"Robin" wrote:
* Some sources put the lower temperature as low as 130C, but with a
longer cooking time. Some put it as high as 190C, with the higher then
at 200C

IIRC one of the benefits of refined beef dripping is that it has a high
smoke point compared with refined vegetable oils and so facilitates a
really hot last dip.

Same goes for olive oil. I prefer chips fried in olive oil these days.

On 28/06/11 08:27, D.M.Chapman wrote:

Also, why have the headache of running forums, blogs, etc (and all the
associated headaches) when you can let facebook take the load? Also means
that the bulk of your users will already have accounts - how many people
think "oh god, another password to forget" when they have to sign up to
yet another site?


Why have forums, blogs, etc?



twitter.com#theirbrand


Used well twitter is a bit different - see how VirginMedia use it for
example. It's now my prefered model of getting support from them...

http://www.alex-brown.co.uk/2011/06/...omer-care.html

is a nice explanation of how they use it. There are other comapnies doing
similar - but VM is one of the best I've come across.
That link takes me to a page with "Find attached a Slideshare of
presentation ...", The link to which requires flash or some other
pluging which I don't have (or want), so I am none the wiser, but
suspect it's the sort of customer service that drove me away from Virgin
Media long ago.




--
djc

On Jun 26, 7:33*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water heater
installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and that all works
fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few weeks ago) is a good
quality unit at half the price of the equivalent Saniflo, and works
absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the prep sink over the
door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all sorted, once we
threw the original guy off the job, and got a 'proper' sparks on the case..
Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced and tested. Chip fryers
wired and working per the way we figured it on here, after a couple of false
starts with the way the labels on the backs implied they should be wired.
Much local buzz, so we're hopeful of a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good wishes
for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and freely given
help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for help on. Good to
know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in this world ... *:-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not really
finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it where you can
see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook stuff, but she
assures me that you will be able to see it all if you go here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...d-Shakes/15276....

There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it looks
quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? * :-))

The website iswww.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and shake.
Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will probably
charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa

Firstly - and most importantly - good luck with tour venture!

Suggestions - all the photos of the place have no people in them.

That may work like empty restaurants - people walk past - and go in
the one that's busy but not too busy.

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:39:21 -0700 (PDT), Owain
wrote:

On Jun 26, 7:33*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

May I suggest, website priorities:

1. ALT text for all the image mouseover links

I always eschew sites that use mouseovers. Sorry.

2. Full postal address on every page. Ideally you want to be on the
first page for google burger wellingborough

3. If you're near Domino's - mention that as:

- will help people find you
- people searching for dominos wellingborough will hopefully also see
your page
- people can get a pizza from D's and a burger from you

4. Opening hours

5. Parking

6. Can I pay by card? Can I phone an order for collection? Is it
takeaway only or is there seating space?

7. Menu - burgers and milkshakes is fairly self-explanatory but can I
just get chips? Tea/coffee/cola/etc?

Can you do strictly vegetarian fare?


9. Facebook - a fairly established method of getting facebook
visibility is offering a coupon to everyone who 'likes' you. Not sure
how it's done technically.

I've often wondered why somebody should "like" you before you can
see their "Facebook" stuff. Isn't that like putting the cart before
the horse?

--
Frank Erskine

wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 7:33 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water
heater
installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and that all
works
fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few weeks ago) is a good
quality unit at half the price of the equivalent Saniflo, and works
absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the prep sink over
the
door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all sorted, once we
threw the original guy off the job, and got a 'proper' sparks on the
case.
Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced and tested. Chip fryers
wired and working per the way we figured it on here, after a couple of
false
starts with the way the labels on the backs implied they should be wired.
Much local buzz, so we're hopeful of a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good
wishes
for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and freely given
help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for help on. Good to
know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in this world ... :-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not
really
finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it where you
can
see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook stuff, but she
assures me that you will be able to see it all if you go here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...d-Shakes/15276...

There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it looks
quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? :-))

The website iswww.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and shake.
Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will probably
charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa

Firstly - and most importantly - good luck with tour venture!

Suggestions - all the photos of the place have no people in them.

That may work like empty restaurants - people walk past - and go in
the one that's busy but not too busy.

Thanks for your good wishes. Day three now complete, and it's going very
well. Selling many many milkshakes, and are getting good feedback on the
food - especially on the chips. I'm sure all the people who commented on
that aspect, will be pleased to hear this ! Interestingly, the chicken
burger is very popular, and sales of hot dogs have exceeded all
expectations. I hadn't realised how hard it was to get a decent hotdog
anywhere. Seems that many places sell a sausage in a bit of French stick and
call that a hotdog ...

As to the pictures, they were not really done as 'promotional' ones as such.
It was more so that people who were interested, could get a quick squint at
what it looked like. They were all actually taken before the grand opening.

Arfa

"Owain" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 7:33 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

May I suggest, website priorities:

1. ALT text for all the image mouseover links

2. Full postal address on every page. Ideally you want to be on the
first page for google burger wellingborough

3. If you're near Domino's - mention that as:

- will help people find you
- people searching for dominos wellingborough will hopefully also see
your page
- people can get a pizza from D's and a burger from you

4. Opening hours

5. Parking

6. Can I pay by card? Can I phone an order for collection? Is it
takeaway only or is there seating space?

7. Menu - burgers and milkshakes is fairly self-explanatory but can I
just get chips? Tea/coffee/cola/etc?

8. Proprietors - who owns the business, apart from legal requirements,
a picture of the owners and a bit of their story in setting it up
personalises the restaurant and differentiates it from the cheap-and-
nasty end of the market.

9. Facebook - a fairly established method of getting facebook
visibility is offering a coupon to everyone who 'likes' you. Not sure
how it's done technically.

Hope the new venture goes well

Owain

(googlegroups has caught up again!!!)

Thanks for all the valued input. As I said before, the website is far from
'done' so the things you suggest can easily be implemented. I'll make sure
that your comments are passed on. Interesting that you say about the phone,
and taking cards. At the moment, we can't take cards. We were all set to
have the phone line put in the week before we opened. As the building has
been divided down into three units, only one got the existing phone line -
and that was the first unit to be occupied. Anyway, BT came along and
surveyed the job right at the beginning of June. The guy said that it
wouldn't be a problem etc etc etc. So, the phone / internet package is all
booked, and the card machine company that we were going to use was
contacted, and the terms and supply of a PDQ machine all sorted out ready.
Then the **** hit the fan. A couple of days before BT were coming to put the
line in, someone rang to say that there was going to be a small charge for
putting in the line, due to the fact that they'd got to go across the
service road at the back from the nearest ground chamber. Ok we said, what's
that then ? £100 ? 200 ? Er actually, £2,320, said the nice man. So having
rather impolitely told him that she was well ****ed off that the guy who had
done the survey had made no mention of this, the missus told him where he
could stick his phone line. He rang back a couple of hours later to say that
as they had messed us about, they could do it for £2,000 ... Again, he was
told where to stick his phone line.

So that has put us behind with being able to take cards, and we have had to
open not being able to for the time being. It's not a super-big problem, as
the Co-op a couple of doors down has a cash machine, but we would of course
still like to take cards. It turns out that it can now be done via the
mobile phone network. There are PDQ machines that have a phone built in, and
a deal is done with one of the network operators to provide the sim.
Apparently, taxis and market traders use them, so we should be fixed up in
that respect, shortly :-)

Arfa

"Frank Erskine" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:39:21 -0700 (PDT), Owain
wrote:

On Jun 26, 7:33 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

May I suggest, website priorities:

1. ALT text for all the image mouseover links

I always eschew sites that use mouseovers. Sorry.

2. Full postal address on every page. Ideally you want to be on the
first page for google burger wellingborough

3. If you're near Domino's - mention that as:

- will help people find you
- people searching for dominos wellingborough will hopefully also see
your page
- people can get a pizza from D's and a burger from you

4. Opening hours

5. Parking

6. Can I pay by card? Can I phone an order for collection? Is it
takeaway only or is there seating space?

7. Menu - burgers and milkshakes is fairly self-explanatory but can I
just get chips? Tea/coffee/cola/etc?

Can you do strictly vegetarian fare?


Depends how 'strict'. There are options that use no meat products, and the
wife and daughter were well experienced at catering for vegetarian needs
when the owned the cafes. In fact many of their customers were vegetarians,
and came for the understanding that their needs received. However, I guess
if you are a really strict vegetarian who doesn't consume dairy products,
you would be struggling when it came to the milkshakes in the new place.




9. Facebook - a fairly established method of getting facebook
visibility is offering a coupon to everyone who 'likes' you. Not sure
how it's done technically.

I've often wondered why somebody should "like" you before you can
see their "Facebook" stuff. Isn't that like putting the cart before
the horse?


Facebook, and its protocols are a complete mystery to me. However, the
daughter understands it all, and she is fully intending to use the pages
allocated to this business, to run promotions like coupons and so on, as
Owain suggests.

Arfa

--
Frank Erskine

In article ,
Frank Erskine wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:39:21 -0700 (PDT), Owain
wrote:

On Jun 26, 7:33*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

May I suggest, website priorities:

1. ALT text for all the image mouseover links

I always eschew sites that use mouseovers. Sorry.

Not sure he meant mouseovers as you are thinking - alt text for images
doesn't mean a mouseover (as in some sort of annoying pop up).

If you really avoid sites with alt text then you must struggle...

3. If you're near Domino's - mention that as:

- will help people find you
- people searching for dominos wellingborough will hopefully also see
your page
- people can get a pizza from D's and a burger from you

Good point - I'd definately go for a decent burger over a crap pizza
anytime.

4. Opening hours

5. Parking

6. Can I pay by card? Can I phone an order for collection? Is it
takeaway only or is there seating space?

Yep, all good points.

7. Menu - burgers and milkshakes is fairly self-explanatory but can I
just get chips? Tea/coffee/cola/etc?

I did check to see if cherry coke was there ;-)

9. Facebook - a fairly established method of getting facebook
visibility is offering a coupon to everyone who 'likes' you. Not sure
how it's done technically.

I've often wondered why somebody should "like" you before you can
see their "Facebook" stuff. Isn't that like putting the cart before
the horse?


That's not how it tends to work. It's more you go there, decide you like it,
tick the like box - and get vouchers etc.

Of course, I'm sure loads of people just tick the box to get the voucher but
it's still business I guess :-)

Darren

In article , djc wrote:
On 28/06/11 08:27, D.M.Chapman wrote:

Also, why have the headache of running forums, blogs, etc (and all the
associated headaches) when you can let facebook take the load? Also means
that the bulk of your users will already have accounts - how many people
think "oh god, another password to forget" when they have to sign up to
yet another site?


Why have forums, blogs, etc?

Because the users of facebook etc expect to be able to comment etc. It's the
web2 way - look at how many sites now have "comment on this" or "post to
twitter" etc etc on their articles now.

http://www.alex-brown.co.uk/2011/06/...omer-care.html

is a nice explanation of how they use it. There are other comapnies doing
similar - but VM is one of the best I've come across.

That link takes me to a page with "Find attached a Slideshare of
presentation ...", The link to which requires flash or some other
pluging which I don't have (or want), so I am none the wiser, but
suspect it's the sort of customer service that drove me away from Virgin
Media long ago.


Fair enough. If you're the sort of person who avoids flash entirely then
I'm fairly certain you aren't facebook or twitter core userbase.

Darren

Frank Erskine wrote:

Owain wrote:

1. ALT text for all the image mouseover links

I always eschew sites that use mouseovers. Sorry.

ALT tags are not intended as popups for mouseovers (TITLE tags are
intended for that), they are only intended to be displayed when images
are disabled, unavailable e.g. for the blind. It was Internet Exploder
that decided to display ALT tags as popups.

On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:14:32 +0100, Frank Erskine wrote:

1. ALT text for all the image mouseover links

I always eschew sites that use mouseovers. Sorry.

ALT text shouldn't pop up on mouse over, use a browser that obeys the
rules. ALT text is ALTernative text to the image, displayed when the
image can't be for a number of reasons. It should describe the image:

"Sunset over Sennan Cove. The sun is half set on the left 1/3 of the
image, a bright line of orange reflected light runs forward along the
calm seas surface to the edge of a rocky area. The foreground
contains a rock pool with the setting sun reflected in it. A
silhouetted headland is low on the horizon on the right. The sky is
clear and shades from orange to deep blue via red away from the sun.

TITLE text is that which should pop up on mouse over:

"Sunset over Sennan Cove."

7. Menu - burgers and milkshakes is fairly self-explanatory but
can I
just get chips? Tea/coffee/cola/etc?

Can you do strictly vegetarian fare?

I think they can, but it's not easy to spot the "suitable for
vegetarians" items. A few little green v symbols required. If there
is anything with nuts in it might be worth indicating those as well,
little red n?


--
Cheers
Dave.

On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:23:25 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

As to the pictures, they were not really done as 'promotional' ones as
such. It was more so that people who were interested, could get a quick
squint at what it looked like. They were all actually taken before the
grand opening.

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Might be worth having a picture of each burger, though one burger
look much like another. Perhaps just a couple showing a complete
typical place setting?

--
Cheers
Dave.

Jon Fairbairn writes:
"Arfa Daily" writes:

"Owain" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 7:33 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

May I suggest, website priorities:

1. ALT text for all the image[s]

Thats a requirement for valid xhtml.

I forgot to add: but the alt text can be empty (alt=""), and it
should be empty if the image plays no part in the text, because
screen readers (for blind/partially sighted people) will read
them out. In your case, the buttons on the left should have alt
text so that it will work even if someone has images turned off.

On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:08:41 +0100 (BST), Dave Liquorice wrote:

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Balls, forgot to add in the bit I really wanted to say about this. If
using real punters you really need to get their (written and signed)
permission to use the images. I haven't looked but I expect you can
find suitable example release forms on the 'net that could be
tweaked.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:08:41 +0100 (BST), Dave Liquorice wrote:

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Balls, forgot to add in the bit I really wanted to say about this. If
using real punters you really need to get their (written and signed)
permission to use the images. I haven't looked but I expect you can
find suitable example release forms on the 'net that could be
tweaked.


One method of getting a nice photoshoot would be to "hire" some punters with
free food on condition that they accept being in the photo, and possible,
sit where you ask them to get a nice layout of people.



--
Tim Watts

Jon Fairbairn wrote:

Jon Fairbairn writes:
"Arfa Daily" writes:

"Owain" wrote in message
news:345ca56c-b57a-4461-
...
On Jun 26, 7:33 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

May I suggest, website priorities:

1. ALT text for all the image[s]

Thats a requirement for valid xhtml.

I forgot to add: but the alt text can be empty (alt=""), and it
should be empty if the image plays no part in the text, because
screen readers (for blind/partially sighted people) will read
them out. In your case, the buttons on the left should have alt
text so that it will work even if someone has images turned off.

I partially disagree - for the first photo at least, I usually put something
like "photo of blah".

If only afew photos, I tag them all with such descriptions. The blind person
might want to know they are missing something of interest and ask a sighted
person to describe the pictures...

But I agree with alt="" for irrelevant fluff or layout-space-filling images
(not that anyone whould be pulling that diasterous old hack these days).

--
Tim Watts

Arfa Daily wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water
heater installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and
that all works fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few weeks
ago) is a good quality unit at half the price of the equivalent Saniflo,
and works absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the prep
sink over the door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all
sorted, once we threw the original guy off the job, and got a 'proper'
sparks on the case. Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced
and tested. Chip fryers wired and working per the way we figured it on
here, after a couple of false starts with the way the labels on the
backs implied they should be wired. Much local buzz, so we're hopeful of
a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good
wishes for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and
freely given help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for
help on. Good to know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in
this world ... :-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not
really finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it
where you can see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook
stuff, but she assures me that you will be able to see it all if you go
here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...52767711462499


There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it
looks quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? :-))

The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and
shake. Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will
probably charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa
Arfa- Is that weblink correct? I have not trawled right through the
thread due to its length but after several attempts I can't connect/
My DNS server is not rejecting the URL but the browser just hangs.

Bob

On 30/06/11 01:43, Arfa Daily wrote:
There are PDQ machines that have a
phone built in, and a deal is done with one of the network operators to
provide the sim. Apparently, taxis and market traders use them, so we
should be fixed up in that respect, shortly :-)

Yes, I was buying wine at a cantina in very rural Italy yesterday, where
they used a card machine on a mobile network.


--
djc

On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:42:55 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

One method of getting a nice photoshoot would be to "hire" some punters
with free food on condition that they accept being in the photo, and
possible, sit where you ask them to get a nice layout of people.

Good idea, I'd still get 'em to sign a release form though.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:42:55 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

One method of getting a nice photoshoot would be to "hire" some punters
with free food on condition that they accept being in the photo, and
possible, sit where you ask them to get a nice layout of people.

Good idea, I'd still get 'em to sign a release form though.

--
Cheers
Dave.




Thing is, you'd only get piccies of 'em standing in a queue, as it's a
take-out burger joint ... :-)

Update on progress. It's going very well. The nightly take is going up
faster than had been predicted or expected in the first couple of weeks. We
are now getting repeat customers, which is always a good sign, as well as
recommendations, and curious walk-ins, who finish up buying at least a
milkshake if not food as well. Half-pounders are a lot more popular than
expected, and trust me, it's a mission to get through them. And the half
pound double chicken burger with bacon, is one of the most popular things on
the menu. Also, the home made coleslaw (our old recipe from the cafes,
resurrected) is proving to be really popular. Surprisingly, also, many of
the milkshakes that are being bought, are 'large', and are also being bought
as part of a meal. We were expecting those to be more of a 'separate
entity', or bought for the kids, as was the model when we sold them in the
cafes. Still, bit of a learning curve involved, and we're well pleased with
the response from the locals, so far.

Arfa

"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water
heater installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and
that all works fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few weeks
ago) is a good quality unit at half the price of the equivalent Saniflo,
and works absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the prep
sink over the door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all
sorted, once we threw the original guy off the job, and got a 'proper'
sparks on the case. Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced
and tested. Chip fryers wired and working per the way we figured it on
here, after a couple of false starts with the way the labels on the
backs implied they should be wired. Much local buzz, so we're hopeful of
a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good
wishes for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and
freely given help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for
help on. Good to know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in
this world ... :-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not
really finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it
where you can see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook
stuff, but she assures me that you will be able to see it all if you go
here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...52767711462499


There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it
looks quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? :-))

The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and
shake. Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will
probably charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa
Arfa- Is that weblink correct? I have not trawled right through the thread
due to its length but after several attempts I can't connect/
My DNS server is not rejecting the URL but the browser just hangs.

Bob

Went straight in when I just clicked it, Bob. Just using standard MS
Internet Exploder here.

Arfa

Arfa Daily wrote:



"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:42:55 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

One method of getting a nice photoshoot would be to "hire" some punters
with free food on condition that they accept being in the photo, and
possible, sit where you ask them to get a nice layout of people.

Good idea, I'd still get 'em to sign a release form though.

--
Cheers
Dave.




Thing is, you'd only get piccies of 'em standing in a queue, as it's a
take-out burger joint ... :-)

Oh. But still, ouple of people at the counter, and a photogenic couple
walking out clutching a couple of burgers?

Update on progress. It's going very well. The nightly take is going up
faster than had been predicted or expected in the first couple of weeks.
We are now getting repeat customers, which is always a good sign, as well
as recommendations, and curious walk-ins, who finish up buying at least a
milkshake if not food as well. Half-pounders are a lot more popular than
expected, and trust me, it's a mission to get through them. And the half
pound double chicken burger with bacon, is one of the most popular things
on the menu. Also, the home made coleslaw (our old recipe from the cafes,
resurrected) is proving to be really popular. Surprisingly, also, many of
the milkshakes that are being bought, are 'large', and are also being
bought as part of a meal. We were expecting those to be more of a
'separate entity', or bought for the kids, as was the model when we sold
them in the cafes. Still, bit of a learning curve involved, and we're well
pleased with the response from the locals, so far.

Well done.

Keep an eye on the quality and service though...

I went down to Battle 3 miles away the other week for some fish'n'chips and
'babs. I'm normally too lazy to bother and although we have a local chippy
in the village my last experience was that it was dreadful.

The Battle one was clean and shiney, I saw the bloke actually wash his hands
between handling the fish (battered and fried to order) and the 'babs. The
setting, though classic chip shop, was mellowed by a fine slection of arty
pictures hung around.

'babs were decent but the fish and chips were fried to perfection; light,
golden, crispy, not tasting of 1/2 gallon oil and the fish flesh was just
right and white and not soaked in oil.

Result: every week has a fish'n'babs night... Good impressions last

Cheers,


Tim

--
Tim Watts

On 30/06/2011 09:08, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:23:25 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

As to the pictures, they were not really done as 'promotional' ones as
such. It was more so that people who were interested, could get a quick
squint at what it looked like. They were all actually taken before the
grand opening.

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Might be worth having a picture of each burger, though one burger
look much like another. Perhaps just a couple showing a complete
typical place setting?


Photographs are well established as aids to selling food. Ideally, they
should be taken by a professional who specialises in food photography:
not cheap but a one off cost. A quick trip to one of the chains will
give a good idea of how to photograph burgers. They can be made to look
different by having the contents spilling out the edge, which also makes
them look to be generously filled.

However, a little bit of marketing work on the text would also be good.
For example, instead of:

Salad Burger with tomato, onion, lettuce and cucumber.

I would go for something along the lines of:

Salad Burger: our pure Aberdeen Angus beef burger, chargrilled just for
you and served in an individually toasted sesame seed bun, with slices
of succulent tomato, crunchy onion slices, crisp fresh lettuce and the
refreshing taste of cucumber slices, served with a portion of our golden
brown double fried chips.

It creates a much more vivid image of the product in the mind of the
customer.

Colin Bignell

On 01/07/2011 08:48, Tim Watts wrote:


Keep an eye on the quality and service though...

I went down to Battle 3 miles away the other week for some
fish'n'chips and
'babs. I'm normally too lazy to bother and although we have a local chippy
in the village my last experience was that it was dreadful.

The Battle one was clean and shiney, I saw the bloke actually wash his
hands
between handling the fish (battered and fried to order) and the 'babs. The
setting, though classic chip shop, was mellowed by a fine slection of arty
pictures hung around.

'babs were decent but the fish and chips were fried to perfection; light,
golden, crispy, not tasting of 1/2 gallon oil and the fish flesh was just
right and white and not soaked in oil.

Result: every week has a fish'n'babs night... Good impressions last

Cheers,


There's a saying in the catering trade which goes something like you're
only as good as your last meal. Bad memories last longest.

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:



"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:42:55 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

One method of getting a nice photoshoot would be to "hire" some punters
with free food on condition that they accept being in the photo, and
possible, sit where you ask them to get a nice layout of people.

Good idea, I'd still get 'em to sign a release form though.

--
Cheers
Dave.




Thing is, you'd only get piccies of 'em standing in a queue, as it's a
take-out burger joint ... :-)

Oh. But still, ouple of people at the counter, and a photogenic couple
walking out clutching a couple of burgers?

Update on progress. It's going very well. The nightly take is going up
faster than had been predicted or expected in the first couple of weeks.
We are now getting repeat customers, which is always a good sign, as well
as recommendations, and curious walk-ins, who finish up buying at least a
milkshake if not food as well. Half-pounders are a lot more popular than
expected, and trust me, it's a mission to get through them. And the half
pound double chicken burger with bacon, is one of the most popular things
on the menu. Also, the home made coleslaw (our old recipe from the cafes,
resurrected) is proving to be really popular. Surprisingly, also, many of
the milkshakes that are being bought, are 'large', and are also being
bought as part of a meal. We were expecting those to be more of a
'separate entity', or bought for the kids, as was the model when we sold
them in the cafes. Still, bit of a learning curve involved, and we're
well
pleased with the response from the locals, so far.

Well done.

Keep an eye on the quality and service though...

I went down to Battle 3 miles away the other week for some fish'n'chips
and
'babs. I'm normally too lazy to bother and although we have a local chippy
in the village my last experience was that it was dreadful.

The Battle one was clean and shiney, I saw the bloke actually wash his
hands
between handling the fish (battered and fried to order) and the 'babs. The
setting, though classic chip shop, was mellowed by a fine slection of arty
pictures hung around.

'babs were decent but the fish and chips were fried to perfection; light,
golden, crispy, not tasting of 1/2 gallon oil and the fish flesh was just
right and white and not soaked in oil.

Result: every week has a fish'n'babs night... Good impressions last

Cheers,


Tim

--
Tim Watts

Indeed, Tim. There's generally very few options to ever have a second go at
a first impression. Our cafes were built on that concept, and both the
missus and daughter never let the quality of food or service drop from the
very high standard that they set right from the off. We still see many of
our old regular customers out and about, and honestly, without exception so
far, they have said that it's just not the same since we sold them to new
people. It's not that there's anything wrong with the way that they are
being run now, it's just that they have lost the 'edge' over the
competition, which is oh so small, but oh so important ...

Arfa

"Fredxx" wrote in message
...
On 01/07/2011 08:48, Tim Watts wrote:


Keep an eye on the quality and service though...

I went down to Battle 3 miles away the other week for some fish'n'chips
and
'babs. I'm normally too lazy to bother and although we have a local
chippy
in the village my last experience was that it was dreadful.

The Battle one was clean and shiney, I saw the bloke actually wash his
hands
between handling the fish (battered and fried to order) and the 'babs.
The
setting, though classic chip shop, was mellowed by a fine slection of
arty
pictures hung around.

'babs were decent but the fish and chips were fried to perfection; light,
golden, crispy, not tasting of 1/2 gallon oil and the fish flesh was just
right and white and not soaked in oil.

Result: every week has a fish'n'babs night... Good impressions last

Cheers,


There's a saying in the catering trade which goes something like you're
only as good as your last meal. Bad memories last longest.


Agreed. You will always get someone who is a serial complainer, and has to
have a pop, just for the sake of it. In the seven years that we had the main
cafe, without any lie, you could count the complaints received on less than
two hands, and of those, probably no more than five were legitimate
complaints where something had genuinely gone wrong with a customer's food,
and we're all human and all make mistakes, occasionally ... :-)

Arfa

"Nightjar "cpb"@" "insertmysurnamehere wrote in message
...
On 30/06/2011 09:08, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:23:25 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

As to the pictures, they were not really done as 'promotional' ones as
such. It was more so that people who were interested, could get a quick
squint at what it looked like. They were all actually taken before the
grand opening.

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Might be worth having a picture of each burger, though one burger
look much like another. Perhaps just a couple showing a complete
typical place setting?


Photographs are well established as aids to selling food. Ideally, they
should be taken by a professional who specialises in food photography: not
cheap but a one off cost. A quick trip to one of the chains will give a
good idea of how to photograph burgers. They can be made to look different
by having the contents spilling out the edge, which also makes them look
to be generously filled.

However, a little bit of marketing work on the text would also be good.
For example, instead of:

Salad Burger with tomato, onion, lettuce and cucumber.

I would go for something along the lines of:

Salad Burger: our pure Aberdeen Angus beef burger, chargrilled just for
you and served in an individually toasted sesame seed bun, with slices of
succulent tomato, crunchy onion slices, crisp fresh lettuce and the
refreshing taste of cucumber slices, served with a portion of our golden
brown double fried chips.

It creates a much more vivid image of the product in the mind of the
customer.

Colin Bignell

You're making me hungry, Colin ! On the photos, a 'staged' picture of the
product can be a double-edged sword. I mean, how many times have you been
through a well-known drive thru' and ordered a "Double Whammy Salsa Soaked
Mexican Chilli Cheeseburger Special Limited Edition for This Week Only" ,
based on the yummy picture, and when you've got it, it looks nothing like
the one that tempted you in the first place ... Always disappoints me,
which takes us back to the 'first impressions' discussion.

The chip shop in my village has pictures like you describe, as does the
Pizza / Kebab takeaway, and I don't think that I have ever had fare from
either, that looks like the pictures !

Arfa

Arfa Daily wrote:


"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water
heater installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and
that all works fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few weeks
ago) is a good quality unit at half the price of the equivalent Saniflo,
and works absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the prep
sink over the door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all
sorted, once we threw the original guy off the job, and got a 'proper'
sparks on the case. Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced
and tested. Chip fryers wired and working per the way we figured it on
here, after a couple of false starts with the way the labels on the
backs implied they should be wired. Much local buzz, so we're hopeful of
a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good
wishes for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and
freely given help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for
help on. Good to know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in
this world ... :-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not
really finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it
where you can see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook
stuff, but she assures me that you will be able to see it all if you go
here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...52767711462499



There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it
looks quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? :-))

The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and
shake. Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will
probably charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa
Arfa- Is that weblink correct? I have not trawled right through the
thread due to its length but after several attempts I can't connect/
My DNS server is not rejecting the URL but the browser just hangs.

Bob

Went straight in when I just clicked it, Bob. Just using standard MS
Internet Exploder here.

Arfa
Very strange. It just hangs for me with IE, Firefox or Seamonkey.
I was just curious to look around having followed your progress on UK d-i-y.
Bob

On 01/07/2011 10:00, Arfa Daily wrote:


"Nightjar "cpb"@" "insertmysurnamehere wrote in message
...
On 30/06/2011 09:08, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:23:25 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

As to the pictures, they were not really done as 'promotional' ones as
such. It was more so that people who were interested, could get a quick
squint at what it looked like. They were all actually taken before the
grand opening.

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Might be worth having a picture of each burger, though one burger
look much like another. Perhaps just a couple showing a complete
typical place setting?


Photographs are well established as aids to selling food. Ideally,
they should be taken by a professional who specialises in food
photography: not cheap but a one off cost. A quick trip to one of the
chains will give a good idea of how to photograph burgers. They can be
made to look different by having the contents spilling out the edge,
which also makes them look to be generously filled.

However, a little bit of marketing work on the text would also be
good. For example, instead of:

Salad Burger with tomato, onion, lettuce and cucumber.

I would go for something along the lines of:

Salad Burger: our pure Aberdeen Angus beef burger, chargrilled just
for you and served in an individually toasted sesame seed bun, with
slices of succulent tomato, crunchy onion slices, crisp fresh lettuce
and the refreshing taste of cucumber slices, served with a portion of
our golden brown double fried chips.

It creates a much more vivid image of the product in the mind of the
customer.

Colin Bignell

You're making me hungry, Colin !

Which, of course is what you want to do to your customers. Marketing
people will tell you that, if you are selling sausages, you don't sell
them on the sausage, you sell them on the sizzle - the sound they make
frying in the pan and the associations that creates in the mind of the
customer.

On the photos, a 'staged' picture of
the product can be a double-edged sword. I mean, how many times have you
been through a well-known drive thru' and ordered a "Double Whammy Salsa
Soaked Mexican Chilli Cheeseburger Special Limited Edition for This Week
Only" , based on the yummy picture, and when you've got it, it looks
nothing like the one that tempted you in the first place ... Always
disappoints me, which takes us back to the 'first impressions' discussion.

The chip shop in my village has pictures like you describe, as does the
Pizza / Kebab takeaway, and I don't think that I have ever had fare from
either, that looks like the pictures !

I suspect they are using stock photos - the sort of thing you will find
if you search on hamburgers he

http://www.123rf.com/

You have the option of showing real photos of your actual products,
which should avoid the problem. As I said, they are well established as
a sales aid - people like to see what they are buying before they
choose. A good photo can even make them choose a more expensive burger
than they otherwise would - an upsell in marketing terms.

Colin Bignell

Indeed, Tim. There's generally very few options to ever have a second go at
a first impression.

Arfa


Spot on with that human nature at its best example.

How many remember all the times you went to start your car?, remember
them?..


Course not;!..


Remember the times it did NOT start betcha remember those;!....
--
Tony Sayer

Very strange. It just hangs for me with IE, Firefox or Seamonkey.
I was just curious to look around having followed your progress on UK
d-i-y. Bob

FWIW (a) it's fine here in IE8 and Firefox 5 and (b) my traceroute
ends with:

18 215 ms 232 ms 228 ms po16.dsr02.hstntx1.networklayer.com
[70.87.253.102]

19 156 ms 144 ms 142 ms po2.car05.hstntx1.networklayer.com
[207.218.245.18]

20 140 ms 138 ms 149 ms ns2.microlite8.com [74.55.135.43]

--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

Arfa Daily wrote:

Indeed, Tim. There's generally very few options to ever have a second
go at a first impression. Our cafes were built on that concept, and
both the missus and daughter never let the quality of food or service
drop from the very high standard that they set right from the off. We
still see many of our old regular customers out and about, and
honestly, without exception so far, they have said that it's just not
the same since we sold them to new people. It's not that there's
anything wrong with the way that they are being run now, it's just
that they have lost the 'edge' over the competition, which is oh so
small, but oh so important ...

I am delighted that the burger joint is not near me. I would end up being a
fat ******* in no time:-)


--
Adam

On 01/07/2011 11:15, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
"Nightjar \"cpb\"@" "insertmysurnamehere wrote:

On 30/06/2011 09:08, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:23:25 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

As to the pictures, they were not really done as 'promotional' ones as
such. It was more so that people who were interested, could get a
quick
squint at what it looked like. They were all actually taken before the
grand opening.

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Might be worth having a picture of each burger, though one burger
look much like another. Perhaps just a couple showing a complete
typical place setting?


Photographs are well established as aids to selling food. Ideally,
they should be taken by a professional who specialises in food
photography: not cheap but a one off cost. A quick trip to one of the
chains will give a good idea of how to photograph burgers. They can be
made to look different by having the contents spilling out the edge,
which also makes them look to be generously filled.

However, a little bit of marketing work on the text would also be
good. For example, instead of:

Salad Burger with tomato, onion, lettuce and cucumber.

I would go for something along the lines of:

Salad Burger: our pure Aberdeen Angus beef burger, chargrilled just
for you and served in an individually toasted sesame seed bun, with
slices of succulent tomato, crunchy onion slices, crisp fresh lettuce
and the refreshing taste of cucumber slices, served with a portion of
our golden brown double fried chips.

It creates a much more vivid image of the product in the mind of the
customer.

Oh Colin, give over! "chargrilled just for you" ?? That's the sort of
marketing speak seen so often now that it's a pain in the bum. Vomit
vomit!!

The reason it appears so often is because it does increase sales and
that, after all, is what being in business is about.

You'll be asking Arfa to say "torn chicken breast" and "drizzled with
olive oil" next. Where do they get these phrases from, I wonder? I
cringe with embarrassment whenever I see them.

Marketing consultants have teams of 'creative thinkers' whose job it is
to come up with such phrases. I have to say that when I have provided a
marketing consultant with what I thought was a perfectly good bit of
advertising matter, they have always come up with something that sounds
much better. Whether it represented good value for money is something I
never quite made my mind up about though.

Colin Bignell

On Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:15:28 +0100, Tim Streater
wrote:

In article ,
"Nightjar \"cpb\"@" "insertmysurnamehere wrote:

On 30/06/2011 09:08, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:23:25 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

As to the pictures, they were not really done as 'promotional' ones as
such. It was more so that people who were interested, could get a quick
squint at what it looked like. They were all actually taken before the
grand opening.

Well you need something on the site. When you do get ones with people
in remember what some one else said about "busy but not too busy".

Might be worth having a picture of each burger, though one burger
look much like another. Perhaps just a couple showing a complete
typical place setting?


Photographs are well established as aids to selling food. Ideally, they
should be taken by a professional who specialises in food photography:
not cheap but a one off cost. A quick trip to one of the chains will
give a good idea of how to photograph burgers. They can be made to look
different by having the contents spilling out the edge, which also makes
them look to be generously filled.

However, a little bit of marketing work on the text would also be good.
For example, instead of:

Salad Burger with tomato, onion, lettuce and cucumber.

I would go for something along the lines of:

Salad Burger: our pure Aberdeen Angus beef burger, chargrilled just for
you and served in an individually toasted sesame seed bun, with slices
of succulent tomato, crunchy onion slices, crisp fresh lettuce and the
refreshing taste of cucumber slices, served with a portion of our golden
brown double fried chips.

It creates a much more vivid image of the product in the mind of the
customer.

Oh Colin, give over! "chargrilled just for you" ?? That's the sort of
marketing speak seen so often now that it's a pain in the bum. Vomit
vomit!!

You'll be asking Arfa to say "torn chicken breast" and "drizzled with
olive oil" next. Where do they get these phrases from, I wonder? I
cringe with embarrassment whenever I see them.

A bit like "line-caught pan fried" fish served on a "bed of French
Fries".

--
Frank Erskine

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:

Indeed, Tim. There's generally very few options to ever have a second
go at a first impression. Our cafes were built on that concept, and
both the missus and daughter never let the quality of food or service
drop from the very high standard that they set right from the off. We
still see many of our old regular customers out and about, and
honestly, without exception so far, they have said that it's just not
the same since we sold them to new people. It's not that there's
anything wrong with the way that they are being run now, it's just
that they have lost the 'edge' over the competition, which is oh so
small, but oh so important ...

I am delighted that the burger joint is not near me. I would end up being
a fat ******* in no time:-)


--
Adam


LOL !

Arfa

"Thomas Prufer" wrote in message
...
"Our purest Aberdeen Angus beef burgers, chargrilled for your pleasure by
our
young buxom wenches, wrapped in the thinnest hand-made coverings lightly
outlining their laviscious mouth-watering curves, ..."


Thomas Prufer

Ah, you've already been in then, Thomas ? :-)

Arfa

"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:


"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water
heater installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and
that all works fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few weeks
ago) is a good quality unit at half the price of the equivalent
Saniflo,
and works absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the
prep
sink over the door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all
sorted, once we threw the original guy off the job, and got a 'proper'
sparks on the case. Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced
and tested. Chip fryers wired and working per the way we figured it on
here, after a couple of false starts with the way the labels on the
backs implied they should be wired. Much local buzz, so we're hopeful
of
a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good
wishes for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and
freely given help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for
help on. Good to know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in
this world ... :-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not
really finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it
where you can see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook
stuff, but she assures me that you will be able to see it all if you go
here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...52767711462499



There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it
looks quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? :-))

The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and
shake. Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will
probably charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa
Arfa- Is that weblink correct? I have not trawled right through the
thread due to its length but after several attempts I can't connect/
My DNS server is not rejecting the URL but the browser just hangs.

Bob

Went straight in when I just clicked it, Bob. Just using standard MS
Internet Exploder here.

Arfa
Very strange. It just hangs for me with IE, Firefox or Seamonkey.
I was just curious to look around having followed your progress on UK
d-i-y.
Bob

I've just put some photos up on Flickr, Bob. (New post also with address for
those who have stopped following this thread).

Try

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6475726...th/5891042910/

Arfa

On 01/07/11 14:13, Thomas Prufer wrote:
"Our purest Aberdeen Angus beef burgers, chargrilled for your pleasure by our
young buxom wenches, wrapped in the thinnest hand-made coverings lightly
outlining their laviscious mouth-watering curves, ..."

+1

--
djc

Arfa Daily wrote:


"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:


"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water
heater installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and
that all works fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few weeks
ago) is a good quality unit at half the price of the equivalent
Saniflo,
and works absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the
prep
sink over the door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all
sorted, once we threw the original guy off the job, and got a 'proper'
sparks on the case. Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced
and tested. Chip fryers wired and working per the way we figured it on
here, after a couple of false starts with the way the labels on the
backs implied they should be wired. Much local buzz, so we're
hopeful of
a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good
wishes for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and
freely given help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for
help on. Good to know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in
this world ... :-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not
really finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it
where you can see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook
stuff, but she assures me that you will be able to see it all if
you go
here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...52767711462499




There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it
looks quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? :-))

The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and
shake. Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will
probably charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa
Arfa- Is that weblink correct? I have not trawled right through the
thread due to its length but after several attempts I can't connect/
My DNS server is not rejecting the URL but the browser just hangs.

Bob

Went straight in when I just clicked it, Bob. Just using standard MS
Internet Exploder here.

Arfa
Very strange. It just hangs for me with IE, Firefox or Seamonkey.
I was just curious to look around having followed your progress on UK
d-i-y.
Bob

I've just put some photos up on Flickr, Bob. (New post also with address
for those who have stopped following this thread).

Try

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6475726...th/5891042910/


Arfa
Thanks Arfa. Looks Good! Shame you're not nearer otherwise I'd be
tempted to sample the wares!

Are the punters flooding in?

Bob

"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:


"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:


"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:
My counter is finished. The plumbing is finished. The unvented water
heater installed with its expansion loop as discussed last week, and
that all works fine. The Plumbco macerator (discussed here a few
weeks
ago) is a good quality unit at half the price of the equivalent
Saniflo,
and works absolutely hunky dory at shifting the grey water from the
prep
sink over the door and round the back room, to the bog. Electrics all
sorted, once we threw the original guy off the job, and got a
'proper'
sparks on the case. Floor done. Extraction installed. Burgers sourced
and tested. Chip fryers wired and working per the way we figured it
on
here, after a couple of false starts with the way the labels on the
backs implied they should be wired. Much local buzz, so we're
hopeful of
a successful launch Monday night.

Can I just express my thanks to all on here who have sent their good
wishes for the success of the place, and for all the invaluable and
freely given help and advice on all the aspects that I have asked for
help on. Good to know that I'm not the last of the helpful people in
this world ... :-)

Finally, for those who wanted to see some piccies, the website is not
really finished yet. However, my daughter has a Facebook entry for it
where you can see photos. I don't really understand all this Facebook
stuff, but she assures me that you will be able to see it all if
you go
here :

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/...52767711462499




There is some fairly good photos of the counter I built. I think it
looks quite impressive, but then, I would, wouldn't I ? :-))

The website is www.ljsburgerandshakes.co.uk

If anyone's up this way of an evening, pop in and try a burger and
shake. Tell 'em you're a friend of Arfa's on the 'net. Daughter will
probably charge you double for admitting that, though ....

Arfa
Arfa- Is that weblink correct? I have not trawled right through the
thread due to its length but after several attempts I can't connect/
My DNS server is not rejecting the URL but the browser just hangs.

Bob

Went straight in when I just clicked it, Bob. Just using standard MS
Internet Exploder here.

Arfa
Very strange. It just hangs for me with IE, Firefox or Seamonkey.
I was just curious to look around having followed your progress on UK
d-i-y.
Bob

I've just put some photos up on Flickr, Bob. (New post also with address
for those who have stopped following this thread).

Try

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6475726...th/5891042910/


Arfa
Thanks Arfa. Looks Good! Shame you're not nearer otherwise I'd be tempted
to sample the wares!

Are the punters flooding in?

Bob

They are, Bob ! Exceeding expectations by a long way, considering that at
this point, the primary method of promotion has been simple word of mouth
.... :-) The quantities and average spend per customer, has been going up
night on night. To some extent, this *is* to be expected, as food places
always get busier as the week progresses. The telling time will be next
Monday, when we will be able to see if the growth is maintained, or slides
back to the same level as the previous Monday.

Arfa