Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope you’re all celebrating Christmas with the ones you want to be with.

And of course tucking into a ton of delicious food!

If you’re out and about on Boxing Day (December 26), we’ll be open… humming along as one of the only shops in Raffles Place open for you to eat at.

As a holiday food celebration, everything on the a la carte menu is 15% off on December 26!  You can move from food coma to food coma.

Just a quick entry to let folks know that Standing Sushi Bar now offers party platters.

Perfect for the holiday season. Don’t stress out over what to prepare for guests! Instead transfer the worry over to Standing Sushi Bar and we’ll create a beautiful sushi platter for you.  Leaving you with peace of mind so you can knock back egg nog to your heart’s content.

Credit card promotions at restaurants are rife in Singapore. I never noticed such promotions in the US, but here every restaurant has a tie-up with a bank where users of that bank’s credit card will get some type of benefit – be it a percentage off the bill, free food based on a certain amount you spend, 1 for 1 deals, etc.

Before Standing Sushi Bar even opened, banks were approaching to talk about tie-ups. I wish I had known more about how to deal with them.

Their value proposition is that they will increase awareness of your restaurant by including the restaurant in their collateral – primarily booklets and web sites that list all the venues that have deals with them and what the promotion is.

Since I was a soon-to-open restaurant, I figured that any awareness would be good.  UOB is the bank best known for their restaurant tie-ups so when they approached me I signed on – offering discounts and a 1 for 1 omakase promotion to stimulate the dinner crowd.

The 1 for 1 omakase promotion was popular.  It helped bring new people to the restaurant that would normally not eat dinner in the Raffles Place area.  However a 1 for 1 promotion is hard to stomach, financially.

One of the awareness vehicles that the banks tout is that they will create banners and table tents with the credit card promotion that you’re supposed to place all over the restaurant.  They pitch this to you as if it’s a good thing.

To me, a bank / credit card promotion should bring in customers from outside the immediate area. One of the advantages of a restaurant in Raffles Place is that the foot traffic is incredible – people will discover you and try you out regardless of promotions.

So a promotion should convince people that aren’t in the Raffles Place area to venture into the CBD and try out the restaurant.  If a customer is already in the restaurant and has come of their own accord, the bank tie-up hasn’t contributed anything but the customer still gets the discount and then the restaurant makes less money without getting the benefit of the increased awareness by the bank promotion.

Tips on dealing with the banks:

- ASK FOR COMPENSATION

As a restaurant owner you’re losing money with every discount that you give. The bank is trying to increase the amount of times a customer will use their credit card (thus putting money into the bank’s pocket) by your restaurant’s promotion.

When negotiating with the bank, they should give you something tangible in return.  While there is value in being included with their collateral and advertisements, you need to ask for money, subsidy, or an actual item.  For example you could say to the bank, “I will do this 1 for 1 promotion with you if you subsidize the promotion by giving us 2,000 SGD.”

- TIE UP WITH THE BANK THAT PROCESSES YOUR CREDIT CARDS

You may be paying 2.5% of the total bill for every Visa transaction.  If you partner with the bank that handles your credit card transactions they may be able to adjust the percentage rate to something lower.

- SET DEADLINES ON THE PROMOTIONS

Open-ended promotions are confusing for everyone. Make it clear when promotions will expire.

- EXAMINE THE BANK’S CUSTOMER DEMOGRAPHICS

Ask for the demographics of the bank’s credit card holders. Are they the right market for your restaurant? If a bank’s credit card is popular with students and you’re targeting professionals, you’re not going to want to promote to that bank’s credit card base.

- MEET WITH A FEW BANKS BEFORE COMMITTING

In the opening weeks, a flood of banks will meet with you and try to sign you to exclusive (i.e. can only sign with them or must give them the best deal) contracts.  Make sure you’re getting a good deal from the bank (i.e. what they will subsidize) before committing. 

- TARGET YOUR PROMOTION

Wait a couple weeks and see where you think you need help. For example, at the sushi bar we get a healthy lunch crowd – there’s no need for me to run a promotion to increase customers during lunch time. However we get few customers during the late afternoon and happy hour times. So with Standard Chartered I created a promotion that targets the happy hour crowd.

Did you know Santa Claus is a huge fan of Japanese food?  Particularly sushi! After a night of whizzing around in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, there’s nothing he likes more than knocking back a glass of sake and slipping sashimi into his mouth. All the protein is what keeps him going!*

While the sleigh bells are ringing, the kids are a-sleeping, and Raffles Place will be as quiet as a mouse, Standing Sushi Bar is going to be open for a special Christmas Eve Dinner Omakase.

We’re going all out to attract Santa to the sushi bar.  Forget milk and cookies, it’s time for a multi-course omakase to celebrate Christmas.

 
Our little bonsai tree is all decked out for Christmas

$100 – 6 Course Meal

1) Starter – Otoro, Hotate Tataki with house dressing

2) Appetizer – Turkey Breast Salad

3) Mix Sashimi – Assortment of 6 types

4) Steam Soup – Yumei Mushi

5) Grilled Fish – Yaki Sakana (Air-flown Japanese Sea Bream)

6) Steak with Garlic rice and Miso soup

Dessert

$150 – 8 Course Meal

1) Starter – Otoro, Hotate Tataki with house dressing

2) Appetizer – Turkey Breast Salad

3) Mix Sashimi – Assortment of 6 types

4) Steam Soup – Yumei Mushi

5) Grilled Fish – Yaki Sakana (Air-flown Japanese Sea Bream)

6) Foie Gras with Uni

7) King Prawn Ebi Mentai Yaki

Steak with Garlic rice and Miso soup

Dessert

Call Standing Sushi Bar at 6533 7078 or e-mail eat@standingsushibar.com for reservations. Seats are limited.

*I actually have no idea whether Santa Claus likes Japanese food.

Cause it’s good to be king…

I’ve been messing about with Foursquare recently. It’s a social networking application a la Twitter & Facebook where you connect with friends and “check in” at the location you are currently at.  It awards badges based on your check-ins.  For example I’m an “Adventurer” because I’ve checked into 10 different venues.

For each venue, the person who has checked in the most at that venue becomes the Mayor of that location. Currently I’m the Mayor of Standing Sushi Bar.

Foursquare is fun!  Being mayor is POWER!

Here’s our Foursquare promotion – if you’re the Mayor of Standing Sushi Bar, each time you come to the sushi bar you get your choice of either 2 pieces of salmon nigiri or 2 pieces of tuna nigiri for free.  That’s right, free sushi for the Mayor of Standing Sushi Bar on Foursquare.*

Have fun playing!  Let’s see who the first mayor will be.

*Limited to once per day, offer good until owner’s discretion to end it
Note – I won’t be checking in at Standing Sushi Bar else I’d always be mayor!
Doesn’t everyone love free sushi?

It has been awhile since I’ve written an informative entry on this blog. Straying a bit from my goal of sharing information for others who are interested in starting a small business or taking a step into the food & beverage industry.

I have a few topics lined up. Waiting for some time to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and write. It’s surprising how taxing the sushi bar and Microsoft both can be. I’m on an airplane now, winging my way to Beijing for a week full of meetings as well as presentations at a customer conference. Perhaps with a little luck I won’t have to go the whole time without sushi and I’ll stumble upon a Japanese restaurant in the Chinese capital.

I think it’s a good sign that even though I literally eat sushi for multiple meals a day, I often still find myself craving it. My own personal “Super Size Me” substituting greasy Mcdonalds for fresh raw fish.

A haiku:

Three months of sushi
Fish and rice play in my mind
All the time, happy

—

While I’m gone from the sushi bar, we’re implementing some changes to the menu. More sets! More variety! The lunch sets have proven to be popular so we’ll offer additional ones as well as the option to add on some sashimi. That is my goal! For everyone to fall in love with sashimi! Much as Microsoft has touted a PC on every desktop (that was their old vision), I shall make it my mission to put sashimi in every person’s stomach.

We’re also changing the glass boards to feature our specials that come in from Japan a few times a week. Currently our glass board and the printed menu display the same information. Customers have had to ask the chef what the specials were and during the lunch rush it’s hard to communicate. Re-designing the printed menu in conjunction with the glass boards will allow us to constantly display what new items we have. I’m excited about this; I feel people will enjoy seeing so many new types of sea creatures and sushi. It should be fun for the curious and adventurous diners! (One special that we just got… wagyu beef! A thick slice placed on a small bed of sushi rice and then lightly flamed… HEAVEN).

Basically I’m thinking about how to encourage folks to try out new dishes. People are happy and comfortable with salmon (sake), tuna (maguro), eel (unagi), prawn (ebi), and yellowtail (Hamachi), but there is a world of fish out there to explore. I will admit that some are an acquired taste. (Cod fish sperm, anyone? We had it two weeks ago).

Speaking of adventurous dining, my plane is about to land. And if there’s one culture that eats even more variety than the Japanese, it’s probably the Chinese.

I HELD OUT FOR YOU VEGEMITE, AND YOU BROKE MY HEART.

No one else needs to know the details. But seriously, I had high hopes.

Erin (you may have seen her manning the register) has been in Denmark the past couple of weeks and has been sending back stories of various sushi places she has come across.

Sitting here at my desk with whiskey in hand, shaking it and listening to the ice cubes crackle and ding against the side of the glass… I stare at the pile of paperwork I need to clear.

Since it’s late at night I might as well drink to the songs of Bob Dylan.

It’s a nightly ritual (the paperwork, not Dylan). Come home and flip through the invoices of the day. This supplier brought this fish, another supplier brought us some beer, my favorite supplier restocked our sake.  GST, PTE, CPF, what other 3 letter acronyms do I need to learn?

Are we low on ginger? Are we out of yuzu ice cream? Did we end up with an extra 2 kg of salmon?  A thorough inventory is an ideal… at a sushi bar inventory is changing on an hourly basis. Typhoon in Japan? Goodbye to next week’s cargo delivery.

And the government departments that send me mail… NEA, MOM, IRAS, CPF are but a few. Every time I get a letter from them I fear it’s because I’ve submitted something incorrectly.

It’s no wonder I drink before starting this.

The Fall of the Wall
Promotion! Three days only!
Berlin Wall Sushi!

In 1989 the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. It was a spirited victory for freedom and gave hope for a better tomorrow.

In 2009 Standing Sushi Bar’s wall was knocked to the ground, leading to a one day closure and the sadness of great sashimi being destroyed.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reconstruction of Standing Sushi Bar’s wall, we are introducing (for 3 days only)…

THE BERLIN WALL ROLL

Come enjoy a sushi roll made with bratwurst, rice, lettuce, and sesame mustard!  9.80 SGD.  Available November 12 – 14.

While you’re here, why not drink a little beer and sake while celebrating the triumph of freedom and the fall of Communism?

WE ARE OPEN AGAIN! (November 12)