that their golf club gave meat as prizes and I thought that was so funny. It reflects the attitude towards golf - it's not a big deal, it's just something everyone does. Greens fees and club memberships are pretty inexpensive, and a round of golf is accessible to just about everyone (providing you can walk five miles over hill and dale).
Tyler has achieved his dream of playing semi-pro basketball by joining the North Harbour team. In fact, they made him captain! Conor and Jen have been doing all of the touristy things, even though the weather has been wet but warm. Tyler, Mike and I found a great little cafe in Devonport last week that serves REAL pancakes. Before that we were stuck with Denny's for our flapjack fix.
Both JB and I have made our return flights for July. JB is going back July 3 for the Broken Top Men's Invitational, and I will be in Bend on the 23rd for a couple of weeks for the Broken Top Classic. We are looking forward to seeing as many friends and family as we can up and down the West Coast.
JB and I placed 4th in one of the big annual golf tournaments at Titirangi. We were expecting a sleeve of balls or some sweeps, but they do things a bit differently here (seems like I say that all the time!) The prize was a potted plant. I remember Gene Taylor from COCC (he did a job share with a fellow from Invercargill a few years back) telling me that their golf club gave meat as prizes and I thought that was so funny. It reflects the attitude towards golf - it's not a big deal, it's just something everyone does. Greens fees and club memberships are pretty inexpensive, and a round of golf is accessible to just about everyone (providing you can walk five miles over hill and dale).
Tyler has achieved his dream of playing semi-pro basketball by joining the North Harbour team. In fact, they made him captain! Conor and Jen have been doing all of the touristy things, even though the weather has been wet but warm. Tyler, Mike and I found a great little cafe in Devonport last week that serves REAL pancakes. Before that we were stuck with Denny's for our flapjack fix.
Both JB and I have made our return flights for July. JB is going back July 3 for the Broken Top Men's Invitational, and I will be in Bend on the 23rd for a couple of weeks for the Broken Top Classic. We are looking forward to seeing as many friends and family as we can up and down the West Coast.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Cinco de Sol
I just realized that it’s been two weeks since I last posted. You guys must think that we have gotten lost somewhere in the South Pacific. Quite honestly, sometimes we feel that way too.
My biggest wake-up call came on Cinco de Mayo (nobody knew what that was) when I put together a playlist of all Jimmy Buffet songs to run throughout the day. I might as well have been playing Martian music because not one person had ever heard Margaritaville. Even our Mexican beer supplier was not aware of Cinco de Mayo, but they were kind enough to play along and provide some posters and banners and a special price for Sol. Speaking of which, Sol beer outsells Corona 5-1.
We have been up and running with no major meltdowns since ANZAC day. Sales are steadily improving and our first marketing campaign – Burrito Bucks – has been a resounding success. We have tweaked our menu a bit already by adding a variety of Danish pastries for our rapidly growing morning tea trade. I am sure we are the only Mexican restaurant in the world where the quality of our coffee brings ‘em in the door! We have also added a mini burrito to better relate to the traditional Kiwi pie.
It has been quite a ride so far. Things that we take for granted are either just not available or require importing from the States. Highchairs? There is one choice, the cheapo metal and plastic variety. I showed our supplier a picture of a simple wooden chair we used at Mexicali and Baja and got the standard answer: “We can have them custom made.” That has been the case for wooden dining tables, saloon doors, stainless steel tables and even the sweet & sour that we use in margaritas. In fact, during our first week we used all of the sweet & sour in the entire country! We now have our juice and produce purveyors coming up with samples of mixes they can provide so we don’t have to worry about running out. We have had to import taco and tostada shell forms and plastic baskets from the States. Thank goodness JB ordered $30,000 worth of beans to get us started or we would be rolling burritos with baked beans.
We have been sharing our Subaru Legacy for three months now and it has gotten to the point where JB and I need our own wheels. It’s either that or give up grocery shopping and golf. Well, you gotta eat and you gotta play, so after much research we have purchased a Prius. It’s a 2002 and imported from Japan. Well, you might be thinking, all Prius’ are imported from Japan. Nope, this is REALLY from Japan. All of the instructions, buttons and displays are in Japanese. We are hedging our bets against the day that petrol becomes another one of those commodities you can’t get here. We pick it up on Wednesday and then . . . it’s off to the golf course!
Conor’s projector on the outside wall has been a huge hit with rugby fans all along the wharf. I cannot believe how it draws people from the ferries. It’s provided us with an interesting situation, however. The Float bar next door charges a cover to watch rugby, so all of those customers are stopping by our place to watch the game for free. On the other side are the deros from Provedor who have been swilling $3 Heinekens all night and stumble over to watch while drooling on the new glass windbreaks and creating general havoc. Grant from Float is probably not a happy camper, although he hasn’t said anything yet. Any time you cast a wide net you run the risk of getting some bottom feeders, so I’m sure Richard from Provedor doesn’t mind us entertaining his troops.
Next up, Lions and Tacos and Beers – oh my!
My biggest wake-up call came on Cinco de Mayo (nobody knew what that was) when I put together a playlist of all Jimmy Buffet songs to run throughout the day. I might as well have been playing Martian music because not one person had ever heard Margaritaville. Even our Mexican beer supplier was not aware of Cinco de Mayo, but they were kind enough to play along and provide some posters and banners and a special price for Sol. Speaking of which, Sol beer outsells Corona 5-1.
We have been up and running with no major meltdowns since ANZAC day. Sales are steadily improving and our first marketing campaign – Burrito Bucks – has been a resounding success. We have tweaked our menu a bit already by adding a variety of Danish pastries for our rapidly growing morning tea trade. I am sure we are the only Mexican restaurant in the world where the quality of our coffee brings ‘em in the door! We have also added a mini burrito to better relate to the traditional Kiwi pie.
It has been quite a ride so far. Things that we take for granted are either just not available or require importing from the States. Highchairs? There is one choice, the cheapo metal and plastic variety. I showed our supplier a picture of a simple wooden chair we used at Mexicali and Baja and got the standard answer: “We can have them custom made.” That has been the case for wooden dining tables, saloon doors, stainless steel tables and even the sweet & sour that we use in margaritas. In fact, during our first week we used all of the sweet & sour in the entire country! We now have our juice and produce purveyors coming up with samples of mixes they can provide so we don’t have to worry about running out. We have had to import taco and tostada shell forms and plastic baskets from the States. Thank goodness JB ordered $30,000 worth of beans to get us started or we would be rolling burritos with baked beans.
We have been sharing our Subaru Legacy for three months now and it has gotten to the point where JB and I need our own wheels. It’s either that or give up grocery shopping and golf. Well, you gotta eat and you gotta play, so after much research we have purchased a Prius. It’s a 2002 and imported from Japan. Well, you might be thinking, all Prius’ are imported from Japan. Nope, this is REALLY from Japan. All of the instructions, buttons and displays are in Japanese. We are hedging our bets against the day that petrol becomes another one of those commodities you can’t get here. We pick it up on Wednesday and then . . . it’s off to the golf course!
Conor’s projector on the outside wall has been a huge hit with rugby fans all along the wharf. I cannot believe how it draws people from the ferries. It’s provided us with an interesting situation, however. The Float bar next door charges a cover to watch rugby, so all of those customers are stopping by our place to watch the game for free. On the other side are the deros from Provedor who have been swilling $3 Heinekens all night and stumble over to watch while drooling on the new glass windbreaks and creating general havoc. Grant from Float is probably not a happy camper, although he hasn’t said anything yet. Any time you cast a wide net you run the risk of getting some bottom feeders, so I’m sure Richard from Provedor doesn’t mind us entertaining his troops.
Next up, Lions and Tacos and Beers – oh my!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
