Smart Marketing

I have had a long standing bet with myself in my own mind in regards to McDonalds, and more namely the somewhat shabby McDonalds location by my house on WT Harris by Sugar Creek.

This is a bit run down, a bit beat up location that could use a modernization or upgrade from the 80-90’s feel about it. I am in the group that think McDoanlds is a (somewhat) high quality franchise that does it better than many othr competitors. It seems it is not popular to be a franchise or any of the “big boys’ on the net.

I had done a search marketing research awhile back and if you search companies with the word “sucks” after their name you invariably find that the largest players in every field have more results returned. Walmart has more “complaints posted on the web” than Target, Microsoft more than Apple, McDonalds more than Burger King, etc etc. This seems to be the root for the little guy root against the establishment mentality showing its ugly head.

I say its ok to be the best or more specifically the biggest. You likely built a track record that led to this place you now are. I am not going to say too much nice about the fast food industry in general, but when you take everything as a reletive comparison to others in the same market I find McDonalds to be a pretty good franchise and place to be.

Well my long standing bet with myself is looking for the staff or drive through member that says “your welcome” to my constant barage of “thank you very much”’s.

After at least a dozen stops at the “way home” McDonalds by Harris and David Cox Rd., and always hitting them with a “thank you very much” and not once geting a “your welcome”, I am happy to say the first time I decide to start video documenting my search for “your welcome”, I was finally happily surprised.

They may have stumbled on the order process, but both the payment window #1 and order window #2 hit me with thank you and your welcome. It is almost like they knew it was coming, but this was a hidden cam and the service was with a smile. The fries were also resh which is plus number two. All you hate on the biggest game in town should take a step back and see that sometimes the biggest is the best.

Best fries, good for the community, decent franchise. Lets give McDonalds a break and be thankful for those amazing fries.

What happened to that insane guy on the TV?

He was there when I arrived in Charlotte, and now hes left us for some time now. The guy we are seeking the whereabouts on is Mark Mathis the weatherman from 2002 to 2004 in Charlotte.

I for one loved this guy, its not the sale of insanity that drew me in, im not that low in the brain weight, it was that he truly seemed to enjoy doing his thing and nothing seemed rehearsed, and he seemed alot happier with life than most straight arrow types in his line of work.

Mark struck me as that real funny neighbor you get to talk with on occasion when grabbing your mail.

Here is what i found on the web.

“His name is Mark Mathis and he used to be a weatherman in Dallas. But folks in Charlotte will remember him as possibly the most controversial local figure from 2002-2004. What was Mathis schtick? He wouldn’t do the weather. Instead, he would get on the set of the TV station and sing, dance and rap for his 90-second segment. Local viewers in Charlotte complained, but they tuned in. WCCB Fox 18’s ratings climbed.”

Last word i see is an account of mark having ewssentially a breakdown and staying in a hotel during drinking binges of Vodka.
Link here

mark is a texas native and a graduate of Baylor University. he stated that it was not uncommon for him to spend 1,000-$1,500 in a night out.

But all this aside, and all the dark behind him, I for one am taking a moment to say he made me smile. I can also say that I have many a “good” person who never accomplished so many smiles for so many people.

There have been countless “clowns” of all sorts whos goal was attention and whos side effect was laughter. I see no reason to put a bad spin on such a funny and memorable part of the Charlotte I saw when i first got here.
Art centers, sports, events, culture all never made it into a conversation to friends on the phone, but I did say, “you would not believe the weatherman in this town, hes too f*&^( funny”.

here is to a long and happy part 2 of life for Mark.
Enjoy.

Well it has been a hectic week for Charlottecritic.com, but we send sincere thanks to everyone connected to our success and those who have done us the honor of reading our ramblings and unguided inarticulate rantings on local Charlotte stuff.

We are happy to show off a bit of love form readers of our site. We can be seen on Johnson and Wales University website, naming us as Charlotte’s Food Critic. We dont claim to be this much, but happy to eat and offer our opinion.

We can be seen on Charlotte radio website from WBT 1110 Am discussing our recent raves for the braodcasting schedule and educated talk hosts they feature including Jeff Katz and John Hancock (pick your flavor).

And lastly you can always see your reviews featured in the ChefMOZ directory of restaurants which is owned and operated by Netscape, and a part of the DMOZ project. We are volunteer editors for the chefMOZ, and for this reason our reviews can be attached to the many local restaurant listings.

Our traffic has gone up steadily to well over 15,000 hits a month, which isn’t reinventing the wheel, but that was never our goal.

We say thank you to the 500+ newsletter subscribers, we say thank you again to the 250,000 visitors to the pages of our website. We feel more inclined to “snap off at the mouth”, when we think it is being heard.

We are always looking for a blogger to take on the task of breaking down the bobcats, and we hope to find a local news and politics blogger or two to offer a “semi-biased: view about town.

Well I am about to watch the superbowl commercials in an hour or so, and between them I get to see some other event, football I think. I am pretty sure the GoDaddy superbowl commercial is this years favorite to win after cleaning up the past few years with the simple and 100% effective approach they took. Basically Candice Michelle has made a name in the world of Superbowl to rival any of the boring old players with a now infamous/famous bacth of commercials to take their place in history of cool with the office monkeys and Bob Eukers.

Godaddy has taken it to a second level of smart marketing with Youtube uploaded watermarked with their domain name replays of the famous Godaddy commercials. Viral marketing with an old fashion approach.

Past Godaddy Commercial

Follup Go Daddy Commercial

So as is in eating around news, Fridays has come out with a few new $4 appetizers, all of which will stop your heart in one cholesterol filled bite.

I tink thats actually a compliment to the likely good taste of this rich looking food.

Heres a bit of press about the groundbreaking event for fat people.

“In August, great-tasting, radically new appetizers arrived at Friday’s,” said Terri Snyder, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, parent of T.G.I. Friday’s. “Now, we want to make sure everyone gets to try these great new creations by offering them for just $4 with the purchase of an entree.”

The $4 appetizers include, but are not limited to, the Crispy Green Bean Fries (crunchy and crisp battered green beans with a cool creamy Cucumber- Wasabi Ranch dip), Potato Skinny Dippers (a new twist on potato skins, ready for dipping into melted queso and chorizo and served with spicy Southwestern sour cream), Sizzling Triple-Meat Fundido (a combination of sizzling cheeses blended with pepperoni, Italian sausage and bacon, served sizzling with warm breadsticks for dipping) and Wicked Wings (chicken wings, boneless or traditional style, served with a choice of three flavors: sweet and spicy Kung Pow, tropical and tangy Pina Colada, and traditional Buffalo Sauce).

Friday’s has also added two new appetizers: Fried Mac & Cheese (irresistible, creamy cheeses and elbow noodles golden-fried to perfection) and Parmesan Crusted Sicilian Quesadilla (Sauteed chicken, Andouille sausage, bacon, bruschetta salsa and melted Monterey Jack cheese stuffed in a parmesan crusted flour tortilla, all drizzled with a Balsamic glaze).”

Check out the pictures and even a video of how good these things look here

New Friday’s Appetizers

The Triple Meat Fundido, with bread to dip in Pizza toppings is pure genius, this is clearly the brain child of a MAN/Food wizard.

The Green Bean Fries are pretty lame looking, and noone is going to go for a green vegetable with a breading. Why go healthy if its lost in a deep fry, ths is plain stupid with little else to say.

The Fried Mac and Cheese looks like hit or miss, but why bother picking the “ok” choice.

The Silcilian Quesadilla looks fair, and the wings seems pretty uncreative.

The Potato dippers looks like a solid choice, and likely the most filling of the bunch.

What this all proves is the very simple manly fact that appetizers tat involve dipping are alwas the best choices.

Once you leave TGIF’s, head over to Chilis for the phenomenal southwest eggrolls which isone of the best appetizers on the franchise market.

I am using a snow shovel to escape the barrage of menus, promos and coupons I have found for this restaurant in my mailbox and littering my footsteps everywhere else. This image is from the Mojobay website showing an example of their dishes. I will be on the prowl with my camera this week.

Mojo Bay has been opened for 2 months now, and has admitted to having found it to be a slow start according to the Charlotte weekly conversation with their owner. Perhaps we will be able to lend them support deserving of a non-chain local owned eatery. If nothing else that background equates to “keepin it real”.

I look forward to taste testing the rave-reviewed guacamole and fish tacos.

Appetizer Menu: I have seen articles, reviews and flyers enough to flatten the rain forest. I guess this could be perceived as a marketing success since I am now discussing that exact fact, but lets not give that much credit.

The appetizers as you see on this scan of the menu look pretty standard deal with the very tasty looking Ceviche and Shrimp Con Queso offering up seafood and shrimp choices for under $8.

If you are looking for value check them out Mon-Fri 11am to 2pm for lunch specials. Mojo Bay offers 5 choices including fish tacos and rotisserie chicken for $5.

Click For taco Menu Choices: If you are looking for value check them out Mon-Fri 11am to 2pm for lunch specials. Mojo Bay offers 5 choices including fish tacos and rotisserie chicken for $5.

My comments are on the volume of marketing for this new Charlotte hybrid-latino cuisine restaurant that just opened in the Shoppes at University Place.

I was prompted to get up and write about Mojo Bay as I just opened the Charlotte Weekly and got hit with this place again. Heidi Billotto the food critic for th Charlotte weekly did a long write up on this new establishment that is modeling itself after the likes of Anntony’s Caribbean or perhaps Cabo Fish Taco. her review hints yu will find more mexican style dishes which is further from Latin-Caribbean than most peaople think.

I dont personally care how they “nailed their target genre” as long as the food is priced right and tasty.

I will be in there popping photos in the next 4-5 days and look froward to seeing what it is they are so skilled at advertising. For the record, Heidi gave them a 3 of 5 stars review.

If you have eaten at Mojo Bay there already and are not the owner trying to self-promote, then click here and submit a review right now.

mojobay, mojo bay, latino food, caribbean food, charlotte restaurants, mojo bay charlotte, university city

If you dont live in the north Charlotte area or University City, then you miss out on a pretty cool publication. I have decided to “break-ice” on how much I enjoy this publication this week since they really hit a home run for food lovers this time through.

I am referring to University City Magazine, which is about a 80 page full color publication the the highest quality. As a web professional I am mind-blown from the beautiful layouts, clean design of the pages/navigation, and great photos of the magazine. 

This publication pretty much touches on University City business and schools and how they reach out to the area in their personal way.

So now the other shoe dropping? I am dying to contact them and try to be a part of something I enjoy reading. I see a level of quality one slight step above similar publications, and sometimes that just makes someone want to be associated with that sort of quality.

Not very often does something so “everyday” as a free publication in your mailbox make you feel that way, but this  is one of those times for me.

So Sharon Simpson, Lee McCracken, Jennifer Hansell, Jane Rodewald, or maybe Amy Wall send me an email…tell me to clean up my act a bit, and find a way I can sling my
“everyday man’s bs” for a more productive outlet.

Since marketing is what I love the most, I know your names here will someday find there way to your eyes by some indirect means thanks to google.com.
critic{at}charlottecritic.com

This week University City Magazine touched on one of my favorite places to redeem coupons, the Grand Promenade II.

Grand Promenade II features Shanes Rib Shack, which we frequent and are on good terms with the owner, Moe’s Southwest Grill which we describe as plain old “cool”, and Doc Green’s which also received rave reviews here on our site. I cant take credit for that review though, since I cant be caught eating salads.

The coverage for these great establishments in University City Magazine were not so much a review as an introduction for those who havn’t been yet. I am though happy to have spent my time with their always good reading and great photos.

I also am thrilled to have learned more about the upcoming University City Race Taste, and I thank University City magazine for this as well. Looks like my $5 will get me all of the best tastes of University City in an all day family fun music and food affair.

Say that 5 times fast.

University City, University City magazine, charlotte magazines, Grand Promenade, taste race

So I looked into what other publications have pointed out as a required background to become a food and restaurant critic. Here is an excerpt from

The Career Education Counsel
http://www.careereducationadvisor.com/Become-a-Food-Critic.htm 

“You might know if you like a certain food or not, but would you be able to explain exactly why? Being a food critic is not as simple as just saying “Yum” or “Blech!” it requires a sensitive palate and a careful knowledge of cooking and food. For this reason, many critics have trained at culinary institutes or have degrees in restaurant management. They also, of course, must be able to describe what they have eaten, so a strong command of written language is also a plus.

Now to say I disagree would be an understatement. Since we are talking about what is required to give an opinion that people like to read, it is an opinion and entertainment value.

I think the issue here is the idea that critic’s write for themselves and for restaurant owners/chefs…..this is the problem.

If I publish a review in a major paper, the I will assume 1% of my audience to be comprised of the cook, owners, and other professionals with a curiosity and interest other than entertainment related. It seems to me since enjoyment of the read is what I do to contribute to selling papers, then it is  my writing and ability to relate to the consumer that matters most.

Seems in my theory, being an experienced patron, would make alot more sense than being an experienced cook, chef, manager or “culinary expert”.

I never see a critic, put much consdieration into the value of the meal, perhaps because they are getting the check picked up by the paper itself. Seems to me thatr 99% of my audience will be curious if the meal “all taste aside” is a waste of money.

Not a mojor issue in a review perhaps but just one example of why having a patron’s perspective would be a better skill set than having a chef’s perspective.

I think alot of the writer’s may be a bit too full of themselves. I understand that cooking is art, but time for many critic’s to note that eating food is clearly not art.

Writing about eating food? somewhere in the middle perhaps?

As our return visitors have seen we are in the midst of a makeover. We have been vaulted to #1 in many of the key searches for local folks looking for suggestions on the best charlotte restaurants for their dollar.

 We have had 2 cash offers to have our site bought out and no doubt thusly “sold out” which we passed on. We have about 3 new members every day and our readership has tripled in the last 2 months for our free food newsletter. Needless to say we have growing pains and have thusly undertaken this redo of our food blog and local review news site.

Whats new? You can now register here and list your reviews, and start your own Charlotte food critic profile. Unlike the aol cities and other web garbage ours are monitored and hand checked by moderators to asure real and not sponsor driven reviews. We want to help you spend you food dollar wisely.

Dont want all that signing up garbage? list a review now as a guest and give it a try!

So what this post is about, if you are one of our everyday visitors please pardon our mess, step on any bugs you see, and sign and and get the most out of our site as we continue to grow from a grassroots blog/hobby to a local tool and resource for the big fat patron looking to chomp down on a platefull of beans and cheese.

Fresh looks and new additions are all around us and people are taking notice. Our team at Charlottecritic.com have put forth a great deal of time in the trenches having to eat great mexican food, eat chips, burgers and sometimes even having to brave a pizza, but its all worth it and coming together nicely. We have had a barrage of incoming review offers and contributons, some great some good. You can see one of our newest user contribution that passed our screening process here where Madelaine Karas in Rock Hill gives us the real look at Cactus Creek. We encourage readers to let us here about their favorite or last dissapointment by sending it to critic(at)charlottecritic.com. We look for an impartial that points out the good and bad of a local establishment, and if you are honest and spell-check than us you will make the cut and get published here on Charlottecritic.com.

The incoming support of readers, hopeful partners and offer to buy or work as a partnership with Charlottecritic.com has been a real boost for the morale of our fat team of eaters/writers.

What else is new?

You can now add your opinion of any review which just a click and send. Visit you favorite review from our list of restaurant reviews. then simply click the add you opinion link and away you go! You can be laying stars ontop of our stars in a flash.

We have added this same option in our directory so you can add you opinion of any restaurant in all of Charlotte/Lake Norman/Rock Hill region!

We thank all the readers and newsletter subscribers for their support and appreciate hanging out with such an in crowd.