TSUNAMI proprietor Brett Carboni believes he is providing a world first SMS ordering service to customers of his Mosman Park Japanese restaurant.
TSUNAMI proprietor Brett Carboni believes he is providing a world first SMS ordering service to customers of his Mosman Park Japanese restaurant.
SMS has been offered as an alternative to phone ordering to Tsunami customers wishing to place a takeaway order.
There are no bells and whistles to his system and its simplicity should make it easy for people to make their bookings, according to Mr Carboni.
“I was driving back from the video store one night and I thought that we should do something like this,” Mr Carboni says.
“You’ve got to stay abreast of everything and text messages are a legitimate form of communication that lends itself to our menu. All of our menu items have numbers and they’ve had numbers ever since we opened, and many phone orders are made by just quoting the numbers.”
The Tsunami menu’s numbering system, for example miso soup is number 51, means that customers can stay within the SMS 160 character limit to place orders.
“We text the person back with a time that it will be ready, because if it is a busy night such as a Friday the person might find it an unacceptable wait. They then text us back ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”
Mr Carboni says the small credit card-sized reference menu has been developed to provide an easy reference point for takeaway customers.
“It is our business card folded in half that goes in the credit card section of people’s wallets. If they need the number of the meal then they can find it there,” he says.
Mr Carboni’s system is run using a standard mobile phone but could evolve to bigger things in the future.
“Ideally I’d like to SMS the menu. I’m looking at the option to email the menu to a phone,” he says.
In other news from Tsunami, Mr Carboni says its new jazz nights are a big hit.
“Mosman Park has such a storehouse of talent, we have a lot of musicians living here,” he says.
“One of our main guys, John Bannister, lives across the road and he’s a great musician.
“It’s been going really well and we will keep it for the winter and in summer it might be even better because we can do it outside.”
The jazz nights are currently on Friday and Saturday evenings from 8pm. Gusto’s tip is to book the back room – that’s where all the action is.
In response to demand to celebrate award-winning wines, the Sheraton Perth has announced a follow-up dinner to its Sheraton Wine Awards.
The usual gala award dinner will take place on the evening of the judging, however because previous years’ tickets were snapped up by the wineries, the Sheraton Perth will host a second gala dinner on Wednesday August 13. The format for the evening will be identical to the awards dinner from the previous evening, however the trophy presentation will not be replicated.
Warren Mead believes there’s still life in his Black Tom’s brand and is in the process of letting everybody know that ‘the boy is back’, only this time he is in West Perth.”
The brand was used when Mr Mead took over full ownership of Mead’s Fish House from ex-wife Linda. It was then sold to Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group, which has since renamed the property The Vic, leaving the Black Tom’s brand up for grabs.
“Black Tom was my uncle and best described as a bit of a larrikin,” Mr Mead says.
“The hand print we use is his hand print with the missing index finger. I still don’t know what happened to his finger but I always remembered it.
“He would be up at the local bar with his hand pressed on the window.”
Punters in West Perth can expect typical Mead’s service from Black Tom’s. New furniture, new menus and takeaway coffees are only a taste of things to come.
“This venue has great presentation and it is representative of WA life. We have a great summer lifestyle and this property is an example of how we live here,” Mr Mead says. “It is very open yet protected from the wind; there is a beautiful garden area and fountain and has that outdoor feel to it.”
Black Tom’s will sit under the Oyster Bar banner along with Mr Mead’s sister properties of LinQ and Mead’s Mosman Bay .
All three properties will be officially launched under the Oyster Bar banner in September.
