Saturday 16 March 2013

Sales Prevention, or what?

I'm a simple chap.  If I find something I want to buy I, naively perhaps, think it should not be too difficult to find someone to sell it to me.  Well, that ain't how it is.  I've found some delicious black pudding; I'd like to buy it and serve it to our guests - and I can't.  It's making me VERY cross.

I tasted this mythical black pudding at Bistro21 - one of Durham's top restaurants.  I've eaten plenty of black pudding in my time; most not very good; some OK; some really rather good - and a couple that are sublime. The Bistro21 black pudding falls into this category.  I was lucky enough to meet up with the chef at Bistro21 and he told me they got it from a wholesalers - Warren Butterworth catering butchers.  I duly visited Butterworth's web-site, found the product and enquired after it.  "We don't deliver in Crook." came the deeply uninterested reply.  That's all.  No: "We supply it to these people; you might be able to get it from them." Or ""Sorry, we can't supply it - try the makers."  Just, in effect: " b****r off".

I stuck at it.  Found out that they got it from Vale of Mowbray, in Yorkshire.  I got on to Vale of Mowbray. similar response: "It's on sale in lots of supermarkets."  It's not.  I spent an afternoon on the web and calling all the local supermarkets.  None had it.  Morrisons were the most helpful, FYI.

It's the complete lack of interest that really gets me.  Don't they WANT to sell the stuff?

Anyway, happy ending.  I post my dilemma on FaceBook.  Back comes Rachael Jewson, of Knitsley Farm Shop, near Consett.

"Hi guys hear that you are looking for local black pudding etc?? We do our own black pudding at Knitsley Farm Shop, also award winning bacon and sausages! Acorn Diary do lovely organic milk and butter. Give us a call on 01207 592059 if you want to chat about anything you require. Thanks"
I wonder which black pudding I'm going to buy??  It is delicious, by the way.

Tourism websites: Form or Function?

I'm getting fed-up with local tourism websites.  I'm updating ours (www.dowfoldhouse.co.uk) and TRYING to put links to local areas of interest on it.  So, I visit Auckland Castle website (http://aucklandcastle.org/).
It's a VERY pretty site, with opportunities for me to get wed there - too, late, the damage is done - and a couple of others, none of which offer ANY information about the castle, nor about why I might want to visit it.



 It's the same with Beamish (http://www.beamish.org.uk/).

Apart from the strapline: "The Living Museum of the North" - good - it goes straight into too much detail - events, news, volunteering opportunities which all assume you already know what Beamish actually IS.  Not a thing about just what it offers and what makes a visit there special.  A couple of sentences would do it.

The Bishop Auckland Food Festival suffers from this malaise as well.  I just want to promote these attractions on our own website to visitors & potential visitors, but it's really very hard...