May 20, 2011

Hi there,

You may have been watching Dick Smith on TV the other night. Not only is he a hugely successful businessman, but he is also a relentless advocate of Australian products, and never fails to promote them in any way he can.

We here, at our two little Australian Regional Food Guide desks, are no less relentless – it’s just we don’t have any more hours in the day, or a couple of million dollars to fully fund this project!

There are those that say ‘if you want something, put it out to the universe and it will happen’. So, why not? Let’s share our vision with our ‘universe’ – you, the readers of this newsletter, the producers and users of regional food ­–­ and let’s see what happens!

Here’s the Australian Regional Food Guide ‘grand plan’:

• We would like to see everyone fully listed with a Premier listing on the site. Then we could link and coordinate with other larger Australia-wide sites to fully maximise your investment of money as well as our many years of time.

• We want to make this the most complete regional food site in the country. We already think it is the best, but it could be so much richer. We want to list every market, every event, every producer, cooking school, food tour . . . you get the idea.

• We want to put our name behind an Australia-wide ‘Is it Local?’ campaign. We have plans of how to help local areas do this. We just need the enthusiasm and cooperation of regions.

• We want to see touring Apps available for every region and area – and can help with this too. That way every visitor (or potential visitor) with an iPhone or iPad can instantly see what a region or town has to offer.

• We’re looking for sponsors – corporate, local, regional, peak body, industry ­– to put some $$$s behind these schemes too.

• And we see a coordinated produce marketing plan for all states as a necessity. We have already trialled this in NSW for three years, linking producers with key chefs and provedores and other possible customers, and now it’s time to do it in other states.

If together we can achieve these goals, regional Australia and those that travel there, will ultimately be the winners.

So you see, WE HAVE A DREAM  - can you do anything to help us realise this vision?

Cheers,

FUN QUIZ: (no prizes, this is just for fun)

1. Australians are not good at tipping in restaurants, but what does the word TIP stand for?
2. Who or what is melba toast named after?
3. Is coffee a seed or a bean?
4. Around how many flowers do bees have to visit to make a kilo of honey?
5. Are bananas a fruit?
6. How many varieties of tomatoes are there?
7. In the Middle Ages, what was such a luxury that it cost many times more than milk.
8. Also in the Middle Ages what food, now expensive, was gathered by the poor?
9. What is the tall white hat worn by chefs called?
10. Where and when was iced tea first tasted?

THE GRAPEVINE

Every country person knows that the ‘grapevine’ is the best way to get information.

The Australian Regional Food Guide needs people to join its ‘grapevine’ of ARF Guides – locals who can pass on information on what’s new and happening, places that have opened (and closed) and to check their region's listings on the website occasionally so that they can pass on any changes or errors.

It’s a voluntary position, but probably would only take up a few minutes a month.

Contact us if you’d like to be involved.

PRIZE TIME

One of our favourite people, a producer we met when we were researching the first Australian Regional Food Guide in 1998, Margi Kirkby from Gwydir Grove at Moree, in the north-west of NSW, writes:

‘At Gwydir Grove we have started the harvest and processing of the 2011 oil. So far (early days) we have processed the most delicious, fresh, green and fruity Frantoio oil. The colour and flavour is sensational. We have had some of the distributors and chefs visiting and they are amazed!’

Even more amazing is that she has generously offered a bottle of this newly-pressed oil as a prize this month.

All you have to do is be the first Australian resident who has not won a prize this year to tell us how many oils are there in the Gwydir Grove's Agrumato range?

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your answer

LAST MONTH we offered another very special prize: Gourmet Rabbit’s second issue, edited by its talented creator, Denéa Buckingham. Gourmet Rabbit #2 sells for $16.95. Wil Seiler from Bottle Tree Hill at Murgon in Queensland was the first clever person to  go to the website and find out that @GourmetRabbit is the Gourmet Rabbit Twitter address.

‘APP-ENINGS’

Printing costs are rising, waste of paper becomes more of an issue every day – and then there are carbon footprint considerations!

HAVE YOU ever wondered if there might be a cheaper, cleaner, more effective way to introduce people to your product?

Welcome to the New Age of app-development. What???

Let’s take it back a step. An ‘app’ is an application mainly used on iPhones, iPads, and sometimes on other phones and devices such as Blackberry. You will have almost certainly seen someone using one as they stand on a city footpath and scroll though a colourful list of restaurants, cafes or public attractions.

We are currently talking to several app-developers and looking at ways we can maximise the benefits to those listed on the site. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you want to know more.

PREMIER PLUSES

In our letter, we mentioned how our dream is to have every regional producer or company in some way connected with regional food, fully listed. Not only would this give depth and breadth to the site, it would maximise each business’s exposure to possible visitors or customers.

Consider these advantages of having a Premier Listing:

• Worldwide exposure – the site has an average of more that 7000 visits with approx 60,000 pages read per month.
• A comprehensive and reliable directory is an invaluable national resource. Inclusion establishes a essential presence.
• Your product or business is being seen by your targeted customer base – people closely interested in regional food and dining –  not lost in a sea of other regional businesses.
• Chefs and buyers regularly check this site and are making decisions on who to contact.
• For those in NSW, the newly renamed NSW Government Department of Trade & Investment, Regional Infrastructure & Services (DTIRIS) has shown their support of Australian Regional Food Guide by offering subsidised listings on this site. If you are in NSW and can fulfil their criteria, you can be included. It’s an offer definitely taking advantage of. Download the application form

STAY IN THE LOOP

Why not Social Media – country style? There’s now an Australian Regional Food Guide Facebook site set up and ready to roll. Use that to keep in touch with others around the country.

OR

if Facebook is still a mystery to you (don’t feel too bad, it’s not called new media for nothing!) This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we can share your news on your state page.

We’d love many more Australian Regional Food Guide readers and users to ‘follow us on Twitter’ http://twitter.com/#!/arfguide

So, if you have a special need for a particular product or want to publicise something, contact us and we can put out a Twitter alert.

A reminder too, that all of the listings have a Bookmark and Share option, and many have email contact built in to the listing. Or why not join Twitter yourself and ‘follow’ those that can help build your business?