CORAL WONDERLAND MELAKA



I found out about this place from a friend who resides outside of Melaka. The Coral Wonderland Melaka is located on the fourth floor of the Hatten Square just across the road from the Hatten Hotel. Thats why we stayed at the Hatten Hotel, I didn't want to brave the famous Melaka traffic jam.







Stingray and Starfish that you can touch



Keep your expectations low cause the Coral Wonderland is quite small unlike the aquarium in KLCC or Langkawi. Buts its ok for a start. The entrance fee might quite steep to some. The entrance fee is RM30 for adults and RM20 for kids.

Upon entering the Aquarium you will be greeted by what's advertised as the  'The Longest Touch Pool in Asia. Not sure if this is true but here you can touch or hold tame fishes like baby sharks, puffer fish, stingray, seahorse, starfish and many more. But my four year old didn't fancy touching slimy fishes.

Most of the displays were little aquariums with explanations of the displayed creatures. Its an educational place for families to visit, the kids can have fun touching the sea creatures. There's also a display on reptiles and bugs.

There's even a quiz paper given by the counter. After you complete it you will receive a key chain at the end of your tour as the reward for the quiz.

The location of Coral Wonderland is

F4-01A & F4-99, Level 4,
Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall, Jalan Merdeka,

75000 Bandar Hilir, Melaka, Malaysia

Operating Hours
Open daily from Monday - Friday
10.30am to 9.30pm
Last Admission 9.00pm

Weekend, Public Holidays & School Holidays

10.30am to 10.30pm

Last Admission 9.30pm

Create your Restaurant Menu

How to Create your Restaurant Menu

Another great marketing instrument that is generally overlooked will be your restaurant menu. As I've mentioned in my Previous Post “Creating Good Customer care Culture”, first impression is important. Preparing the menu takes a lot of work and a lot of planning. You need to do it step by step. And you can't skip any of these steps. Below are the steps.

Restaurant Concept

Firstly, you have to identify what is your restaurant concept and what type of customers that you want to attract. Look around at your area, other restaurant premises and what others are offering. You have to know whether the community are young working adults, families or college students. This will determine the style, quality and portion sizes of the food that you will feature on your restaurant menus. It would be suicidal to open a fine dining restaurant in a community of families who normally dine together.

Market Analysis Market

Market analysis is an important part in planning your menu for your restaurant. You need to know what others are selling, what the locals want. The market analysis also can help you with your menu prices so as to be inline with the income of the community in your area. Its no point to create an expensive menu for a community that are in the middle income category. You will then have an empty restaurant and a fridge full of expensive items.

Consult your Chef

In one episode of Restaurant Makeover, the Makeover Chef tells the Restaurant Chef that "Chefs create menus not owners". This is true, only the chef knows what he is good at. Its no point for the owner to come out with the menu that the chef is not able to cook it well. Firstly consult with your Chef and also review your current menu with him. Take into consideration of your top sellers and the poorest selling items. This is to identify what to remove and what to keep. Also take into consideration the local likes and what others is offering. The items in your menu may be limited to the size of your kitchen or by the equipment that you have. If you want to try something new you have to be prepared to buy the equipment that your chef needs for his menu. Also take into consideration the skill level of your staff both in the kitchen and at the front. Its no point to create a fine dining menu when the staffs are not skilled enough to prepare or sell it. Also the raw items should be readily available or you will have a menu with lots of sold out items.

Menu Pricing
Knowing the costs of your items that you plan to sell means success to your business. By carefully calculating the food cost you can determine the price that you will be selling. But saying that, you also need to be aware what your competitors are selling, so as not to overprice your items thus turning away business. That's where your market analysis comes into play. There are numerous website giving out free templates that you can use for calculating your food. One such site is Menu Costing Templates

Designing Your Menu
As mentioned in my previous post Free Restaurant Menu Templates, that a restaurant menu is an important key to promote what your chef has to offer. In the menu you will list what is available in your restaurant. Splendidly prepared menus will really entice the customer to dine within your place. I’ve learned that beside scrumptious sounding write ups, mouthwatering images will definitely appeal to customers to try something new. Sometimes I feel that the customers usually are not clear on what to order, so they normally will order the norm. Shying away from something unique or different that your chef have conjured up. Thus a picture will give the customer a visual taste of what's coming. In that post I also suggested some free templates sites so you don't have to take the trouble of designing the menu from scratch.

Proofread and print final design Go through the entire menu with a fine tooth comb as error will make you look like a fool and also once printed its costly to reprint again. You could also hire a professional editor. You can do what I normaly do, is to pass around to a few friends who are quite ok in English and ask their opinion. After all the people that is going to read your menus are normal people not restauranteurs. So if they can't understand what you are trying to drive at, how do you expect your customers. After all this is done, sent out your menu for printing. In my next post I will give you ways on promoting your restaurant menu.

 
Product Restaurant Management Suite - CLASSIC
Website www.restaurantmanagementcenter.com
Cost Only $37
60 days unconditional money back guarantee
CLASSIC restaurant management suite was put together by Andreas Breitfuss and his team to help those people in the restaurant industry. It is a selection of restaurant management tools that when used in combination can help you streamline your restaurant, café or hotel. These pre-designed forms, templates and spreadsheets save you time to concentrate on other areas of the business. There is beverage costing sheet, restaurant requisition sheets, purchase order forms, blank stock take sheets, stock take spreadsheet, stock take financial analysis spreadsheet, wastage sheets, standard food recipe templates, standard beverage recipe. Beverage engineering spreadsheet, menu placement card, menu advertising elements and sample restaurant menus

Hatten Hotel Melaka

My Review of the Hatten Hotel in Melaka

We chose Hatten Melaka for two reasons. One was that we could bring my four year old to the Coral Wonderland Aquarium which is just across the road from the hotel. The other reason was that Mahkota Parade was just next door, so my wife could go for her shopping terapy. Check in was a breeze as we checked in on a weekday. Melaka gets really crowded on weekends and holidays, especially hotels around the the historical sites. Parking is located within the Hatton Square which will be a problem on weekends as shoppers will also park there. The hotel is huge and very busy especially at Chatterz their all day dining on level 11 during breakfast. The room we got was rather large with a lounge with a sofa and a large TV. There is also a flatscreen TV in the bedroom. There is no bathtub only a rain shower stall which is ok cause we hardly use bathtubs nowadays. We had the view of the swimming pool so my four year old couldn't wait to jump in especially when he saw the water fountain shooting out from the floor next to the kiddie pool. The swimming pool was located on the12th floor together with the Gym and Sauna. There is also a small bar at the poolside called Splash which serves beverages. There are only two food and beverage outlets at Hatten Melaka, one was their all day dining called Chatterz and the poolbar called Splash. But food shouldn't be problem as there are numerous food outlets around, either at the Mahkota Parade or Hatten Square. The only thing that some might find troublesome is that the lift from the carpark only goes to either the lobby or the 11th floor. From there on you have to change lift to go to your floor by putting your keycard into the slot. But this is a good problem in terms of our safety as non inhouse guest cannot access the floors that have rooms. Check Hotelcombined for best rates in Melaka, Malaysia

A great artitcle that I've found on the web

Here's a great article that I've found on the net about how different cultures look at customer service

A Tale Of Japanese Customer Service

What Type of Coffee Shop Should I Open?

By Tony DiCopro
When we think of a coffee shop, most think of a sit down place, maybe with or without a drive through. While that may be true, there is also the coffee kiosk and coffee cart. Here are some points to consider when starting a coffee shop:

Sit down (and mix) - most advantageous if you are planning on having entertainment and events. This would be considered, more often than not the full-service coffee shop. Outside of the purist coffee house that serves nothing but coffee in only a few forms, most sit downs serve light foods to full menus, also called cafes. The mix is pretty much adding a drive through window if space allows. A drive through window can add as much as 20% more revenue to your sales because of its convenience

Drive through (stand alone) - usually a lesser start up cost, you can have your drive through constructed off-site by a company specializing in such for about $20,000 or less. A lot of times you can get a ground lease from the owner of a parking lot that does not need all that parking space. Be sure to consult with the city planning department to be sure you can do this. It will most likely require a certain square footage of lot space for employee parking and customer vehicle 'stacking'. This is a fancy way to say how many cars can be in line at your drive through window on your property and still allow easy flow in and out and, to still have enough space for the other tenants in the plaza. Note that if your city and/or health department does not allow portable water and sewage onsite, you will be required to install plumbing and sewer. This can get costly but if the location is prime, it will outweigh your upfront costs. You can also find a stand-alone building that can be converted to a drive through. Gas stations and some former fast food places (without an inside dining area) are good for this. On the gas station, be sure to visit your city planning and zoning department to be sure you can convert it into a coffee drive through. You may have an issue with the car stacking again.

Kiosk - these are great for malls, hospitals, car dealerships or anywhere that you do not have or need a storefront. It's a step above the cart (below) because the kiosk is pretty much a coffee shop that can be taken down and moved fairly easy. They are basically a prefabricated, fancy group of counters all connected together. It gives the feel of a stand-alone coffee shop. A lot of jewelry places and such have these in malls.

Cart - That pretty much says it all. A cart will cost you from $8000-12,000 or so to have built. They are also usually found in malls, car dealerships, hospitals etc. They have considerably less room than a kiosk but are a great option if you want to be in a mall or the like. You would normally be limited to serving food and bakery that is pre-packaged. No matter what kind of coffee shop you decide to open, be sure you have researched it all, and are ready to be immersed! Starting a coffee shop will take up a lot of your time but will be worth it in the end! Good luck!

Article Directory: http://www.articlealley.com

Tony DiCorpo is a coffee roaster, barista trainer and coffee business consultant. He has authored many articles on coffee and the coffee business. Tony has extensive experience in business and collectively more than 20 years experience in sales, business management, entrepreneurship and the coffee business. The website to go to get his business plan is www.tonys-coffee-shop-business-plan.com

Must try Fruits in Malaysia

Must Try Fruits when in Malaysia

With its tropical climate Malaysia has an abundant of exotic fruit trees. Some are seasonal like the durian and rambutans. And others are available all year round. During the fruit season sometime between May to September, you will find fruit stalls popping out everywhere. Along the highways some reststops have even added shoplots selling local fruits like the reststop in Tapah and Bukit Gantang. Below are a few of some of the must try fruits.

Durian

This is a must try when you are in Malaysia. If you have never experienced a durian ,it is most definitely something that MUST be tried at least once in your lifetime. Durian is lovingly called the "King of Fruits" by its fans. A quote that I like about this fruit is from a French man. He says eating durian is like eating custard on a toilet seat. It smells like hell but taste like heaven. Durian is a seasonal fruit which normally lasts from June until August, similar to other Malaysian fruits like mangosteen, jackfruit, and mango. The durian fruit is the size of a football with a rough and thorny skin around it. The tree can grow up to a height of 50 meters and have a long life. Ripe and ready to eat durians normally fall naturally, That is why you can't pluck durian fruits you have to wait for it to fall. Which is good as the tree is so high. So avoid standing under durian trees especially during their fruit season. You might get a thorny head ache. To get to its soft custard pulp, you need to cut open its thick thorny crust. I can go on and on about this wonderful fruit but I think you better let your tastebuds be the judge. But a word of advise eat this fruit in moderation cause this is a very heaty fruit. If you eat alot you will feel very hot the whole day. Now there are a few Rest and Relax Stops in Malaysia that have stalls selling local fruits one such area is the Bukit Gantang Rest Stop.

Mangosteen

If Durian is refered to as the King of Fruits, then Mangosteen is often called the Queen of Fruits. Legend has it the the former queen of England, Queen Victoria was so taken by this fruit that she offered Knighthood to anyone who could bring her fresh supplies. I think that's why its called the Queen of Fruits.Its the size of a tennis ball, purple in or maroon in colour.The fruit inside is white in colour. It is easy to open by merely pressing between the palms until the shell cracks. Care must be taken when opening the fruit, as the reddish-black skin gives out a purplish juice that stains fabric and can be almost impossible to remove. This is the reason why together with durian, mangosteen is ban in hotels.

Rambutan

The rambutan fruit season takes place twice a year. The word "rambut" in 'rambutan' means "hairy " in Malay which refers to its hairy exterior. In this hairy exterior you will find a white, almost translucent egg shaped fruit similar to lychees or longans. To get to this fruit you can use a sharp knife to cut around the hairy skin then twist off the top half of its skin. Break open to its fruit. Or you can do what I normally do. Use my teeth and bite down gently. As the fruit inside normally very sweet inside, it attracts large ants that sting painfully. So you must be really careful when you bite down or you might get a swollen lip.





Jackfruit (Nangka)

Jackfruit is the larger version of the Durian but its thorns are not as sharp niether is its smell not as strong as the durian. A jackfruit or ' Nangka' as its known in, Malaysia can weight up to 20 Kg, therefore its the largest fruit in the world. You need a sharp knife to cut it open and inside it are many bright yellow yummy crunchy segments. They taste sweet and has a very enticing aroma. That's why when you visit some plantations you will see that the fruits are covered with a cloth or bag to avoid animals getting to it. The jackfruit is also coated with batter and deepfried. Its usually served as an afternoon tea snack together with banana fritters.

Rose apple or Jambu Air

Rose Apple also known as "Jambu Air" is one of my favourite fruits to munch. The Jambu Air is a bell-shaped fruitThe flesh is scented, juicy and slightly sweet. which is juicy, crispy and crunchy. That's why its called "Jambu Air" when litterally translated to English means "Water Guava". Like apples, jambu air can eaten whole. You can a small bag of already cut fruits at most rest stop and its a great thirst quencher while driving in the Malaysian hit weather. Some like to dip it in a rojak sauce.

Free Restaurant Menus Templates

A restaurant menu is the most important selling tool in any food related establishment. In the menu you will normally find what is offered by the restaurant. A beautifully created menu will surely entice the customer to dine in. I have found out that apart from mouthwatering explanations, pictures of deliciously prepared food really attract customers to try items that are new to them. I feel they are not sure on what they are going to order, so a picture helps them to decide. A classic example is when Mr.Bean from the Mr.Bean comedy series orders a Steak Tartare and is surprised to find it raw. Designing a menu is a very daunting tasks, but as I have mentioned in my previous post Restaurant Promotion Ideas- Some Ideas From the Web. The World Wide Web is loaded with ideas, help and tutorials. There's even websites giving out free Restaurant Menu Templates in Word format. You can download it, edit it to suit your restaurant and later print it. Its really simple. 

Menu Template
This a great site if you looking for cafe menu templates.They have various menus for various restaurants and even various occasions. There are templates for fast food, pizza or even an Italian restaurant. There's even templates for party menus, some of which you can use in your establishment. Check out this website at www.menutemplate.org/. I have found it to be quite useful.

Menu Template

This a great site if you looking for cafe menu templates.They have various menus for various restaurants and even various occasions. There are templates for fast food, pizza or even an Italian restaurant. There's even templates for party menus, some of which you can use in your establishment. Check out this website at www.menutemplate.org/. I have found it to be quite useful.

Menu Templates

This site is similar to the Menu Template site mentioned above but it has lesser templates. There are few menus you can use, just click here www.menutemplates.org/. They have a few categories like drinks menu, event menu, food menu, international menu, party menu, personal menu. Microsoft Word Templates In this website there is four different templates for you to choose from. Choose the restaurant menu template that you like most, download it and just fill in your information to use it. Print as many as you want. These free templates uses Microsoft Windows 97. Please click here to know more. www.wordtemplates.org/restaurant/free-restaurant-menu-templates Podia Table Top Displays This site is useful if you want to create table top menus. There are over 25 different table top menus for you to choose from. What I normally do is take a few which I feel will look nice and merge it. This templates are also in Microsoft Word document, so you can easily edit the templates using words. To view their designs, please click here www.4podia.com/templates.php Free restaurant menu templates are normally good for some small operations but you have to remember everyone that sees them usually uses them. If you want your outlet to stand out, then its bettter to purchase some premium restaurant menus templates. One such site that sells menu templates at a resonable price is restaurantmanagementcentre.com