Food 'n' Drink – Food and Drink news |

The Australian theme pub chain Walkabout has launched a  reward programme for its customers, taking advantage of both social media and mobile channels.

The recently launched Walkabout social media site, www.walkabout.eu.com has proved to be a powerful tool in customer loyalty and engagement. The combination of the loyalty programme and niche social community has seen more than 2000 people sign up per week since its launch at the beginning of October.

By registering online, Walkabout customers now become members of their own community – allowing them to check sports and event listings, and comment on all of the latest Walkabout photos and videos. Customers are being encouraged to create their own profile and keep it refreshed with photo albums, videos, blogs and more. The site also integrates with Facebook Connect, allowing users to sign up with their Facebook account and publish content posted to the Walkabout site to their Facebook wall.

To become part of the community, customers simply sign up to the brand’s Boomerang loyalty card, paying a nominal fee of £3. The card can then be used to earn ‘points’ straight away, which can be used for rewards such as; a free queue jump voucher, a VIP birthday package and a 3D TV package with a free beer and best view of the TV for customers and their friends. Customers can register online or alternatively, by sending their loyalty card number and email address to an SMS shortcode to part-register for the programme; which triggers email communication including promotions, offers and events.

With yesterday’s exciting announcement that Prince William and Kate Middleton are getting married next summer, Domino’s pizza is offering some lucky couples the chance to share in their joy with a free garlic pizza bread in store.

Couples named William and Kate are being invited to come into their local Domino’s store to pick up a free garlic pizza bread to celebrate the Royals’ engagement.  To be eligible for the offer, each couple with the names “William and Kate” must both produce a valid form of photographic identification and be present at the store when collecting the order.

Georgina Wald, corporate communications manager from Domino’s said:  “The marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton will be a national celebration and Domino’s is delighted to be offering couples out there a chance to join in the excitement surrounding the announcement.”

The mouth watering Domino’s Garlic Pizza Bread is 6” pizza bread topped with 100% mozzarella cheese together with Domino’s very own tomato sauce and is perfect choice for couples looking to share a tasty treat.

Couples can drop in to their local Domino’s store today (17^th November) or tomorrow Thursday 18^th November to pick up this fantastic free offer.*  To find your nearest participating store, please visit www. dominos.co.uk

*Terms and conditions apply as follows:

• Offer valid for one free garlic pizza bread per couple with the forenames of “William” and “Kate”
• To be eligible for the offer, each couple with the names “William and Kate” (for the avoidance of doubt one individual must have the forename ‘William’ and the other individual must have the forename ‘Kate’)must both produce to the store a valid passport or driving licence (or other appropriate and valid form of photographic identification) and be present at the store when collecting the order
• Variations of the name “William” and “Kate” will be considered by the store (for example, Bill, Catherine, Kathryn) but the final decision relating to any couples eligibility to receive a few garlic pizza bread will lie with the store manager whose decision is final and binding
• Valid for collection orders only
• This offer is not available for delivery orders or via www.dominos.co.uk
• Offer is valid from 17 November 2010 to close of the store on 18 November 2010
• Offer is valid at participating stores only and whilst stocks last
• Only one free garlic pizza bread per couple per day
• Not available in conjunction with any other offer
• Offer is not transferable
• Free garlic pizza bread cannot be used as part payment for any other product
• Please mention the “William & Kate offer” when ordering
• Domino’s reserves the right to substitute this product or amend/cancel the offer or these terms at any time. Domino’s decision is final in relation to this offer and no correspondence will be entered into

Everyone loves the chance to take it easy for the night and eat out to eliminate hours of prepping, cooking and of course piles of dishes and clean up after the meal.  Other people enjoy eating out as a social activity that allows them to relax after a long day.  Still others simply love to head out for a meal when there is good news to celebrate.  However, regardless of the reason behind ones’ choices to head to a restaurant with everyone’s’ budgets a bit tighter eating out may no longer seem as practical.

The good news is that there are many voucher sites that allow you to actually save on your meals at top rated restaurants the same way that you would save on clothing purchases with a voucher.  These websites include both traditional favourites, pizza joints, and even a few upscale restaurants that previously you would not have thought you could afford base on your budget.  However, when you start to factor in what you can save using the vouchers you may be able to move up to a nicer restaurant, or eat out a bit more frequently than you have been settling for.

For example, you can head online to voucher sites and find all types of ways to save money on eating out with the voucher coupons from popular restaurants such as Henry’s Café bar, Pizza Hut, The Living Room, Apres Bars, Caffe Uno, Bella Italia, and plenty of additional options.  In fact, as well as the likes of Pizza Hut vouchers you may even find some vouchers for restaurants you have never tried before allowing you the chance to get a little adventurous and try out new restaurants each week as a way to find new favourites while still saving quite a deal on the expense of eating out.

Voucher deals change on a regular basis so it is hard to narrow down which restaurants offer the best meals and deals because every week someone else will be at the top of the list.  However, some of the most popular deals include savings such as 30% of an entire food bill and as much as 50% off with a prearranged purchase total.

With savings such as these eating out on some nights might be even cheaper than eating in or attempting to entertain guests on your own.  Add in the stress of entertaining and the clean up and time that is required and you actually stand to save a lot more than just on the cost of food.

Other popular voucher deals for restaurants that you can find if you take the time to browse a little bit are deals that offer two meals for the price of one or group discounts which can be great for large groups and just two people in need of a romantic night on the town.  Regardless of what you have in mind for dinner, there is a good chance that a voucher coupon is out there waiting for you to take advantage of it and save a few dollars for next time.

Combine a love of ice cream with a love of fashion.  From the 5th-31st of July, Magnum Temptation will be hosting an online heist.   Those who can be tempted to join in will control a partner-in-crime to raid the Temptation 100 collection – a set of the latest asos indulgences. Once pilfered, fans have to wait until the stroke of midnight to win their stash. If they are unsuccessful, they can rerun the heist again the next day.

To tempt your taste buds and satisfy your insatiable appetite for the latest trends, Magnum and ASOS.com have created ‘The Temptation Top 100’, the definitive guide to the season’s most desirable fashion items and accessories. What’s more, they are giving you a chance to bag the lot from 5th July – 1st August!

To win the carefully selected items, chosen by ASOS’ chief stylist, you have 60 seconds to work with a virtual (elegantly dressed) thief who will help you ‘dash and grab’ as many items as you can from a revolving gallery and place them in box. This selection becomes your prize entry in the daily draw. At the end of each and every day, a winner is selected so there’s plenty of chance to win.

And if you don’t win your box of fashionable treats from ‘The Temptation 100’, you can indulge in another summer ‘must have’ with a money off voucher for Magnum Temptation, an ice cream so luxurious and indulgent that it comes in its very own jewellery style box. There are two mouth-watering flavours to choose from – Chocolate – smooth chocolate ice cream enriched with sumptuous chocolate sauce, white Belgian chocolate chunks and brownie pieces covered in dark Belgian chocolate – and Caramel & Almonds – Madagascan vanilla ice cream with Californian almond pieces smothered in dark Belgian chocolate and luscious swirls of smooth, soft caramel sauce surrounded by a shell of thick milk chocolate.

So whether it’s a delicious treat for your taste buds or your wardrobe, Magnum and ASOS.com have got your favourite pastimes licked!

Research has found that people who enjoy eating out will continue to do so, regardless of the recession. In the survey, more than 1,000 UK diners were questioned about their eating out habits and the results showed that nearly two thirds of them (62%) still planned on eating out the same amount as they do already or perhaps even more than was usual, especially during special occasions or seasons, for example, at Christmas.

Again, nearly two-thirds (63%) confirmed that cost wasn’t the major issue when deciding whether or not to eat out, and a further 77% said that they would definitely consider paying more for their food if they knew that the meal had been made from high-quality ingredients.

The survey also showed that two-thirds (67%) of diners questioned said that their favourite way of celebrating a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary was to go out for a meal at a restaurant. However; a further 42% of those asked said they felt frustrated with the lack of variety on offer whenever they went out for a meal.

If you’re someone who enjoys eating out at restaurants then it may be in your interest to visit moneysupermarket.com’s Voucher channel and see what offers are available to you.

On the comparison site you’ll find many options available to you and a variety of great restaurant vouchers on offer to choose from, so you’ll soon be enjoying a great meal out for less in no time.

A vouchers article brought to you by Gill Critchley, the Vouchers web author at moneysupermarket.com.

There is still tiem to enter the Home Baker of the Year compeition. The first 100 recipes will receive a pair of tickets to the Ideal Home Show and the chance to attend a champagne reception on March 25th at the Ideal Home Show.

Furthermore, the best 5 recipes will be decided by our panel of expert judges, and go into a LIVE BAKE OFF FINAL, at the Ideal Home Show, on 30th March.

The winner of the bake-off challenge will also receive a chance to be published in the Ideal Home Show’s official recipe book to be launched at the show in 2011, as well as a cake decorating course with Baketique chef Mychelle in her London based kitchen, a VIP nights stay for two at Hotel Rafayel, London, including dinner for two and a spa treatment in the hotels beauty spa.

Deadline for entry is 10th March 2010.

For further information visit http://www.idealhomeshow.co.uk/home_baker/

Or email your entries to: homebakeroftheyear@stuart-higgins.com

Eating out is great, gives a fun relaxing time with good food, the chance to meet up with friends and family, and no mess to clean up afterwards. We all think of eating out as something we do as a treat, it costs more generally than cooking at home does, so when we’re in a recession as we are now, it’s often one of the many things that we take off our ‘to do’ lists assuming that we can’t afford it.

If you’re clever however, it can be possible to have good meals out with friends, enjoy that relaxing atmosphere and still not spend too much. One of the best ways to do this is to look for restaurant discounts and vouchers, and to remember that if you were eating at home you would still be spending something. If you start by saying that a cheap meal at home for 4 people might cost you £2-4 per head, then you can effectively knock that much off the cost of what you spend when you go out as you’d be spending it anyway. If you can then reduce the cost of the meal out by using a discount voucher then you can further reduce how much you’re spending and often the cost can work out very little more than you might have spent eating at home.

Restaurants at the moment are out to seduce you, they want you to spend your money with them instead of their competitors so many of them are offering some really excellent deals from two for the price of one meals, to free deserts when you eat a main course, or an amount off when you spend a specific amount. Obviously if a restaurant is offering more than one deal you’ll need to think hard before you decide which deal is going to save you the most too.

If you’re uncertain where to look for discount codes of this nature, try sites such as http://restaurantvouchers.org.uk/ where they list as many discount vouchers as possible to try and help you to save as much as possible.

It’s also worth thinking about when you go for your meal, it’s often more expensive to go in the evening, or at a weekend, and there are some excellent deals to be had midweek. A local well known carvery near me offers roast dinner meals at just £3.59 per person Monday to Saturday during the daytime for example, but the same meal cost increases to around £6 per person if you go in the evening and is even more on a Sunday.

Some current deals at the moment are:

40% off Wagamamma
£1 meals at Zizzi’s