News

McDonald’s SA opens 200th restaurant

April 1st, 2014 by Susan Reynard
McDonald’s Oxford montage
McDonald’s South Africa is celebrating reaching the 200 restaurant mark with the opening of its newest outlet, McDonald’s Oxford in East London. Some 52 local jobs have been created as a result of the opening of the restaurant.
McDonald’s Oxford is built from light steel and fibre cement, which reduces material wastage by 30% and transport costs by 80%. Light steel frame building (LSFB) restaurants cool down and re-heat faster than conventional buildings, making them a more comfortable environment for customers. The carbon footprint of the building is also significantly reduced. The building is fully endorsed by the Green council.

McDonald’s Oxford is a double story building with a Drive-Thru and 21 parking bays, 10 of which are underground. The innovative building is built on stilts to accommodate the parking bays and in another McDonald’s South Africa first, the kitchen is equipped with a 12m conveyor belt to transport food to the Drive-Thru presenter’s window on the ground floor. The restaurant seats 57 people, split between 45 seats inside and 12 seats on the balcony.
In addition to the Drive-Thru service, customers will enjoy a range of offerings around the clock, including McDonald’s food, free Wifi internet access, family-friendly amenities like children’s Playplace and party rooms and McCafe.
Greg Solomon, MD of McDonald’s South Africa, says: “We seek to put our customers first, and we look forward to building our brand and our business responsibly as part of our growth strategy in South Africa, and to making a positive impact in the local community. South Africa offers tremendous opportunity to grow our brand and this translates into job opportunities and skills transfer given by McDonald’s rigorous operational training programme.”

McDonald’s South Africa ‘Firsts’
– First restaurant to have a Drive-Thru facility in South Africa
– First quick service restaurant to open 24 hours a day and seven days a week
– First to introduce hand-held breakfast
– First to use LSFB (introduced in June 2013 at its restaurant in Goodwood, Cape Town)
McDonald’s South Africa opened its first restaurant in South Africa in November 1995. Today, McDonald’s operates 200 restaurants in all nine provinces. McDonald’s South Africa employs over 10 000 local people across the country.
Currently more than 80% of all food served in McDonald’s restaurants is produced by local South African suppliers to McDonald’s highest quality standards.
– See more at: http://www.hotelandrestaurant.co.za/tourism/mcdonalds-sa-opens-200th-restaurant/#sthash.mUW621vV.dpuf

Search on for pizza champion

April 3rd, 2014 by Susan Reynard
Entries are now open for the annual Global Pizza Challenge in South Africa. Contestants can win cash prizes and the winner will receive a trip to Melbourne, Australia to compete in the international Global Pizza Challenge finals against entrants from 15 other countries.

The competition is open to pizza makers around the country in restaurants, stand-alone pizzerias, takeaway outlets and hotels. Judges are looking for the most creative and tasty pizza recipes in one or more of five categories:
– poultry or meat,
– seafood
– vegetarian,
– speciality or dessert,
– Tabasco.

The Tabasco category carries its own prize for the winner of R10 000 in cash from sponsor Tabasco.
The event is held under the auspices of the South African Chefs Association and all recipes submitted will be assessed by a panel of internationally-recognised chefs and judged on their originality, balance, creativity, as well as “excitement factor”. About 30 finalists will be selected and invited to recreate their recipes at the Global Pizza Challenge event, to be held during Hostex in Cape Town from 21 to 23 May 2014.

Entry forms and additional information on the competition can be found on www.globalpizzachallenge.com or the Global Pizza Challenge Facebook page. All entries from would-be contestants must be in by 10 May 2014.
The aim of the competition is to “celebrate pizza making as a distinguished, passionate and noble livelihood and help advance pizza’s quality, diversity and popularity, globally.”
Last year’s overall winner was Tammy Henton (pictured above) who was then a la carte chef at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. Her winning dish was a sticky pork pizza.
In addition to Tabasco as the main sponsor, other sponsors involved in the competition include Hostex, Unilever Food Solutions and MJ Event Gear.

Martin Kobald (also pictured above), Global Pizza Challenge organiser, honorary president of the South African Chefs Assocaition and UN World Food Program Ambassador – Africa, says the innovation and expertise of the world-class South African culinary industry is always evident at the finals. Every year the pizza benchmark in the country is upped a notch or two by the intriguing range of delicious pizzas in every category, he notes, adding: “We look forward to a record-breaking number of exciting entries and wish every potential pizza champion the best of luck.”

LA PENTOLA
BEER TASTING DINNER
17 April 2014

Hors d’Oeuvre
Deep fried feta cheese

Paired with Peroni Nastro Azzurro

Entrée
White kidney beans and crispy bacon tossed in Italian whole peeled tomato flavoured with garlic, mixed pepper corns and chilli served with crostini’s

Paired With Pilsner Urquell

Mains
Rump steak (200g) grilled to chef’s preference served with a Dijon frece sauce. Topped with a brie cheese phyllo pastry pocket accompanied with fresh seasonal vegetables

Paired with Grolsch

Dessert
A decadent freshly made dark chocolate terrine topped with mixed nuts and dressed with a raspberry sauce

Paired with Castle Milk Stout

Arrival time 18:30 – 19h00
Ticket sales only: R225.00p/p
Service fee to be
added on the evening.
4 Courses Food & Tasting beer all incl.
Vegetarian options available, please advise of any dietary requirements in advance!!!
Group Bookings Welcome
Tel: 012 329 4028/9123

NOTICE OF VERIFICATION

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Dear RASA Subscriber,

The inaugural SIGHTS & SOUNDS OF SANDTON pocket guide is launching in 2014.

The A6 annual pocket guide will provide readers with everything they need to know about Sandton & surrounds; where to STAY, where to SHOP, where to EAT, where to DO BUSINESS, where to do just about anything they want to do.

Print run is 50,000 copies which will be distributed monthly over the year to 80 sites in Gauteng including hotels, airports and tourist attractions, free of charge to readers.

Endorsed by Gauteng Tourism, Joburg Tourism, Sandton Tourism Association (STA), the Exhibition and Event Association of Southern Africa (EXSA) and the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (FEDHASA).

Advertisers include, amongst others, Sandton Convention Centre, Indaba Hotel & Conference Centre, The Maslow, The Michelangelo and Sandton City.

Booking deadline is 11 April 2014 and the material deadline is 30 April 2014.

Please see attached rate card for more information. STA members qualify for a 20% discount should you be interested in joining.

A full page advert is R11,950 which is less than R1,000 per month for distribution to 80 sites in Gauteng for the entire year. STA members will pay 20% less at R9,560.

If you are interested in advertising, please complete the booking form and return via email or fax to 086 696 7215.

Have a great day.

Thank you.

Regards,

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