What's Hot In The Asia Pacific Rim

Love them or hate them, the ‘iPad’ has been an extension of the ‘iPhone’ revolution. The applications and networking opportunities are mind boggling. Way above the head of this little writer. Adam Penberthy from Think Fresh Advertising Communications (www.thinkfresh.net.au) in Brisbane has passionately devoted his international career to developing innovative communications that inspire, excite and engage the youth of today.

Penberthy argues that social media such at Twitter, Meet Up and LinkedIn hasn’t killed ‘the real world’ as we thought. It has encouraged real life relationships to flourish at a personal and professional level with like-minded users. Twitter boasts over 100 million users, Facebook over 500 million active users. How are you using this network to promote your restaurant or network with your business associates?

Take it one step further with the smart phone explosion in Oz and Asia and you have the leverage for inventors to create inspiring applications or ‘apps’ to lead and engage ‘punters’ to your foodservice establishment. These ‘apps’ can identify the location of your customers and lead them to your door. Beware; they can also be used to rate and report on their experiences at a global level.

Then came the ‘iPad’. It hit the ground running with instant multinational sales and passionate ‘iPhone’ followers. Now the ‘iPad’ has put all the tools together as an endless work horse for business. Penberthy and his team at Think Fresh has found restaurants, for example in France, Italy, Melbourne and Sydney have replaced traditional printed menus with “iMenus” on the ‘iPad’, each putting their own spin on the possibilities of the new technology.
In Melbourne, Pearl Restaurant has created an ‘app’ for patrons to view as much – or as little – information about the food and wine served at their restaurant.

Diners can explore the origins of their meals and details about the ingredients. Sydney restaurant Mundo Tapas has replaced the waiter’s role by introducing an interactive menu for ordering their meals. Patrons can view glossy pics of the food accompanied by the chef’s own notes before placing their order via the ‘app’.


Penberthy has found that both restaurants consider the ‘iMenu’ a good business move despite the software development costing upwards of $40,000. Aside from the patron’s novelty of the whole experience, benefits include instant updated menus (daily if required) and spending less time training and educating quality wait staff on the finer details of the meals being served, whilst providing a quicker, superior and interactive dining experience. Diners definitely want to be served faster and faster – this is one way to do it. The control is in the customer’s hands – literally!