Rustenburg – Everybody loves the greatness of coffee in the morning. Guests at the “Old Mutual Longest Breakfast Table… in the World”, undoubtly deserve to be welcomed by an aromatic cup of fresh coffee!

Thanks to Ciro, the 2010 breakfast will be complimented with a cup of sizzling strong aroma coffee. Ciro Coffee announced this week, that as the official beverage partner of Dulcé Café, they intend treating all 1200 guests at the breakfast table with a cup of Douwe Egberts brewed coffee!

Willem Prinsloo, Regional Manager of Ciro visited Café Dulcé this week to discuss the logistical challenges of the event.
According to Mr Prinsloo, Douwe Egberts was Ciro’s choice of coffee solution as an answer to the challenges presented by the breakfast, namely quantity and speed without compromising on aroma and quality! The Douwe Egberts Coffee System is currently marketed in South Africa as the first choice in boardroom and conference coffee solution.

11 years ago, when George Crassas opened Café Dulcé in the Waterfall Mall, the coffee shop became the place for friends to meet over a cup of coffee. Here residents discovered a new world of continental food and world class coffees.

It is therefor with a touch of nostalgia that it is once again thanks to George Crassas that Rustenburg will expand its coffee experience.

The ‘Old Mutual Longest Breakfast Table’ takes place at 8am on Tuesday, 12 October and with only 173 tickets left, residents are urged to secure their seat, The breakfast is an annual fundraiser event in aid of Rustenburg Charities Unite (RCU).

Tickets are available at cost of R80 each from Centre Management at the Waterfall Mall (tel. 014 537-3600) during office hours.

Call event organiser, Marikie Visser Marketing Mix on cell. 082 8007822 for more information or visit the web site at www.longestbreakfasttable.co.za.

Dulce Grahamstown were the proud t-shirt sponsors for the up and coming group – DJ’s@Play – the dj’s from Rhodes.

It is an integral part of Dulce Café’s strategy to implement a change or upgrade of the store design every 5 or so years, & hence stay ahead of the competition, be attractive to Landlords, inviting to customers and profitable to Franchisees. It is our great pleasure to show you our latest store design. This new design will be rolled out in all new store builds, and existing Dulce Café stores will be encouraged to revamp to this new look at a time suitable to the Franchisee and Landlord.

When looking at the five pictures, it is important to remember that the design has been implemented in such a way that some of the elements of the design can be moved from the back to the front, and visa versa or increased or decreased in emphasis; depending on the shape, size and layout of the store in question, & the type, location , size and LSM of the development.

The three main areas of the store design are as follows :

The casual dining area is an area planned to relax customers, and to cater for those customers that want something quick and light to eat. Maybe located in front of the store or to the rear of the store.

The barista / deli take out area – entrance to the store, greeting area with emphasis on good coffee, take aways, retail area etc.

The internal seating area is planned for the customers that want to sit down and have a more substantial meal, or more privacy.

Dulce Café Lite – in addition to the Standard Dulce design, a smaller version of the above has been designed for those locations with less internal space , and labelled Dulce Lite. This store will carry a slightly modified menu.

Central Gauteng o/30 won the 2010 IPT tournament held in Edenvale. We were the only unbeaten side in the tournament, with the best batsman of the tournament, Alex Nel, and the best bowler, myself, from our side. We also had 6 of the 8 players selected for the All Stars side from our team.

Results can be seen on the Action Sports website, go to fixtures and results, IPT 2010, Men’s o/30.

www.actionsports.co.za

The following winners of the Liptons promotion with each receive an Ipod:

1) Hillcrest: Mark Luyt
2) Vincent Park: Coleen Dressen
3) Mountain Mill: C Marais
4) Zambezi: Wilma Love

Congratulations!

Photos of our winners

Mountain Mill in Worcester customer, Corrie Marais with her grandchild Savannah Rawlinson seen here with Mariaan from Mountain Mill.

Maureen from Dulce Cafe Hillcrest seen with Mark Luyt with the Ipod he won through Liptons.

“When Dulcé Café first came to market, our restaurant offering was unique and dynamic. But we felt that over time, we had allowed ourselves to become complacent, losing our edge for creating and setting trends, while simultaneously offering continental flair,” says Brigid Ryall, Dulcé Café marketing manager, commenting on the new menu.

In mid-February 2010, chef Jodi-Ann Pearton, of The Food Design Agency, was first challenged with the franchise foodie brief, to redefine the concept by refocusing the menu mix in line with the brand’s identity – that of a continental café.

‘Green’ menu follows international trends

Ryall and Pearton embarked on a countrywide expedition of investigation into various working processes both inside and outside of the store kitchens; scrutiny of suppliers and contracts; analysis of sales figures across various food dishes; testing of existing menu items; and lastly, interviewing franchisees on their thoughts and drawing on their wealth of in-store experience.

Pearton and her team then retreated to her culinary studio to embark upon two month’s worth of trials and testing, to produce a gourmet range of 21 new standardised and delectable dishes that went in-store on 14 June 2010. The new ‘green’ menu follows the international trend towards healthy simplicity.

“The new menu is in-line with international food trends, which means it is healthy and utilises both local and seasonal ingredients. The flavours are wholesome and superb – going back to the brand’s roots. As a direct result, each dish is not overly processed, yet still suitably familiar to entice the South African palate, explains Pearton.

Pity, no more pita

“I removed items such as the pitas and pancakes, as I felt this was causing confusion and inconsistencies in the category of cuisine synonymous with the franchise food offering. I have included items such as cumin butternut and chickpea salad, nicoise salad, panzanella salad, chicken spedini’s, butter chicken curry, pannacotta, chocolate mud cakes and an entire soup section – just for starters.

“I believe that it is colourful, flavoursome and offers great value for money. More importantly; all the new menu items are simple for the store kitchens to reproduce – ensuring speedy service, quality and consistency in every dish,” she concludes.

The Upstart radio team enjoyed breakfast while listening to the first Broadcast of the show on RMR. Dulce’s Café hosted the team, pictured here with their mentors Ross Alford and Tshego Letsoalo as well as Upstart managers Loiuse Vale and Shireen Badat of Rhodes University and Mandy Hlengwa.

The Food Design Agency and The Dulce Café Group have been working very hard over the past few month’s to refine and create a superb new menu for the group!

The brief was to focus on redefining the Dulce Café concept by refocusing the menu mix in line with what the brands identity is “a continental café”. The process including massive research into PLU’s, many hours of working in various Dulce café kitchens and many weeks worth of testing and tasting all kinds of concepts for the brand. The result has been a revamp of the Dulce Café menu – the new menu (launching on the 1st June, Nationwide) is in-line with international food trends which means it is healthy and utilizes local, seasonal ingredients, the flavours are superb and the food is not over processed, yet it is still familiar enough to entice the South African palate!

We have included items such as Cumin butternut and chickpea salad, Nicoise salad, Panzanella salad, chicken spedini’s, butter chicken curry, pannacotta, chocolate mud cakes and an entire soup section – just to name a few.

Scenes from the First Soccer Friday at Dulce Waterstone Mall.

Scenes of the Idols judges (Randal, Mara, HHP, Jabba) having lunch at the the Dulce Café in the Boardwalk in PE