The Roof: 6 weeks of change

All new sweet and sour fish!

2009-09-22T21:12:00.000-07:00

After looking through the sales for the signature dishes, ayam percik didn't do quite well. Time for change! So I made a decision to replace it with sweet and sour fish. Priced at a decent rm18 nett with a reasonable amount of portion, it is one tasty signature dish that you simply must try when you're at The Roof.

Nusantara Ramadhan Buffet

2009-08-23T21:01:00.001-07:00

Hey people! Its been a while and The Roof is back now with all new promotions. To kick things off, check out the Nusantara Ramadhan Buffet below.

'Kampung styled' cooking like Lampung Goreng Berlado, Rendang Redas Tulang, Perut Lembu Masak Chili Padi, Nasi Minyak Dengan Almond, Nangka Muda Masak Lemak dengan Ikan Masin and many more traditional delights to wet your appetite this Ramadhan. As a special treat, we will be featuring Kampung Style Stalls with specialty dishes such as Penang Fried Kway Teow, Rojak, Nyonya Curry laksa and our star of the night BBQ Lamb will also be available to diners. Kurma or Dates will be given away to all diners.

Nusantara Ramadhan Buffet starts from 24 August 2009 to 19 September 2009 at 5.30 pm to 9.30pm. Price at RM55 nett for adult and RM28 nett for child below 12 years of age.

So do come and check out the Nusantara Ramadhan Buffet especially to all you Muslims who are fasting during this Ramadhan month.

For reservation/more information, please call (088)-522888 and ask for The Roof restaurant. Visit the Facebook page for this event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138079887753

p/s: Happy Fasting to all Muslims out there!

Happening Father's Day!

2009-06-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I understand Father's Day is not that well celebrated here in Sabah compared to Mother's Day. So I'm quite happy that 100 people came for yesterday's Father's Day hi-tea special at The Roof. There were some complaints about the variety of food which I promise to improve in future events. Other than that, yesterday's hi-tea was a blast! The extra activities like cake decoration competition, fastest hot dog eater competition and hole in one putter competition had quite a number of fathers participating and attracted quite a crowd. Jacquelin the photographer and Greg the magician once again did a fantastic job just like during Mother's Day hi-tea promotion.

Many thanks again to the staff who did a great job. Especially my sales director Ya'kob who was the mc and made sure all activities run smooth and my f&b manager Liamis who worked hard despite the eye problem he had. Of course many thanks to those who attended the hi-tea. The Roof restaurant appreciates your support!

Father's Day hi-tea promotion!

2009-06-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

After the much successful Mother's Day hi-tea promotion, everything is all set now for Father's Day! This Sunday, the Father's Day hi-tea session will be more spiced up compared to the one during Mother's Day. Check out the details...

For only RM25nett, Celebrate Father's Day on this 21st June 2009 (Sunday) from 12pm - 4pm at The Roof Restaurant!

Package Include :

* Complimentary Photo per table.
* Magic Show from 1pm to 2pm.
* 5th diners per table will be complimentary.
* 20% discount at Esprit shop, Warisan and 1Borneo
* 20% discount on all Reebok Men's items e.g Shoes, T. Shirts and others at Royal Sporting House, Warisan Square
* 30% discount on all Mizuno , Adamsgolf and Greg Norman at Golf House, Warisan Square.

*** Esprit, Royal Sporting House and Golf House discount are only valid for 1 day only 21st June 2009

Father's Day Activities!

- Dad's cake decoration competition (max 20 dads)
- Fastest Hog Dog eater competition ( max 20 dads)
- Hole in One putter competition

Yup! This time there will be complimentary discounts from Esprit, Royal Sporting House and Golf House plus cool activities! So give your dad a special treat this Sunday at The Roof. See you there and Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

For reservation/more information, please call (088)-522888 and ask for The Roof restaurant. Visit the Facebook page for this event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=91658883323

Kaamatan Special!

2009-05-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hey people! Kaamatan or Harvest Festival is this weekend and The Roof celebrates the event with a Kaamatan special hi-tea buffet on Sunday. Still at RM18nett, the hi-tea buffet will exclusively feature local traditional food such as Nasi Bukit, Jeruk Bosou and Bambangan. So come to the hi-tea this Sunday and try out the special Kaamatan menu prepared by The Roof's very own Chef Woni Dawai and Chef Roland Gedion.

Facebook page --->
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100139271544

Special discount for Maybankard users!

2009-05-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

For those who dine in at The Roof, enjoy a special 10% discount from the ala carte menu if you happen to be a Maybankard user.

Great Mother's Day turnout!

2009-05-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

It was a fantastic Sunday. What a bounce back from the previous Secretaries' Week promo. Yesterday's Mother's Day hi-tea promotion was a huge success with a turnout of 180 customers. I was really happy to see customers enjoying their meal and having a good time with their families. Speaking of that, I like to highlight two invited people that gave a big contribution to the success of yesterday's hi-tea session.

Jacquelin Ajuni - I needed a photographer to take photos as part of the Mother's Day promotion. Got Jacquelin to fill in the shoes and she did a fantastic job. Families who came for the hi-tea loved her work and were even willing to pay for extra shots. Great job Jacq! Check out her blog at http://caneeliea.com/ to see more of her work.

Greg Alvin - I call him Greg the magician or simply our local David Blaine. I met Greg for the first time last month and he showed me tricks & illusions that simply blew me away. From that moment, I just knew I had to have this guy for the Mother's Day promotion. Greg didn't disappoint and he simply wowed the customers during the hi-tea. Amazing stuff! Check out the videos below to see Greg at work.

Both tricks are merely teasers for the amazing stuff he can do like bending forks, switching cards in your hand without touching, tieing shoe laces without using his hands, etc. I simply recommend you people to have him if you plan to have a magician for any functions or events that you plan to organize.

Not to forget, the group of staff that worked hard during the hi-tea to make sure everything runs smooth and those who came as customers to support the event. Some of them even performed a singing session. There were minor hick-ups here and there but thankfully everything turn out just fine. Great job people!

Many thanks again to all that made Mother's Day hi-tea promotion a successful one. There is still room for improvement and I'm looking forward to The Roof's next promo, which is for the upcoming Kaamatan Festival.

Make your reservation!

2009-05-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

I just got the good news yesterday from my f&b manager Liamis that there are already 68 reservations made for Mother's Day hi-tea promotion this Sunday. Good news indeed as more reservations are expected. So if you're planning to attend the hi-tea, do make reservations now by calling 088-522888. See you guys on Sunday!

Mother's Day hi-tea promotion!

2009-05-04T01:17:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is coming up so bring your mother for a treat at The Roof this Sunday! Presenting a special Mother's Day hi-tea promotion...

For only RM25nett, celebrate Mother's Day on the 10th May 2009 from 12pm - 4pm only at the Roof Restaurant.

PACKAGE INCLUDES:
-----------------
* Complimentary Family Photo taken per table.
* Door Gift for Mothers.
* Magic Show from 1pm - 2pm.
* 5th diners per table will be complimentary

Also enjoy special discount for every 1kg cake order from 2nd - 10th May 2009.

For reservation/more information, please call (088)-522888. Visit the Facebook page for this event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=74475609711

'Boss Belanja' Day!: The aftermath...

2009-04-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

It wasn't the best of days for The Roof as the 'Bos Belanja' Day didn't turn out as good as I hoped. It was a low turnout and the only good thing is those who attended were satisfied with the food, service and door gifts offered. I have to re-examine the event now to know what went wrong with my sales director. Was there something wrong with the promotion/advertising? Or is Secretaries' Week not that widely celebrated here in Kota Kinabalu? Whatever it is, I need to look into this matter as Mother's Day is coming soon and I don't want the same situation to happen.

'Boss Belanja' Day!

2009-04-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

This week is Secretaries' Week and this Friday, The Roof is holding a special event for such an occassion. Check out what is coming up...

*exclusive Set Lunch menu from 12pm-2pm

SALAD - Grilled Medium On Bad Of Green Garden Salad Served with Percik Sauce

SOUP - Clear Chicken Broth with Melon and Mushroom Soup

MAIN COURSE

Steamed White Rice
Chicken "Delima" Imperial Style
"Negro" Beef Rendang
Stir Fried Lon Hon Chai
Braised Fish in Spicy Coconut Gravy with Bamboo Shoots
Achar & Keropok

DESSERT - Fresh Fruit Platter, Lemon Cream Brule Luncheon

*special "Door Gift"

*special Apperance from the Sabah Institute of Art to wow you with semi classical music

*lucky Draw-Win a free night stay in a Super Deluxe room with breakfast for two only at Imperial International Hotel!

All this for only RM30nett. So all you bosses and secretaries out there, do come for this event for a special lunch experience. For reservation/more information, please call (088)-522888. Visit the Facebook page for this event too at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=71488494565

April's Mocktail Of The Month!

2009-04-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

photo & artwork by Jacquelin Ajuni of KK Food Reviews

I'm not that big of a fan of yoghurt although I do eat it every now and then. So I had no idea what is lassi when Chef Mawi and my f&b manager Liamis recommended Orange & Mango Lassi to me as April's Mocktail Of The Month. Turns out it is a type of yoghurt drink. I was also a bit skeptical about it when Chef Mawi and Liamis said it will be sold at RM12nett. RM12nett for a yoghurt drink??? Hmm... After going through a little tasting session, I must say... Its one of the tastiest drinks I have ever tasted! Chef Mawi and Liamis then explained to me the ingredients that consists of yoghurt, fruit, water, etc that justifies the price tag. I gotta admit it is worth the money especially for the taste. I'm ordering it almost everyday now and my personal favourite is the Mango Lassi. Highly recommend this drink to all especially yoghurt lovers.

Introducing April's Dish Of The Month!

2009-04-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Attention to all of you especially nasi biryani lovers. The Roof presents it's very own Chicken Biryani dish as part of the new Dish Of The Month promo. Using only the finest grade Basmati Rice and the freshest chicken meat, the Chicken Biryani is cooked with tantalizing spices to give you that mouth-watering aroma that will surely please your palate. Also accompanied by pickled vegetables, crackers and our very own green beans curry, that blends well with the biryani rice. At RM25 nett, ordering the dish includes a cordial drink and dessert of the day. the A must-try for all.

April set lunch menu!

2009-04-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

Introducing the all new RM12nett set lunch menu for April!

Menu 1

Crispy Roasted Chicken with sesame seed

Served with white rice and fried vegetable.

Accompanied with keropok and pickled vegetable

Menu 2

Beef steak Chinese style

Served with white rice and fried vegetable.

Accompanied with keropok and pickled vegetable

Menu 3

Stir fried spicy seafood

Served with white rice and fried vegetable.

Accompanied with keropok and pickled vegetable

Menu 4

Grilled Fish with Prawn Paste

Served with white rice and fried vegetable.

Accompanied with keropok and pickled vegetable

Menu 5

Stir-fried Prawn with dry chili

Served with white rice and fried vegetable.

Accompanied with keropok and pickled vegetable

Menu 6

Vegetarian of the day

Served with white rice and fried vegetable.

Accompanied with pickled vegetable

Inclusive of free flow of cordial drink & dessert of the day.

That is right people. Set lunch now includes free flow cordial drink & desert of the day!

Time is up! And the verdict...

2009-03-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Its the 25th of March, 2009. Thus, 6 weeks has passed. Phew... Lets have a quick look on how the sales were like.

Yup, the sales skyrocketed big time towards the last few weeks. However, there is a part of me that is disappointed. I didn't reach the RM20k target of monthly sales. At the end of the day, I only reached RM18k. 2k short... Damn... But honestly? I'm still very happy and proud. Compared to the previous RM8k of monthly sales before my 6 weeks started, RM18k is a dream come true. An impossible dream to some others but now a reality. Lets do a quick recap of the important bits of what has happened for the past 6 weeks.

The launch of 'The Roof: 6 weeks of change' blog - I gotta hand it to my master coach Kelvin from the TCC course I took for this great idea. The blog has became such a huge strong tool as part of my online marketing campaign for The Roof. Every time a new post is up, the blog gets at least 50-100 views. Those are pretty good numbers for a new blog. Numbers aside, I also get a lot of good and bad feedback, which are vital to make The Roof a better restaurant. The blog also allows me to be more up, close and personal with those who support The Roof.

Set lunch and signature dishes promotion - Simply the items that revived The Roof into a restaurant known for its dishes. Both set lunch and signature dishes still selling pretty well till this day. Star of the show is the Kota Belud Nasi Goreng as the most ordered dish.

Mangan Hi-Tea - What started as a promo for a public holiday has now become an every Sunday event. The turnout during the promo was really good and The Roof received requests to have the Mangan Hi-tea as a weekly event. However, last Sunday's Mangan Hi-Tea wasn't as packed as the previous one. Learned this is because of an error that caused the scheduled Mangan Hi-Tea ad for the newspaper displayed on the next Monday instead of last Thursday. Yup, newspaper advertisement is quite critical for hi-teas. Other than that, Mangan Hi-Tea is here to stay as the one of the star of the show for The Roof.

Sunset Hour promo - Jacquelin of KK Food Reviews took a wonderful shot of the sunset at The Roof. Simply spawned the idea for the Sunset Hour promo. The promo hasn't been fully advertised yet but will do so next month. Till then, you peeps should really check it out. Steal promo and amazing sunset view!

Mangoui Hawker Night - Didn't go well despite the heavy promotion. There was a low turnout for both weeks this promo was happening. This pretty much means at the moment, The Roof won't be having any future dinner buffets. There was one night when 10 people came to The Roof and only 4 went for Mangoui and the other 6 ordered dishes from the ala carte menu. Thats just one of the reasons to tell you the majority of customers are not that keen to spend RM38 on dinner buffet. And Mangoui is one of the cheapest dinner buffet in town. To simply put it, I figured out the majority of customers that came to The Roof are only willing to spend RM20-RM30 max.

Functions - My sales team and I are always chasing functions to be held at The Roof. Functions are currently the money-making machine for hotel restaurants. At least half of the monthly sales I got for The Roof came from functions.

Work hard, play hard and more importantly, REST WELL - In the beginning period of the 6 weeks challenge, I pushed myself a bit too much on The Roof until I lost track of my personal life and health. I fall sick easily and restless most of the time due to lack of sleep. Only made me less productive at work. Since then, I learned to balance my life more  and I'm doing much better at work now.

Special thanks to all who had helped out to make The Roof a better restaurant during the past 6 weeks. There are way too many names to mention. I just want you all to know that I really appreciate all of your support. Promised you all a party if I reach RM20k but such is not the case for now. Lets look forward to April to achieve that RM20k. ;-)

So is this the end? Absolutely not! I still want to reach that RM20k. In fact, this is just the beginning. There are still a lot of work to be done. Till then, this blog will still continue as too my journey to make The Roof one of the premier restaurants in Kota Kinabalu. Stay tuned!

The story so far...

2009-03-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

With the dateline 25th of March just a week away, I'm short of 5k before reaching my target of a monthly 20k profit for The Roof. At this point I already broke the barrier of the previous month's 8k profit. Its been costly but its been worth it too. A whole lot more of people now know about The Roof and there has been a dramatic increase of people dining in at The Roof. Still it has been quite an emotional ride of ups and downs. Here is what I'm looking forward to this week...

The return of Mangan Hi-Tea - Yup! Its back this Sunday as a weekly event! By popular demand! Whatcha waiting for??? :-D

Mangoui Hawker Night - The promo dinner buffet didn't go as well as I hoped last week. Not a lot of people turned up but those who did enjoyed the buffet. This is the final week for Mangoui so hope you ladies and gentleman give it a shot and tell me what you think. The results this week will determine whether The Roof will do a weekly dinner buffet.

Government & Bank special discount - For government and bank staff , enjoy 20% discount for any order from the ala carte menu except promo items every Tuesday (government) and Thursday (bank).

*fingers crossed* This is the final week to achieve the 20k target that seemed impossible to some in the first place. This is it! Ganbatte!

The return of dinner buffet... Lets Mangoui!

2009-03-12T05:19:00.000-07:00

The Roof used to have weekly dinner buffet that didn't really turned out great. Promotions and marketing didn't go as well as expected and most of the time the dinner buffet had zero guests. It was a sad period for me to be at The Roof looking at an empty restaurant with the buffet food gone to waste. Thus, the weekly buffet was canceled and no longer available at The Roof.

However, I received quite a number of requests to have the dinner buffet back at The Roof. So guess what. Dinner buffet is back! In conjunction with the upcoming school holidays, there will be a Mangoui Hawker Night special on the 13th, 14th, 20th and 21st this month. Price per head is a mere RM38nett. The success of Mangoui will heavily determine whether dinner buffet will return as a weekly event. So I hope you peeps please give Mangoui a shot and tell me what you think. Your feedback is everything as there were none before since hardly anybody came for the weekly dinner buffet. Hope to hear from you!

Mangoui facebook page ---> http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=56120917671

Sunset Hour

2009-03-11T00:57:00.000-07:00

photo by Amie Stan

One of the best things about being at The Roof is to enjoy the magnificent view of the sunset. Stay long enough at The Roof during late evenings and you'll see the sunset with different interesting colors and looks. So I came up with a new promo for The Roof called Sunset Hour. If you order anything from the ala carte menu at The Roof during 5.00pm to 7.00pm, you're entitled for a 10% discount from the bill. Not only that, the order also entitles you to get a free complimentary cake and coffee/tea. Simply a steal.

photo & artwork by Jacquelin Ajuni

I highly recommend this promo to those who want to relax and enjoy the sunset after work. Especially photographers/bloggers. The sunset view is really amazing to take photos of and something to enjoy while going online with the available free wifi services. Give it a shot and you'll see what I mean. :-)

Mangan success!

2009-03-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

I'm very happy. The Mangan Hi-Tea was a great success with a total of 126 people showing up for the event. Here are some photos...

Check out the rest of the photos at Mangan Hi-Tea facebook page ---> http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=66311492532.

Thanks again to all who showed up. I got some useful comments how to make the event better. Overall the turn out is good and everyone in general are happy. I'm now considering to make this an every Sunday event. What say you? Do leave your comment.

Mangan fever!

2009-03-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

It is good to have friends around you that gives support. Most of them are already supporting me by coming over to the Mangan Hi-Tea promotion this coming Monday. Thanks guys! You're the best! Also, gratitude to the rest of the people online that I haven't met or chatted before who will come over. Things look great for now and even better, I just got this email from my f&b manager Liamis directed to my sales director Yaakob...

Dear Mr Yaakob,

Just to inform current reservation on 9 March 2009 at 11am "Mangan Hi Tea" we had 48 paxs, Kindly if any reservation from your side, kindly please let me know by today.

Thank you for you help.

Have a nice day... :-)

Regards,

Liamis Laikau

Simply really good news! Praises to Yaakob and his team for doing a great job promoting the Mangan Hi-Tea. Now its up to Liamis and his team to make sure everything goes well on Monday. If you haven't made reservations, please do so by calling 088-522888 and ask to be connected to The Roof restaurant.

Mangan Hi-Tea @ only RM18nett!

2009-03-05T05:29:00.000-08:00

Prophet Muhammad's birthday is on this coming 9th of March, 2009. It'll be a public day and The Roof will have Mangan Hi-Tea(12pm to 4pm) that costs only RM18nett. Here is the menu...

APPETIZER

SALAD BAR ON ICE
LETTUCE, JULLIENE CARROTS, JULLIENE GREEN PEPPER, JULLIENE RED PEPPER, SLICE RED CABBAGE, SLICE ROUND CABBAGE, SLICE CUCUMBER, TOMATO WEDGEH,
POTATO CUBE, SLICE CELERY, HARD BOILED EGG
CONDIMENTS
RASINE, WALNUTS, STUFFED GREEN OLIVE, BLACK OLIVE, CRUTTON,
CHOPPED BEEF BACON, SLICE SAUSAGE, CAPERS, ROASTED JULLINE CHICKEN, PRAWN,
THOUSAND ISLAND SAUCE, MAYONNAISE, COCKTAIL SAUCE, ITALIAN DRESSING,
FRENCH DRESSING, BALSAMIC DRESSING
ASSORTED FINGER SANDWICH
EGG, TUNA, SARDINE AND VEGETABLE
TOMATO SAUCE, CHILI SAUCE
PEANUTS, KEREPEK-KEREPEK, AND MARUKU

SOUP

SOUP OF THE DAY

HOT ITEM

STEAMED WHITE RICE
FRIED RICE BELACAN STYLE
AYAM MERAH DELIMA
BRAIDED FISH FINGER
DEEP FRIED PANDAN CHICKEN
HOT AND SOUR CRAB BALL
STEAMED MINI PAU
OTAK-OTAK SPRING ROLL
MINI PIZZA RENDANG
MIXED VEGETABLE

STALLS

LONTONG WITH CONDIMENTS
NYONYA CURRY LAKSA WITH CONDIMENTS
PORRIDGE WITH CONDIMENTS
ABC WITH CONDIMENTS
TEA TARIK DANGDUT

DESSERTS

FRESH FRUIT PLATTER
HOT CHOCLATE MOUSSE
BUBUR OR PENGAT OF THE DAYS
ASSORTED MALAY KUIH
ASSORTED FRENCH PASTIES
ASSORTED JELLY AND PUDDING
PASTRY'S SELECTIONS

Give it a shot people and tell me what you think . I will personally be there as well. If Mangan Hi-Tea becomes a huge success, I'm planning to make it a weekly session during the weekends. See you on Monday!

Fantastic week!

2009-03-01T05:31:00.000-08:00

It has been at least a week since my last post and I've been extremely busy. 3 things were the highlights of my past week...

The media launch for signature dishes and set lunch. Selected people from newspapers, magazines and blogs came to try out The Roof's promo dishes and do a write up. Feedback was good and valuable comments were given on how to further improve the taste of the dishes. Since then, I had a bunch of customers coming to The Roof on a daily basis to try out the promo dishes and got nothing but good feedback from them. Some of the customers came to The Roof after hearing about the place from friends and the rest received the promo flyers and saw the write up & ads from newspapers. Hearing that, I'm so happy that my marketing plan worked. In fact, profits and number of customers last week was triple the amount from the week before! Now I need to give that extra effort to keep up and improve the momentum.

A very important Koperasi Pembangunan Desa (KPD) dinner function. Thanks to my dear friend Natalie Chow from KPD, I managed to get a special karaoke dinner function for KPD staffs last Friday. I was a bit nervous because there was a bunch of very important VIPs plus one that had a bad experience at The Roof before. To my relief, the dinner turned out great and now KPD staffs are looking forward to dine at The Roof again. Score! Working closely with my sales team now to get more functions done at The Roof.

Having an active and healthy personal life besides work. It was so tough 2 weeks before when I started to get really busy with The Roof. My personal life was almost non-existent and I find myself spending very little time with my close ones especially my daughter. I didn't even get to exercise or do any sports. Overall, I easily get stressed and unhealthy. I got into a breakdown at one point because of this. So for the past week I've been squeezing more time for my personal life and felt much better. I even joined a KK Open paintball tournament last weekend with my newly formed team Hoodlums 21. We got 2nd place! Bottomline, I need to keep that balance between work and personal life.

Signature dishes and set lunch launched!

2009-02-22T16:32:00.000-08:00

That's right people, The Roof's new & improved signature dishes and RM12nett set lunch has officially launched today. Check out the flyers and posters designed by SILVERHAND Events and Creatives.

The first 500 flyers are now being distributed to nearby shops and offices. There will be a new batch of up to 5000 flyers coming hopefully within the next two days that will be distributed key locations all over Kota Kinabalu and surrounding districts. Any particular locations recommended to distribute flyers? Please do leave a comment about it.

Currently, I'm focusing on the special signature dishes launch happening tomorrow afternoon. The launch will compromise selected bloggers/photographers and people from the media along with other key figures. Online marketing for signature dishes and set lunch is already ongoing in facebook and emailing everyone in the mailing list. Any suggestions on online marketing is also much appreciated.

If you people manage to be at The Roof and try the signature dishes and set lunch, please do give feedback good or bad. Much appreciated! Special thanks to SILVERHAND for the extreme effort to get the flyers and posters done in time. *fingers crossed* Hoping number of customers increase this week.

p/s : Also a quick thank you to those who have been talking, calling and messaging to me ideas/suggestions to improve The Roof. This means a lot to me and I'm really grateful.

photo shoot - 18/02/09 to 20/02/09

2009-02-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

One thing about photographers nowadays is that you can find a lot of good ones around. They're booming like mushrooms and each day you'll get to see more and more people carrying SLRs to take photos. Since last Thursday until today, my team of photographers has been doing photo shoots for The Roof. Talented and proven, these are photographers I can count on to take good shots to promote The Roof.

Jacquelin Ajuni - Photographer and blogger, Jacq of http://caneeliea.com/ has been taking food photos for quite some time. She is pretty good at it and has a well known food blog at http://kk-food.blogspot.com/. In fact, Jacq will also be featured in next month's issue of Breeze magazine as blogger of the month. I have high confidence in her work and recruited her to take shots and help promote The Roof's upcoming signature dishes and set lunch in her food blog.

Julian & Fara - The dynamic duo behind SILVERHAND Events And Creatives, this couple is a powerhouse combination of photography, graphic design and managing events. Both of them are also famous bloggers. Having them on board creates an opportunity to promote The Roof at SILVERHAND's popular website at http://silverhand.com.my/ and their blogs. More importantly they are taking shots to complete and publish the new flyers, posters and ala carte menu that I require to promote The Roof and it's promos.

Radzie Rahman - Now a familiar face as a photographer in almost every major event at Kota Kinabalu, Radzie is one of the masterminds behind Life In Borneo.

"Life In Borneo is one of the fastest growing informative portal providing you information about Borneo and the lifestyle in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei. Ranging from the events going on, good places to eat, the most happening spots in town, adventurous places to explore, places to relax, shopping.. and much much more. - http://lifeinborneo.com/"

As quoted, Life In Borneo makes a perfect spot for me to advertise The Roof. Radzie is currently helping me to take extra shots that i might need during this period of photo shooting and agreed to have Life In Borneo to do coverage for next week's launching of The Roof's signature dishes(more details on this later).

So the photo shoot started last Thursday and everything went well so far. Many good shots were taken and I should be uploading them in The Roof's facebook page soon. Here are some photos of the photographers in action...

Today is the last day and for the remaining photo shoot, it is down to Julian & Fara to take the last shots to be included in The Roof's new ala carte menu that they will design and publish. Salute to them as they have been working around the clock last night to finish up the design for flyers and posters for signature dishes and set lunch promotion. Once the photo shoot today is done, the design for the ala carte menu should be completed latest by tomorrow.

All the design will be used for advertisement in newspapers, magazines, etc. SILVERHAND will also print out the flyers, posters and menu. So far according to Julian, the posters should be done by today. Can't wait! Will post them up. As for the flyers, there will only be up to 500 pieces printed by Monday morning. That would be sufficient for now for me to ask my sales team to distribute to nearby shops and offices. The ala carte menu however will only be done printing by next Friday due to the quality of material I requested. I'm hoping the menu can be printed earlier but that will do for now.

*fingers crossed* Now I'm just hoping SILVERHAND will get everything on their side done in time while I concentrate on the next plan of action.

p/s: Special thanks to my buddy Wei Chuen for helping around during the photo shoot and giving me valuable tips to market The Roof.

media meeting - 7.00pm onwards - 18/02/09

2009-02-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

from left: Melissa Leong, me, Julian, Fara, Beatrice, Yaakob

After done discussing with my fnb manager Liamis and sales director Yaakob, we managed to come up with a rough plan within 3 days to achieve the RM20k target. Our main goal at the moment is to launch new and improved signature dishes and also set lunch. As Liamis cooks up what he needs to do on his side, Yaakob and I made our first move to meet a bunch of media people that will help us with our marketing plan.

Before meeting Yaakob and the rest at San Francisco Coffee, I met Melissa Leong for dinner at The Roof. Melissa is a dear friend of mine who works as the editor of Sabah Tourism magazine. She is an extremely busy woman and I'm very lucky that finally she managed to allocate time to meet me up for dinner. I discussed with her about my plans and ask how she and I can work something out to help me advertise through Sabah Tourism. Unfortunately regarding the signature dishes and set lunch, Melissa can only help me promote in the April issue of Sabah Tourism magazine. Not gonna help me with my 6 weeks challenge but still a good exposure for the restaurant. The good news is that I can at least put flyers at the Sabah Tourism office. Not only that, she also gave me a good insight and tips on how to improve my plan from price adjustments of the set lunch to the quality of food.

Melissa and I went off to San Francisco Coffee after dinner. There i met Yaakob, my dear friends Julian & Fara from SILVERHAND Events And Creatives and Beatrice of A La Page magazine. All of us had a joint discussion together on how to market The Roof. Julian & Fara has agreed to help me to design and publish a new menu and ads to promote The Roof. The rates they gave me for helping is really good and I couldn't ask more from two close friends who has helped me a lot for the past few years. Its gonna be a tough one because I need everything done on their side latest by Monday. On the other hand Beatrice offered a good price for me to advertise in A La Page for March issue of the magazine. A La Page is a good investment because the magazine is distributed at major districts in Sabah that is vital to promote The Roof.

The media meeting ended pretty well and Yaakob and I just can't wait to see the new menu and ads done so promos for The Roof can be advertised asap. Discussion with the media doesn't just end here. Yaakob is doing his part to keep in touch with newspaper companies and I'll be seeking at least a few more valuable contacts to help me with my plan.

p/s: Kept in touch with my buddy Jonathan Bong of Breeze magazine and all looks good for The Roof ad to be featured in Breeze's March issue. Breeze magazine is a major advertisement tool now as it has distribution in Brunei and Sarawak as well.

Within 6 weeks, I must...

2009-02-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

... change The Roof into a successful restaurant in the heart of Kota Kinabalu city."

Hey people, I'm Dinoza. I basically run two hotels(Imperial International & Imperial Boutec) located at Warisan Square, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Past two years since running the hotels has been crazy and full of ups & downs. Nevertheless, the experience is rewarding. With the two hotels looking pretty stable for now, I have a new target in my mind that I must accomplish in 6 weeks. I'm talking about bringing success to my hotel's The Roof restaurant. Located at the roof of the building where the hotels are located, The Roof has been doing well in terms of functions, special packages and room service. The problem lies within the number of walk-in customers, which is VERY POOR. I'm talking about only an average of 3-5 tables per day. So my challenge to myself is to double the monthly profit from walk-in customers and achieve RM20,000 before 25th March 2009. I want to see more customers sitting down and enjoying their session at The Roof. Easy? Hard? Impossible? I just know its achievable so long as i do my best to make it work. Join me in my journey to win this challenge in this blog. I need all the support I can get. Other than my team of staff, close business contacts and friends, your support too will be much appreciated. Throw in your comments/suggestions regardless good or bad so The Roof can improve. I'll do my part to reward you people if I win the challenge. Let the challenge begin!

p/s: Be in The Roof's mailing list by joining the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53345708484.