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Social Network Cyber Sex – Are u a grower or a show’er?

February 15, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

Big #shoutout to all my fellow “TwitFace Pimps” out there!

A new term that about 70 % of any worldly “plugged in” demographic will be able to identify.

Even in the scorching hot, 3rd world populations of Mother Africa there are an estimated 110,948,420 Internet users in Africa for Jul 31/10, with 10.9% penetration rate. With over 17,607,440 Facebook users as of August 31/10, with a 1.7% penetration rate.
Think about it this way. Some countries in Africa don’t even have ROADS, and they have a Social Network.

*http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

I was trying to recall the point made in one of my FAVORITE lecture materials back in College.The book was 2 yrs old when I had first read it and something just clicked. I started to understand my culture and understand how we as North Americans viewed our networks.

The book is:
Sex In The Snow – Canadian Social Values at the End of the Millennium
by Michael Adams
Viking, Toronto, 1997

The book is best summed up by TCI Management Consultants “As I see it, the new mental posture of Canadians has been shaped by three major quests: for personal autonomy, for pleasure and for spiritual fulfilment. In all three pursuits, the accent is on “personal”. It is this particular constellation of socio-cultural currents – among the most profound in Canada today – that gave rise to the title Sex in the Snow. The snow represents what is most enduring in Canadian values; the sex represents the hedonism and demand for immediate gratification that distinguishes the recent evolution of social values in the country. The stereotype of Canadians as respectful and reserved, and not that imaginative, is fast losing its validity.” (p. 6)

Adams identifies two Generation X tribes – the ‘New Aquarians’ and the ‘Autonomous Post-Materialists’ as being those most likely to lead us forward. As opposed to the other ‘GenX’ tribes that have relatively little social conscience (i.e. the ‘Aimless Dependents’, the ‘Thrill-Seeking Materialists’ and the ‘Social Hedonists’) both these tribes seem to exhibit something in the way of redeeming values (egalitarianism, respect for human rights, and a respect for freedom). He ends the book with a futuristic, if incredibly corny (and American, no less!), vision: “Already on the leading edge of modern values, they [these two GenX tribes] will be the multicultural crew of our “Starship Enterprise.” (p. 202)

*http://www.bizsum.com/articles/art_sex-in-snow.php

But what Adams couldn’t foresee is nearly a decade later we would not only bond together as a Nation but also as a New United Nation – The Web Nation.
Now just tickling the beginnings of 2011, anyone who’s anyone has their own Facebook & Twitter profiles, online photo album, and thousands of amateur multi-media capabilities available 24 – 7, costing nothing or minimal fees. Essentially allowing everyday ordinary people to properly brand their selves and freely broadcast to literally thousands of people with the click of a button, or the pasting of a URL code.

Talk about instant gratification – I say “CYBER SEX” because we have become Literally a generation of online hedonists! I can’t say without blinking an eye that when I post something to my facebook wall or my twitter page I immediately refresh my page hoping that someone would have commented or “liked” my material. Taking immediate notice of my interests and of me. When I say are you a “Grower or a Show-er” I mean are you the type of internet hedonist that enjoys the numbers game? For example, do you like to hoard friends, you want to beat all their scores on the Facebook apps, and you want to fulfill your internet hedonism based on the growth of your data base and the amount of people you are able to rake in? OR are you a show-er.

By show-er I mean do you like to post funny pics, or videos, and blogs? Do you write on other peoples walls? Do you want to show the world how amazingly-awesome-and-wonderful you are because getting “poked” and “liked” by 10 people in 2 seconds brings you more joy and validation then your MOM telling you that you’re amazingly-awesome-and-wonderful, and besides… she’s bias, she gave birth to you… But she’s not on your “Favorites” list, and you’d die if you had to Retweet half the things she says. BUT! If a random stranger whom you saw at summer camp 15 yrs ago and spent a weekend with you, asked you to be their friend, who has a friends network list of 4,679 people, and a fan page, and YouTube Channel and Ashton Kutcher actually chatted to him on his personal Twitter and he made that tweet his background as proof, found you THAT amazing you’d totally feel vindicated wouldn’t you??

So to all my #TwitFace Pimps out there (you know who you are) 10 yrs has past and I’ve come up with my OWN list of online stereotypes that you should explore:

- The Celebrity Suckers – people who ONLY follow celebrities, talk about celebrities, try to talk to celebrities, and are devout followers of Ellen, Oprah and The View.

- The Infotainers – those who like to post funny quotes, fun facts, old videos, they try to build content on their pages to entice people into engagement.

- The Spammer – #Teamfollowback – this is you! Sundays “my timeline” is filled with just “@’s” and names & auto DM’s – tsk tsk!

- The Infomercial -The “Check out my product, if you buy now get something for free, hey guys have you seen my product?” But never return a tweet or DM.

- The Cool Kids – they chat about worldly affairs, what’s current, what the “buzz” is, they return your “@’s”, ur pokes, & mention you in their statuses.

- The Professional – the realestate agent that only posts his listings, the product company that lists specials, No ROE, and they scratch their heads about no ROI !!

- The Po’ po’ poopers – the internet police, the “you shouldn’t do this or that” folk, always have a negative comment or a scolding, always reviewing and judging… the party poopers.

- The Parents – the Mom’s groups, organization tree’s, they advertise/communicate online about community events and or team charities and functions.

- The Creepies – the ones who stalk all your profiles but you’ve never met. They ask you for naked pictures before they ask what your favorite colour is, and they send you a link or a forward and you get a virus quicker then you would had you had sex without a condom.

- The TwitFace Pimp – the “pimp” is usually involved in social media or dabbles in it at some higher level then the average joe, and also has a few profiles they manage and have a built network around. When they need to move a product or service they pimp out their clients brand to their network in a sexy seductive way, not coming across as intrusive or spammy. They are smooth operators and you never really know who their (excuse my language) “Media Wh@res” are. But they get the job done and satisfy their clientele.

So that’s why I ask, when it comes to the Social Network of Cyber Hedonism, do you consider yourself a Grower OR a Show-er?

If you’re free Feb. 23rd come join me Stacey Prieur “Social Media Manger” for Sage Restaurant, Yellowfin Restaurant, 1two3 Restaurant  and The Social Media Club – Gold Coast at Sage Cafe’ Restaurant in Broadbeach to discuss Social Media in today’s day and age and how to effectively identify who your speaking to and why it’s important to brand yourself clearly and efficiently online. I started in Social Media with my business partner at the time Jill Clark and I’m going to break it down how we defined our online strategy and how it can work for you!

The best part is FINALLY I can “Socialize” at work and not get in trouble! I get PAID to do it! Ha!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Behind the Sage, I Love Sage Restaurant in Broadbeach, Sage Cafe Restaurant, Social Media Facebook, social media for restaurants, Social Media Twitter, Wise old sage

QLD RSA with a Cause

November 10, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

If you need to get your RSA, try doing it this way! RSA with a cause…

In today’s uncertain financial climate it’s easy to understand why some individuals and small businesses may not be able to donate to charities as generously as they have in the past.

A training organisation with a difference is bucking this trend by donating a percentage of its course costs to an environmental charity, the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Train to Gain offers 100% online accredited Responsible Service of Alcohol, Hospitality and Food Safety Supervisor training. Company directors Brendan and Nat Bolton feel they have an obligation to do something to help preserve Queensland’s beautiful beaches and oceans.

Mr. Bolton says:

- “We both have many years experience working in the hospitality industry and have a real appreciation that each year many thousands of people travel great distances to enjoy all that Queensland has to offer.”

- “The hospitality industry in Queensland is greatly dependent on unique attractions such as the Great Barrier Reef and our amazing beaches and waterways,”

- ‘”We wanted to provide a service that is convenient and accessible to hospitality workers.”

-“We understand that even though training is extremely important, often the last thing someone wants to do after a long shift or on their day off is to spend hours doing face to face training.”

- “This is especially true of hospitality workers living in remote areas who have to travel long distances to do this training.”

- “Our courses are completed 100% online and people can gain the certificates they need at their own pace, in the comfort of their own home and at the right price. They can also print their certificates right away so they aren’t waiting for them to arrive in the mail.”

- “We pride ourselves on giving the best customer service in the business. We answer the phone on weekends, public holidays and even during Masterchef.”

Why this is a great way to get your RSA:

Train to Gain donates part of its course fees to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, a charity that’s committed to protecting Australia’s oceans and marine wildlife.
Tara Janssen from the Australian Marine Conservation Society said that as a not for profit charity, the Society depended on donations from businesses and individuals across the country.

“Train to Gain’s support for our work means we can continue working to free our oceans from pollution, overfishing and oil spills, and create a better future for our children and our precious ocean life,” Ms Janssen said.

Brendan and Nat don’t intend stopping their charitable activities there. They are also on the lookout for a charitable organisation to be associated with their online Food Safety Supervisor course.

“We gain a lot from helping organisations which do great work, so if a charity or organisation feel they would be interested in being associated with us, we would urge them to contact us via one of our websites.”

Train to Gain can be contacted at info@traintogain.com.au

Check out what they do at www.qldrsa.com.au or www.traintogain.com.au

Information about the AMCS can be viewed at www.amcs.org.com.au

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: How to get your RSA, QLD RSA, Responsible Service of Alcohol, RSA's online, The Australian Marine Conservation Society, things to know about RSA's, Train to Gain, Waitstaff NEED their RSA's

2011 Nude Calendar RELEASED!

October 3, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Getting Cheeky with it!

If you’ve been out of town, or hiding under a media free rock – the owners, managers, chefs and staff from Sage Cafe, Yellowfin Seafood Restaurant and 1two3 Dining & Lounge Bar have stripped down and bared their souls (and some cute bottoms as well) to pose for nude photos for their first ever charity calendar.

The 2011 NUDE Restaurant Calendar features employees of the 3 restaurants (with ages ranging between early 20s to late 40s) strutting their stuff in the restaurants and kitchens, using fun props in strategically placed positions to cover up their naughty bits. Shot over three days the result is a collection of fun, vibrant, and cheeky photographs that all the participants are very proud of. Now lets get down to the bare essentials, we need YOU to purchase them so we can help support our 6 very lovely charities!

How can you help? Well glad you asked!
The calendars are now available for purchase directly through the restaurants and on-line via their websites!

Check out :
http://www.1two3restaurant.com.au/charity to purchase one of these fab calendars featuring our birthday suited beauties!!

The Charities:
The following organisations will all receive a share of the funds raised by the sale of our calendars.

Dreamworkers – this is a GC fund raising organisation that raises money to support the community by supporting local charities and individuals needing assistance http://www.dreamworkers.com.au/

Transformations – They are a Gold Coast organisation that offer counselling and recovery programs that assist sufferers of drug and alcohol addiction, grief, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, divorce and abuse. http://www.transformation.net.au/

The GC Community Fund – they organise community fundraising projects to raise money for distribution to local charities and individuals in emergency need http://www.gccommunityfund.org/

Pulmonary Hypertension Australia – this organisation provides hope, support and education for sufferers and carers of people with Pulmonary Hypertension. http://www.phaaustralia.com.au/

Beautiful You Foundation – this is a QLD based charity for women going through the journey of cancer. They organise complimentary mornings for women such as makeup, skin care, art classes, craft and jewellery making and they are now fund-raising to set up a special retreat for cancer sufferers and their families. http://www.beautiful-you.com.au/

Hannah’s Foundation – Drowning Prevention, awareness and family support based in QLD started by Andrew Plint (A QLD Police Officer) and his wife after losing their daughter, Hannah to a drowning in 2007 http://www.hannahsfoundation.org/

The Launch Party
Thursday 16th September 2010 was the date for our official launch party for the calendar – the charities all sent representatives and we all had a great night – check out the party video!

The organisers of the calendar wish to acknowledge a number of sponsors who donated time, props, products and expertise towards the making of the calendar; a huge heartfelt thank you to Fotoforce photography, Allure Hair & Makeup, Bliss Tanning in Broadbeach, Nonstop Adz, Retro Chef & Amore Coffee.

For further information or high resolution images please contact:
Justine Clarke
Marketing & Functions Manager
0404 118090

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter: @SageRestaurant
OR on Facebook : Sage CafeRestaurant
Social Media friends enjoy a 30% discount off your ENTIRE bill!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 2011 Naked Calendar, hot naked Australians, Hot naked men, Hot Naked Women, hot naked young men, hot naked young women, Naked for charity, Naked in a Kitchen, Naked where, Naked with Fire, Naked with Food, nude for food, Nude with Food

You Hormonal Cow!

September 3, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Oi! Sorry mate, not insulting the Wendy Whinger from this morning, just talkin’ bout my meat!

Just gettin excited because there’s been rumours spreading that COLES will be aggressively selling HORMONE FREE beef! Which is amazing because that means less chemicals being pumped into our bodies, and because we’re an AWARD WINNING Steak maker, so not to pat ourselves on the back but… we like to know everything about our meat! We some times give it knicknames, bring it to footy games… you know, really make it feel important and sexy.
“The industry is abuzz with rumours that the supermarket is already buying cattle that haven’t been treated with hormonal growth promotants (or HGPs) and will agressively market that beef to its customers.
HGPs are widely used by beef producers to boost weight gains in cattle under approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

“David Inall, from the Cattle Council of Australia, says while they respect Coles right to make commercial decisions about marketing, they are keen to be part of any discussions on HGPs.”
ABC Rural.com

I don’t care what anyone says, Aussie meat is still the best meat ever! At least that’s what my Canadian girlfriend said last night! (Just joking) In all seriousness the leanness of Australian Beef has been toted as one of the most healthiest in the beef industry. No mad cows here!

In Australia, cattle are predominantly pasture-fed, producing beef that is leaner and containing healthier types of fat including Omega 3! See most people think that Fish is the only source for Omega 3’s but Lamb, and Beef are also alternatives, man meat! The kind you throw on a BBQ, so if you’re bird tells you to switch it up to fish or chicken, show her this Blog! Seriously. Do it. Then write me back and tell me what happened! ha!

The cool thing I heard is that from a recent survey on Australian Beef found that a lot of consumers have been asking for lean meat from butchers and grocery stores, so now there is a greater range of lean red cuts available to choose from in stores. Good On ya!

The average fat content of these popular cuts were:

Lean beef 4g of fat/100g
Lean lamb 6g of fat/100g
Lean veal 2g of fat/100g
Australian Beef

Not unlike my very manly svelty waist line – when Australian beef is “Lean” or trimmed of visible fat, it is also relatively low in unhealthy saturated fats, and is a valuable source of healthy unsaturated fats including long chain Omega 3 fatty acids. Almost two thirds of the fat in lean beef is unsaturated fat. Couldn’t really tell ya the difference between the two – BUT I hear saturated fats are the bad ones that coat your tummy and make it crampy in the intestines.

Australian lean beef is an important source of protein, essential vitamins and minerals, and is more nutrient dense than poultry, pork or fish. It provides more iron, zinc and vitamin B12.

Did you know that 68% of Australians still believe that too much beef can cause high cholesterol or heart problems? Probably all the poor buggers that tried out that Atkins diet. Just reaching out.

But I hear this is because of the perception that beef is high in total fat and saturated fat which are two key factors that are known to raise blood cholesterol levels. But it’s mainly how you cook it. If you slather sauces on it, pan-fry it, or marinate it in unhealthy things such as: Beer, Mayonnaise, BBQ Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce, Butter, Lard, Salt, Old Bacon Grease, more then 2 eggs… etc. OR eat your beef with: Potato Salads, Chips, Mashed Potato and gravy, or au jus, a case of beer, a magnum of bundy… etc. (You know all the good stuff)

In fact, with Australian beef becoming leaner, beef is not the main contributor to total fat and saturated fat in the Australian diet. Rather it is fast foods, snacks foods, oils, spreads, processed foods and the visible fat on meat. Therefore, lean beef can be consumed as part of a cholesterol-lowering diet.

Final Thought: If you’re old enough to be reading/interested in this blog, then chances are your Mum isn’t telling you what to eat anymore. So start reading the labels on food packaging that’s the best way to avoid the secret fat monster.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Aussie Beef, Australian Beef, Cooking steak, Cow Patty, Hormonal Cow, Hormone Free Steak, Lamb, Lean Australian Beef, Mad Cow, Meat at the Footy Games, Poultry, Rumours from Coles, Steak, Steaks on the Gold Coast, Where's the Beef?

The Bored Ol’ Sage

August 21, 2010 By admin 1 Comment

Trying to figure out what to write for this bloggy thingy but it’s been a pretty uneventful week. Hopin’ things will pick up more for the Jazz & Food Festival, but otherwise I’ve had no major eureka moments.

We’ve had quite a fair bit of our staff off and away so I’ve just been covering shifts and rockin’ out with my bad self in the kitchen. Wade left me for a week to go to some wedding, and my other partner in crime left me to go to New Zealand for his lil’ daughters birthday.

The only really cool thing to happen is that we got a couple new award winning beers that I haven’t tried yet. But I walk by them in the fridge and I hear them calling to me after my shifts… “Matty, come give me a whirl, Matty you know you wanna…” Instead of “peer pressure” its just plain ol’ “beer pressure”. lol. I promise – Almighty Grand Ridge Light, and Ms. Natural Blonde Wheat Beer you will get your turn. Even though I AM a VB guy (no judging please) I will eventually pay you your due diligence.

Other then that I got a sweet new 4G iPhone, it’s fully loaded and does video editing and everything. So BEWARE, I might be taking my own video’s if I see something of interest happening around the restaurant! :)

OH! The other thing we’re pretty happy about is that our New Breaky Special: 1/2 a Big Breaky has been goin’ off quite a bit, and for good reason. (Breaky is served 7am – 11:30am) For $8.90 you get – Sausage, Bacon, 2 Eggs, Grilled Tomato, Hashbrown, and a slice of bread….

Our other special is a great Grilled Wild Barramundi, been getting lots of compliments on it. So that’s been good. Always better to get compliments then complaints.

So since I have to jet back to the grills I’m going to end this, but if you’re in town for the Jazz & Food fest, please come see me for Breaky! I’m the devilishly handsome Aussie bloke in the back, I could stunt double for George Clooney so you can’t miss me. :P

Bored Ol’ Sage’s Final Thoughts: If you can’t turn up the heat,  just make your own.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: $8.90 Breaky, Bored ol' Sage, Breakfast at Sage Restaurant, Jazz & Food Festival, Sage Restaurant Broadbeach, Turn up the heat, Wild Barramundi

Dipping in the Honey Pot?

August 14, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Was having a chat about inter staff dating the other night with some of the staff, and there are definitely pro’s and con’s to dipping in the honey pot so to speak.

One of the girlies that works for us said it was amazing that inter work relations were allowed in Australia. In some countries its ABSOLUTELY forbidden to date a person you work with due to the fallout of a fallen relationship. She was telling us in once instance a guy one of her co-workers was dating started hitting on all the other waitresses, when one of them told her about it. She hated the girl for being honest and used to turn all the new staff against her. Another instance two staff members were dating and “disappeared” for over an hour and were getting in on in a staff bathroom.

The funniest story though was hers, she said she dated a “regular” from the restaurant she was working at and found out he was cheating on her when he brought another date to that same restaurant! She said she was so humiliated that he did that so she dumped a pail of kitchen sludge over his head in a fit of rage. She ended up getting fired, but said it was totally worth it. Good on her, gotta love a crazy bird.

Maybe its different here on the Gold Coast since people come and go so frequently it’s not as if you really have to worry about them ruining your life for longer then the time their visiting here.

Not only that the relationships that have been formed that I know of were either booty calls, or actual relationships and I know of 2 couples that have been together for over 7 yrs. One’s married and one’s engaged…

So I guess some of the benefits of dating someone you work with, is that if you’re working 60-70hrs a week it’s nice to be able to see someone regularly without having to schedule a date in. The beauty of it is that you can both be hot, smelly, and tired from a full day of work, then just go for a drink or two after work and then go about canoodling. IF you were dating someone outside of work you might only get to see them once or twice a week, you’d be tired (they’d get tired of hearing how tired you were) and you’d have to go home, shower, get ready, and then figure out something bedazzling to chat about.

Another benefit is maybe a sneaky snog during a lull, or having a sweetheart to look forward to seeing each day, and being able to work together as a team. I know some of the girls I dated back in the day were pretty chill and I knew if they worked in a restaurant they were the sort of girl that knows how to handle stress and always have a good attitude.

The downside to dating someone from work… wellllllll…..

The con’s are usually just that it’s shite if it goes sour, because then you have to see them all the time. OR if someone gets with you, then another staff member sometimes that causes conflict. But overall as long as everyone’s mature about it, I don’t really think there’s a problem.

It’s like with anything, you want to find a partner with

similarites, cos when you have stuff in common it’s just easier to get on over the long haul. But you also have to be able to call a fling a fling, and a “thing” a “thing”.

Wise Sage Says:  ”Whether or not dating someone you work with is good or bad, it’s like the old saying goes “Couples that play together, stay together”.

What are your thoughts? Would love to hear your stories!!!

Leave us a comment or give us a shout on Facey or Twitter

Sage CafeRestaurant or @SageRestaurant

Cheers

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Dating at Sage, Dipping in the pot, I Love Sage Restaurant in Broadbeach, Sage Cafe Restaurant, Wise old sage, words of wisdom

Social Media Use it… or Get Lost!

August 8, 2010 By admin 2 Comments

About 18 months ago we were scratching our heads…what is a Facebook and why do we need one—what on earth is a ‘Tweet’…and does anyone over the age of 13 really do it?? My-space, your-space, apparently everybody needs their own computer ‘space’…or do they? Fast-forward to today and WHOAAAAAA…guess what? – the bulk of our restaurant marketing is conducted on-line with a major focus on all things ‘SOCIAL MEDIA’. We cottoned on quickly and covered the basics – all of our restaurants have facebook pages, twitter accounts and we regularly communicate with our database via email newsletters. But there is so much more out there in the world of cyber-marketing and we are embracing it with open laptops!

We now also have a presence on Foursquare, the popular iphone app that allows people to ‘check-in’ to our venues and broadcast their locations and our special offers to their friends. Enough ‘check-ins’ with us and they could become the virtual ‘Mayor’ of our restaurant too. In addition to uploading our videos to YouTube, we are also broadcasting our footage on Vimeo (website) and Vidcall (iphone app), we upload weekly venue photos to our websites, facebook, restaurant blogs and Flickr. Then there is Digg – a site for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web – naturally we DIGG it!
Our customers can come in for dinner and drinks, have their photos taken or feature in one of our videos; they are then given one of our new social media cards and are directed to check out all our footage from the weekend on a variety of different on-line sites within a day or two.

One of our customers FRIENDS with our Social Media Card tucked away in a safe place…
Without a doubt one of the major benefits we have found from using Social Media is the amazing rapport that we have been able to create with our customers almost overnight. We are communicating on a daily basis with real people who we already know like our businesses via a variety of different mediums (we like to think we have got most bases covered). In addition to letting them know our specials and different events we might have coming up, there is now a two-way communication whereby we are chatting with them about things that interest them, we are contributing to random on-line conversations, they are commenting on our updates and our customers are beginning to relate to us as our friends rather than our patrons – a WIN/WIN situation! We get to chat with our ‘friends’ and hear their honest opinions about our businesses and they feel a new sense of loyalty towards us and are able to help us by referring their on-line friends to us. We know for a fact that this new rapport has already increased our customer base – what were once just happy customers are now very good friends…and we all like to see our friends succeed, don’t we?
Yes, the times are changing at a rapid rate, instead of spending thousands of dollars printing flyers and delivering them to 10’000 local letterboxes on a one-off basis (that is so 2009!!) we are now spending virtually nothing and communicating to potentially hundreds of thousands of people on a regular basis and in real-time.
A great example of how we have recently used the awesome power of Social Media is creating a pre-launch buzz for our Nude Staff Charity Calendar, check out our YouTube video of the calendar’s creation!

With no physical calendars to actually sell until they come back from the printers at the end of the month, we have already spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and our blogs and have begun to take pre-orders and create a lot of interest with still a month to go.
We have already hosted some fantastic “Tweet Ups” – special dinners in our restaurants just for our Twitter followers and last year we more than half booked out one of our restaurants for a special event before we had even had the posters printed or started the usual promotional ring-around and all it took was creating an event on Facebook!
In addition to this, our campaign to once again be victorious in the Lifestyle Chanel’s I LOVE FOOD AWARDS (1two3 Mediterranean Restaurant was voted Australia’s Favourite Mediterranean Restaurant 2009) is off to a flying start with Facebook et al paving the way for thousands of our new best friends to follow a link here, click a tab there, register their vote, pass go and potentially win the $10’000 up for grabs just for voting in just a matter of minutes. Hey don’t just take my word for it – here is the link http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/ilovefoodawards see how easy it is for yourself
(Sage Cafe Restaurant – ‘Best Family Restaurant’ category…hint hint)
We feel that we are a great example of how businesses can utilise these fantastic new social media tools, we devote a lot of time and focus towards communicating via many different on-line mediums and it has really paid off for us. For any further information regarding how we are making social media work for us, feel free to contact me via email (or even better, look for us on Facebook – we would LOVE to be your friend!!)

Find our URLS to all things Social Media related below…happy Tweeting!

@SageRestaurant @Yellowfindining @1two3dining – Twitter

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Sage Restaurant in the Media, social media, Social Media Facebook, social media release, Social Media Twitter

On the other side…

July 31, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Working in the restaurant business has educated me in more ways then one, but I sorta realized that people who work in restaurants sorta expect a level of service or expertise when they go out and dine themselves.

I recently went out to dinner with some mates of mine, and the joint was fairly empty. It was a nice restaurant, one with a proven record for good food and class. Not gunna name names, but I was absolutely appalled at the way we were treated.

We got off work a bit later, so we called to see when the kitchen closed to be sure, the bird on the phone was absolutely terrible off the bat. Convo went like this:

Me: (Rang at 7:30p) So was thinking about bringing in 5 tonight for around 8:30p wondering how late your kitchen was open till?

Host: Wellll, *sighs* it’s pretty dead so I dunno.

Me: Well if we come for 8:30p will we still be able to order? Looking to get some starters and steaks for mains?

Host: Wellll *sighs-again* I guess the kitchen normally closes by 9p so you’d have to order quickly.

Me: If we order at 8:45p will we be rushed out after we get our food or will you guys stay open still?

Host: Gawd, I dunno. Like, maybe. Like we keep the restaurant open till 10p if no one’s here then we’ll close early.

Me: Thanks for your excellent customer service.

Host: Ya. (Hangs up)

Since we all work in restaurants its hard for us all to get together to actually go out, so I just said F*ck it, lets’ still go, hopefully the food will make up for it.

So we get there at 8:20p (the host = not happy) we sit down there’s maybe 3 other tables in the restaurant and everyone’s eating. So we figure no worries right? Waitress comes over, gives us attitude, she clearly wants to leave early. Our table orders everything drinks, starters, and mains.

Our drinks arrive at the same time our starters do. (Funny cos the bartenders talking on his cellphone, and obviously the kitchen is trying to rush the order out).

Then 10 minutes later our steaks arrive, and we haven’t even finished our starters! Then we had asked for 3 Medium Well and 2 Medium Rare. All of them were Medium Rare! Since I was eating with other cooks, we had no problems sending them back. If you’re going to pay good money for a steak, you want it done right! Bottom line! This pissed the waitress off even more. We tried not to chuckle too loudly as she walked away.

Needless to say, we stayed till 10:30p, we finally got our meals done right, and it was pretty good.
But I don’t think I’ll ever go back again purely cos of the service! In the kitchen we don’t really have to deal with customers, our only frustration comes from food being sent back or servers muckin’ up the order. So really our job is to get it right of the bat, then get the next table going.

I get wanting to piss off early and go party, but I’ve been at this a long time and when you’re older, you appreciate the business that you get, whenever you get it, especially during the winter months! Again, stemming back from my previous blog on generational gaps.

Word to the wise: youngins you need to think about your paychecks and not the party! Think about who’s paying those paychecks, and the business you need to contribute to that paycheck. Cos if you can’t afford to party then you’re just S.O.L then right?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Dining Out in the Gold Coast, Restaurant Etiquette, Sage Restaurant, Sage Restaurant in Broadbeach, Steaks on the Gold Coast

I Love Food Awards – Shameless Plea!

July 20, 2010 By admin 2 Comments

OK apologies for the possible annoying nature of this shameless plea, but we’re calling on all of you lovelies to give us your vote if you possibly can or want to?! (You have to be living in Oz at the time of the draw, if this still applies to you, keep on readin’)

The best part of this is that you have a chance of winning up to $10,000 all on your own for casting a vote that only takes 5 mins of your time!

So here’s the deal:
We are nominating the restaurants again this year in the I Love Food Awards on the Lifestyle Channel (Foxtel TV).

1two3 Dining & Lounge Bar took out the Best Mediterranean Restaurant category last year!
GO TEAM!

So we Really, Really need YOU and your friends to vote for us in these fantastic awards so we can keep our title!

AND – Just by doing so you go into the draw to win a $10’000 cash prize!

Go to: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/ilovefoodawards/

and PLEASE vote for us in the following categories:

1) 1 two 3 Mediterranean Dining (Flavours of the World)
2) Sage Cafe Restaurant (Family Dining)
3) Yellowfin Seafood Restaurant (Best Seafood)

So, here is the deal:
1) go to the website and place your 3 votes in the categories above

2) then send a group email to everyone you know (must be Australian residents) and ask them to do the same. You can only vote once for each restaurant from the same email address (but if you have more than one, please register a vote for all three restaurants from each email address.)

3) Go and stand near your mailbox and wait for your $10’000 cheque to arrive! You could be the lucky winner!!!

4) Get ready for the HUGE PARTY that we will be throwing if we win again in any of the categories above!!

Thanks in advance for your support!!
The teams @ 1two3, sage & Yellowfin

Join us on TWITTER

@1two3dining

@SageRestaurant

@Yellowfinding

and let us know if you voted!

Cheers~

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: I love food awards, I love food awards Sage, I Love Sage Restaurant in Broadbeach, I want to win $10000 YEW!, Sage Restaurant great for families, Sage Restaurant in Broadbeach

Storm in a B CUP! Charity Cold Case

July 16, 2010 By admin 13 Comments

Just got word from the latest charity that had “signed” on with us that they can no longer be involved with our Naked Charity Calendar! We’ve literally contacted multiple Charities to donate monies made from our sales to a good cause! We wanted to give back to our community in the Gold Coast, since everyone has been so fabulous to us.

We danced around the idea of having an appreciation party, then one of our managers suggested we do something to help out a charity. Ideas flowed and then someone had mentioned the movie “Calendar Girls” released in 2003 (based on a true story) about a group of women who set out to raise money by posing in a tasteful Naked Calendar in cheeky poses.

Our management team agreed that it would be a blast for the staff and Broadbeach has definitely never seen anything like it before! What a great way to connect with our community, our staff, and our guests. So we set out to plan our naked calendar, for the past 3 weeks many people donated their time, their talent, and worked hard to make our Naked Charity Calendar a success! Again, a BIG thank-you goes to our staff for being brave to bare it all, FotoForce for understanding our concept and making it materialize and Allure for dolling us all up! Everything seemed to be going according to plan… except for the “Charity” part.

The minute we said we were doing a “Naked Calendar” people have been dropping like flies. Out of 14 shots only 2 are minutely provocative in nature, but given the props they shot with, its just what worked. Most of our shots are fun- in- the- action- cheeky poses! They look fantastic! We provided our host charity with proofs of the shots and they politely declined the use of their name due to the nakedness.

While we understand the fear of political backlash, we are saddened that we may not be able to give our goal money of $50,000 to a charity that is desperate need of what we can provide.

We completely understand that the nature of the calendar isn’t “Ideal” it’s not puppies and kittens playing with strings. But ask yourself this… for $10 do you think a “Fakey Nakey” Calendar will sell heaps over landscapes or puppies? We’d like to think so! That means more money for the “cause” my friends!

We decided we weren’t going to let our efforts go to waste, so we contacted the local media to see if they could help us find a charity that wouldn’t mind being associated with our Calendar cash.

Over the past 2 days the response from the Gold Coast Community has been overwhelming and most of all EXCITING! Thank-you so much to all the organizations who have come forth and expressed your interest! Now we wish we could help EVERYONE!

We’d like to give everyone equal consideration so please for the next week, if you are an organization interested in receiving a donation, please -please email us at: justine@sagerestaurant.com.au with a small description of your charity, where the money will go to and to whom it will benefit!

Also feel free to follow us on Twitter @1two3dining @yellowfindining and @SageRestaurant for updates on who will take our money!!!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Charitable donations, Gold Coast charities, Naked Calendar support, Rally for Gold Coast Charity
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