Restaurant Startup Information

Looking into buying a liveaboard and having bar/restaurant on board. Can we legally purchase personally and lease to the business/restaurant or do we need to buy as a capital investment from the business?
UK based legally!!

Can you afford to keep on the boat if your business isn’t a success? Where would you live if you bought the bought as a company and rented it to yourself and the company failed?

There are tax allowances for capital investments that may be worth considering. It depends on how much of a profit you expect to make whether it would be to your advantage or not.

Speak to your local Business Link for free help and advice on starting your business. They may be able to refer you to an accountant who will give you a free half hour or hour of advice to help you decide which is the better option.

Good luck with your business!

All the bio’s I’ve read simply say, "Tina Chow, mother of actress China Chow and wife of restaurateur Michael Chow, died of an AIDS-related illness.." Okay, I know that part. But HOW did she get it (blood transfusion? IV Drug use? Sex?)

people, especially celerbrities, do not really go into details on how they get AIDS.

i think she was a drug user–herion or maybe had affairs with men who could of been having unsafe sex with men..

rangers fc will be taken over on monday by south african businessman Dave King along with glasgow restaurateur Satti Singh.

they will now be known as the Singh King Ship.

Lol brilliant! Some folk have no sense of humour psml.

I’m looking for tools and ideas to help bring more customers into my Italian Restaurant more often.

make a record and number of every customer who enters ur door(mobile number,birthday, aniversary)and mesage him on the ocation do it with sms software .ur frst aim should be who enters ones will be back again .so give him importance every time he visits.

try to make ur interior as concept interior which should change a little bit evry rotation day so that it reflect some change

try to figure out the impresion of ur food on them and were are they not happy

chose any day of week and give discounts for example 10 % discount who walks in with 2 girl children ,above 60 couple,with green t shirt ,who has beautiful smile .

give ballons for the children

make ur menu withcover page which should show ur integrents unique from athers and tatthey are healthier in any way ……..taht depends upon you (as u had to explain that when asked )

give a slip to evry customer which should conclude a food tip.as a tip a day

many more things are there as no need of any advertisemet if ur walkin customers are happy then they only do ur add coz food conects heart and mind equaly ……..

am a food freak and watch all restrants very closely …

How do I find out more information on running a fast food restaurant. Specifically how do the likes of mcdonalds, KFC etc go about preserving the meat, chicken, french fries? The food is pretty much fresh when served. How do they do this?

You should try getting a job at one of the fast food restaurants. You will get all the knowledge you need

I know there is some old saying to do with the first half of your life you are looked after by your parents and the second half you your life you look after your parents. Well I’ve been looking after my mother my whole life especially on occasions when my father isn’t around and she goes into complete competency melt down. The first time my dad went on a business trip abroad, she managed (and don’t ask me how) to put her hand in the bottom of the lawn mower whilst it was still running. I can still see, and will forever have imprinted in to my brain the moment when she shoved her hand in a sink full of water which instantaneously turned a deep shade of red, a bit like in the movie ‘Jaws’. Duggan women aren’t of a strong stomached nature and on my mother passing out, my sister ran out of the room with the good intension of phoning a family friend from down the road for help, only to pass out on the way due to “sight of blood”. So you are left with nine year old Alice running between relations with wet towels and sugar water trying to revive both. Needless to say I was rewarded on my Dad’s return from Hong Kong with a big bag of Haribo for being ‘daddy’s brave little girl’ and my mother was never allowed to mow the lawn again.

So this gives you an idea of the mental status of Mrs Duggan when embarking on a journey in to the depths of the Caribbean with her least responsible daughter, without the only man in the world that can salvage any situation no mater how dire. I’d like to say I was sympathetic towards this but in honesty if I see weakness in some one I kinda play on it? “You’ve got the passports right?”, “Flight IS from Gatwick not Heathrow right?” etc.. Cruel really, but highly amusing. Anyhow the joke was on me on arriving at Gatwick at 4.30am to find that our 07.55am flight to Havana with Cubana airways was not anywhere to be seen on the board, and after half an hour frantic running around to discover that the plane on which we were meant to be flying on (that was meant to arrive in the UK at 6.20am from Havana) had not even left Cuba yet. Another half an hour later it was revealed that the plane was faulty and another plane was being shipped in from Madrid and due to leave at 2.30pm. Marvellous. Anybody got any great suggestions how to spend 9 hours in Gatwick airport departures? No me either. Reading maybe – well I cleverly packed all my nice easy going books in my main luggage and was carrying only Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, trying to embrace the whole Cuba thing, which is not the easiest read to pass time, believe me. So giving in I bought a puzzler, plugged my ipod in and watched the weird and wonderful existence of the airport departure lounge inhabitant (and it is no wonder they make so many tv shows about them!)

Well the plane didn’t go at 2.30, it went at 4.30 and you’d think maybe after the hell my now extended family of Cubana airways victims had been through, we would be treated like movie stars, pampered with drinks and nibbles, checked on at ever available moment. Well you would think wrong and must be alerted to the fact that the communist regime demands Cubans all work, for more or less the same wage, and are in no danger of losing there jobs…..so where is the incentive to do their job well, especially when surrounded by hundreds of high maintenance tourists?! Anyways the plane had no entertainment, seating was a free for all, the staff were rude to the point of disbelief, there was a fucking annoying group of school kids among which were two blossoming lovers sat in front of me who snogged for the WHOLE 11 hour journey, and, as I had banished any hope of a vegetarian meal, no food. Gosh I sound like my grandma moaning. Still I console myself in the fact that the money spent on the flights went in to the Cuban economy and the not the pocket of that cunt Branson.

Anyways with plenty of time on my hand I though it was about time I tackled the lonely planets guide “A brief history of Cuba”. And so the obsession began…..

Hands up, I knew very little about the Cuban culture/history before I went (“They’re communists, right?”) and generally have no interest in learning about history of places. A few years back I spent a month travelling in Japan with two of my bestest friends, one who was living out there for a few years. We had a great time, however both being History(ish) students I can imagine my “You’ve seen one temple you’ve seen them all, lets go do Karaoke again” mentality grated a bit. I figured I would be the same in Cuba… “yes yes very nice now lets go dance salsa and drink rum!” Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’m getting older and this is what happens, but I’m absolutely fascinated by the whole shebang.

So as I say all I knew was they were communists and that recently some dude called Castro had stepped down. I was concerned that this may cause mayhem and riots but was assured by work colleagues that caribbeaners(?!) are far to busy drinking rum and smoking cigars to get all worked up about stuff, and as long as the yanks stayed away there was unlikely to be any civil unrest (and I would hope that the yanks had f*cked up enough countries in the last few years to stay away, at least until I had got a sun tan).

Reading the guide helped set the scene for me so I jotted down a little summary of events as I saw them:

-Native Cubans all lived happily

-Natives of another Caribbean island arrive, kill all the native Cubans and live happily

-Spanish turn up and fuck things up – killing loads and using the rest for slaves

-400 years later Jose Marti leads a revolution to get freed from the Spaniards and the USA step in last minute and steal the glory

-USA REALLY fuck things up

-A group of rude boys (inc. Castro and Che Guavara) plot to over throw the Americans and some dick Batista, and trampled them freeing Cuban residents giving them the ‘ideal’ existence

-To piss of the US, Russia keep Cuba alive by buying lots of sugar and cigars

- Russia (or I should say the USSR) fucks up (greedy bastards) and Cuba gets screwed over and people are starving

- They start letting in lots of snappy happy tourists (such as myself) to take all their money so they can eat again.

So you can see why I gave up history at the 1st available moment!

Anyways back to the long gruelling flight…..we eventually got off that blasted craft about 1am Cuban time (5am English) due to a rather extended drop off in Holguin, and rushed through visa check and baggage which took us in to arrivals about 2am….

So first thought is will our transfer be there seeing we were meant to arrive at 4pm? On first inspection no, but after half an hour panic we deduced that our company we booked with has two names – how fucking stupid of us! So we taxied off in to Havana praying our hotel had 24hr reception. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see much of the city on the drive as planned being 3am but at least we were on our way. Getting closer to the hotel I started getting a nauseous feeling which is far too familiar with me now being in a city at night, stemming from a nasty incident in Barcelona a few years back (and yes the story gets more elaborate each time it is told – they had knives you know, did I say knives? I meant guns). So I wasn’t all best pleased when I found out our taxi couldn’t drive down the street our hotel was on and intended to leave us at the end of it. A few pesos (I’ll explain money later) encouraged him to wait while mother dear (entirely unfazed by this) ran up the road to check it was open. Halle-fucking-lujah it was. Almost kissing the cab driver I popped on my backpack and headed up the road to the lovely “Beltran de Santa Cruz” Hotel.

So being greeted with a smile by the receptionist he then blurts out “There is a bit of a problem with your room, the plumbing has broken and we have had to relocate you to another hotel, it is only just 5 minutes round the corner across the square”

What point would you snap? Honestly? I snapped here. “Look buddy, We’ve been up for 30 hours, 13 of these spend in fucking Gatwick airport, 13 on a fucking aeroplane fresh out of Bedrock and the rest in transit between these places, we haven’t eaten, we haven’t changed out underwear, we haven’t cleaned our teeth, and we smell like dead fucking rats and you are trying to tell me that you are going to make 2 poor helpless women lug there baggage across a city unknown to them at 4am in the morning to go to a hotel because you have a fucking plumbing problem?”

At least that is what was being said in my head…what I actually said, in a very weak and feeble whine “Please will you come with us, I’m scared”. And bless his cottons he did.

Eventually my head touched a pillow at 5.30am Cuba time (9.30am English) after dealing with the final disaster of the night that on opening my rucksack I found my suncream had exploded all over my stuff. A perfect start to a holiday wouldn’t you agree? Things could only get better.

I guess maybe I should actually tell you something about my trip instead of my script from “Holidays from hell”.

This was my first and most definitely not last trip to the Caribbean. I think I was about 8 when I bought “100% reggae” and decided that I would spend my honeymoon in Jamaica, so I hope I will again reach these shores, given I can find someone who will marry me. Plus there are so many other places to visit, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Bahamas etc etc…Lets hope this future husband is rich! Cuba, however seems to have something different to the rest and walking out in to the sunny streets of Havana that first morning confirmed this. The Cubana airways big day out suddenly seemed a distant memory. Breath taking architecture ranging from the Spanish colonial style buildings in old Havana, (many completely derelict, but in a funky way!), to neo classical in the vedado district and art deco American influence in central Havana. Diversity that I have never seen in any city, and with the added benefit that unlike most cities they have avoided shoving eyesore 1970s tower blocks dead in the centre of some beautiful area. Any run down ugly buildings just added to the character.

It isn’t a cliché that there are bands playing at every restaurant, on every street corner with people singing and dancing around. Its true, I was there. The first pit stop was at il Patio restaurant in Cathedral square (possibly my favourite mojito of the whole holiday, though there were many and the 1st is bound to taste best!). There was a little 3 piece band playing (guitar, sax and bass) while some nut case woman danced around (mum said she had been there 2 years ago when her and my sister had gone!). They were awesome, I just couldn’t get enough of it! Then this guy from the crowd (Italian I think) just waltzed up, asked to have a go on the sax and just wiped the floor with some improvisation which put anything I ever managed when I played in to a remedial category. That wouldn’t happen anywhere else in the world and the punters went mad for it!

So the first day was mostly spent getting a feel for the place. Walking around getting lost, stopping for mojitos every now and again taking several thousand of photos at every new street at every possible angle. In the afternoon we did (on recommendation by some friends) a ferry trip across to the other side of the water to climb up to a fort (and a MASSIVE statue of Jesus). It was really fun actually as this clearly wasn’t a main tourist attraction and the ferry seemed to be literally the locals bus to and from work. We stuck out like sore thumbs! Also at the top of our little trek we discovered not only amazing views of Havana but also a mini museum of Che Guavara’s house where he lived post revolution and pre him running off to help Bolivia and get himself killed. Here I discovered he had asthma, just like me, which briefly inspired me to go and start a revolution, but I soon got over it.

Food in Cuba is shit, I mean really shit. I don’t actually understand how they can get it so wrong, but they do and especially as a vegetarian we were screwed. You get eggs, lots of eggs, so many eggs that the word is still making me feel physically sick. Mother, having been here before knew all this so had packed a kettle and a big bag of cous cous to help us in dire situations, but had also brilliantly worked out the whereabouts of the only Italian restaurant (possibly in the whole of Cuba) so in Havana at least we managed to get half decent meals! So after munching our way through a big margarita and one more quick mojito we scooted off to bed pretty early, still kinda fucked from the previous days monstrosities.

The second day was one massive lecture on politics and history for me. Though normally this concept would make me shudder with fear and despair, as I said before I’m utterly gripped by the fact that this teeny little spec on the earth’s surface has contributed so much to the history of the human race. We had a bit of fun first though getting a taxi ride to the Plaza de la Revolucion in a classic, bright purple (my favourite!) 1950s Buick with a rather bemused driver being made to pose for many a cheesy snap! The Plaza is kinda bare unfortunately with only 2 things to see. Firstly the Jose Marti memorial statue in front of the massive lookout, which we went up to get some awesome views across the city and watch lots of scary turkey vultures circle around it. And secondly my favourite bit – the huge Che image on the side of the government building with ‘Hasta la Victoria Siempre’ (Forever Onwards Towards Victory) written along side. I have a bit of a Che obsession to be honest, is it weird to think he was hot? Anyways bare as it was it felt pretty cool to be standing where so many political rallies and addresses from Castro and other revolutionaries has taken place.

After this we got a bug taxi (look at pics) to the hotel nationale (very posh!). It was so funny watching so many people turn up in mercs and swish cars and we turn up in a little yellow blob! Here we had a mojito looking out across the water to where we had been the previous day and then set off on quite a bit walk down the sea front where we finally ended up at the Museum of the Revolution. Here contained everything you would ever need to know about Cuba from the dawn of time. At some point it was really quite bizarre how much detail they added – “Here is the spoon Castro used whilst hiding in Argentina” – no joke! But it was fascinating. I won’t bother saying much about it (as I’ve already given you my brief history of Cuba) but one of the highlights was the “Wall of Cretins” thanking various political idiots for their input in causing/consolidating the revolution. They really don’t give a shit who they insult!

The next day we had rather a stressful bus journey (6 hours – 1 toilet stop) to a supposed beautiful, friendly colonial town though on first impressions this didn’t seem to be the case. The bus ride in showed some really quite nasty, run down areas lacking in the Havana charm, and on arrival into the bus station crowds of people were literally being restrained from mobbing us. They were advertising there “casas” – equivalent to hostelling in Cuba is to stay in casas with a Cuban family who cook and provide for you, but it all seemed all to threatening for me. So we jumped in a cab and headed for our hotel ‘Las Cuevas’ (the caves). Any doubts about the next few days in this place were soon dissolved when we saw how lush where we were staying was!! We dumped our luggage and were straight to poolside sampling the local delicacies – mojitos, pina colladas, and rather bizarre red, orange and blue drinks called Trinidad Colonials, which I took a liking to. We managed to befriend a group of locals in no time who were feeding us more rum and nibbles and giving us salsa lessons. I was pretty pro already after my set of classes I went to in my “I’m sad, lonely and desperate and need to learn salsa to meet more sad lonely and desperate people phase”, but I did learn a new step which was nice. Plus got a chance to laugh at my completely uncoordinated mother. Then at about 5pm, in a matter of 3 minutes the sky was covered in thick black clouds and the heavens opened. I’ve never been in a tropical storm before and I just found it absolutely hilarious – the whole area was flooded after 2 mins of rain, yet it is still bloody boiling and people were still dancing and in the pool! I asked my new best friend Tiago how long these storms usually last to which he replied “That is up to St Peter” – can’t argue with that!

For our first full day in Trinidad we got up bright and early and put on our sexy walking gear and headed off into the mountains on a hike with another unfairly beautiful couple from the hotel and our lovely little tour guide Jordan, who kinda sounded like Borat when he talked which was a tad off putting but you got used to it!

The first part was walking through Trinidad centre which was a lot nicer than it had seemed from the bus the day before – lovely and colourful, with people all going about there everyday business or hanging about in there door ways, playing the guitar or selling fresh fruit. The second bit took us across some fields in to the national park in the thick jungle like mountains. We hiked for about two hours ending up eventually at a gorgeous waterfall and water reserve where Cuban kids were jumping in and playing. I abstained as always when is comes to water that may contain living things. Though I did dip my feet in and noticed a huge lobster like nasty thing crawling around on the bottom and concluded that I had made the right decision.

The hike back was not as fun. The midday heat had really hit in and Trinidad town is located on top of a hill and our hotel on top of a hill on that hill and energy levels were most definitely low by the end. Still we had an afternoon once again of cocktails by the pool and salsa dancing so can’t complain! This evening after dinner (hotel buffet slop) we were treated to an Afro-Caribbean traditional show. 4 uber hot black dudes pranced around stage doing crazy things like eating hot coal and picking up tables with their teeth. It was rather erotic and I may have left a little puddle on my seat.

Next day was our last day in Trinidad town as we were heading that evening to the Ancon Peninsula, about 30 mins south of Trinidad on the coast. Still we made the most of the morning in the hotel. It was actually called Las Cuevas for a reason and (as you probably guessed) this is because it was situated above a group of caves. One of which is open for tours during the day and very funkily becomes a night club by night (though we never went to this unfortunately). So my little buddy Tiago took us on a tour of it which was just amazing! Stalagmites and stalactites to your hearts content – could just imaging people salsaing around them! He he!

After this it was a bit more pool but, as seemed to be the pattern here, late afternoon St Peter pissed on us so we decided we may as well transfer to the new place while the weather was crappy. So off we went through town (which at this point resembled a river) and down to the coast for a few days of sunbathing and chilling. Arriving at the place it seemed nice enough but being an all-inclusive had a rather different clientele, namely idiotic, drunk, burnt Brits. Well I only saw one of these to be honest, a 50ish year old fat northerner who was being rude to a bar man, but it just really got me annoyed. I just don’t understand these people who just want to go on holiday to not actually experience anything of the country, treat the staff like slaves, and abuse the unlimited available alcohol. Anyways we checked in and had an explore and felt pretty disappointed to find that the ‘beach’ didn’t actually really exist– well there was a patch of sand but it didn’t extend to the sea. Compared to our last place it just all seemed a bit, well seedy. The sun wasn’t quite back out so we camped at the pool bar and had a few drinks. My mum, sensing that it wasn’t quite perfect, and of a far too sensitive nature decided to drink a few to many pinas and start really getting on my tits by being over enthusiastic about the place “I’m really warming to this place Alice, I’m really warming to it. Yes, I’m definitely warming to this place”…..then declared she wanted to swim in the ocean before dinner. So in a drastic mother/daughter roll reversal I was trying my best to, in the least patronising way possible explain that to throw herself off a small cliff edge to get to the sea when she was pissed as a fart was possibly not the best idea. Needless to say a combination of her being drunk and over emotional, and me still being a bit wound up and beginning to feel a bit ill culminated in us having our only argument of the holiday involving lots of “I’m just an embarrassment to you” and “I’ve booked us a rubbish holiday I bet you wish you were with your friends” comments……not enjoyable. Especially not enjoyable as the me beginning to feel sick actually turned out to be food poisoning and I spent the next 12 hours on the loo simultaneously pissing out of my arsehole and vomiting. Not the highlight of my holiday.

But a new day dawned. Feeling rather weakened from my night in the shitter I abstained from breakfast (if I saw a plate of eggs I don’t know what would have happened) but walking around I suddenly realised what an over reaction the previous day had been. The place was gorgeous. There wasn’t any drunk English people at all – just that one who was only kicking off because they refused to serve him (quite rightly so – the cunt) and even better than that we found the proper beach! A gorgeous little practically deserted beach with a tiny bar behind it and a semi circle of rocks about 100m out where, according to mum, was the best collection of tropical fish she had ever seen. It was perfect for me to whack my ipod on, indulge in a brilliant book (not Hemingway!) and recuperate from my traumatic night, whilst my overly excitable mother swam, and befriended any body who came within 10 feet of us. Much better!

The next day we took advantage of the hotel free bikes and went on a bike ride down through the peninsula. I haven’t been on a bike ride since I was about 10 and after this I just don’t know why?! It was such fun! Admittedly a bike ride surrounded by sea on both sides on a road lined with palm trees is a lot more appealing than cycling down the A413 but it really should be done more often!! We stopped off on the tip of the peninsula where there was a hotel and mum jetted off on a boat trip to do some snorkelling on the reef (I obviously didn’t – I’m not going to go in to my fear of the sea here – you’ll only mock me) and I had a chance to improve on my ‘getting stupid now’ tan (apparently those last 2 years working in suncare hasn’t really changed my opinion on skin cancer).

We had one more morning on the beach after this before our transfer back to Havana which I was actually ready for by this point. Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am with being sun tanned but this whole “culture” malarkey had really got to me and I was itching to get back to Havana and learn more! At the end of the day I could get a sun tan in Lanzagrotty if I wanted for a tenth of the price (with the added benefit of picking up a few STIs), and my tan was pretty much perfect by then anyway (if I don’t mind being incredibly arrogant!)

The bus journey back was even more of a fucking nightmare than the way there. 2 hours longer than it should have been, over booked (so people were standing), road closures etc etc. Plus when we got to Havana we were so late that there were no taxis at the bus station to take us to a hotel, and it was bloody raining again! After pretty much every other person on the bus had managed to hail a cab (we need to be more pushy!) we eventually got back to the lovely Beltran and had a gourmet meal of cous cous prepared en suite and settled down to bed ready to make the most of our last day.

The next morning Havana all of a sudden seemed 100 times more amazing than it was when I was there 9 days prior (and it was a pretty amazing then). Just mooching around I suddenly got that horrible “By 5pm this evening this is all going to be over” feeling. And I wasn’t ready for it. Trying not to let it detract, we walked through the beautiful streets of old Havana through cathedral square where we had that first life changing mojito, and on to the sea front where we decided it was time to tackle the hustle and bustle of the markets and buy some pressies and tacky souveniers, a Che Guavara beret being the most important, of course. Then we went on to find firstly a new discovery which was a street which appeared in ALL the paintings of Havana which were on sale in the market. This was a street with a sign hanging down saying “La Bodeguito del Medio” which turned out to be a tiny little bar where Hemingway used to hang out and it seemed many other celebs had been there too as the wall was covered in pictures and signatures. This took us on nicely to our next planned point of call. The Ambos Mundos Hotel, where Hemingway stayed when he was visiting. They have preserved his room exactly how he had it when he stayed and you can look round it. Also the roof of this hotel has a bar so we went up there and whiled away the rest of our afternoon having a few drinks up there, soaking up the city sunshine with fabulous views and lovely company.

On our walk back to the hotel to catch our transfer something occurred to me. These were streets of a capital city and there were people sitting in there doorways nattering, people playing guitars and others dancing and singing around, kids playing baseball, women hanging their washing out there windows. This wouldn’t happen anywhere else, ever. Can you imagine walking through London chatting to people, dancing with them, children playing? I bet 99% of Londoners don’t even know there next door neighbour’s names! And this was communism – everyone equal, everyone working as a team, no greed, no corruption, a real community. And I thought ‘I could do this’ – I could live in an ‘ideal’ world possibly I’d prefer the countryside – where the houses each have a chicken and a plot of land to grow veg. But I could really live like that. I’ve always been against people earning more money than is conceivable doing satanic jobs, effectively only making money by screwing other people over – bankers, lawyers etc. And I’ve been against the situation you are born in to reflecting how far you can make it in life (I know it isn’t meant to be like this but it is). And I love the ideal. Everyone gets the same, provided they work, whatever they do and as a benefit receive a perfect education system, perfect national health service, a perfect everything government run and a complete sense of patriotism. Real patriotism – not just beating up other nation’s football fans patriotism.

I started thinking about England and wondering why I wanted to stay living here. A country where our so called “left wing” prime minister (who apparently is Gordon Brown now, not Tony Blair anymore) spends £2000 of the British tax payers money per year on cleaners for his stupid amount of houses also paid for by the state. And where white trash Vicky Pollards with 10 babies leak money out of the welfare state whilst moaning about the “bloody asians and poles – they come over here taking our jobs and tax money”. They fucking pay tax so why shouldn’t they be entitled to it? I’d rather they got it than the fat arse Keith Millers of the world. It is disgusting really and I don’t want to be a part of it.

But of course Cuba doesn’t have the ideal. The dream is there and I think it probably worked before the eastern block dissolved, but then again if they can’t really support themselves as a single unit then communism fails doesn’t it.

Personally I think one of the major problems as to why things aren’t working as well as they should stems from tourism. Admittedly it saved the country from starvation but it has created no end of issues and seemingly split the people in to two personality types. Type one are mainly the older generation, still very much pro-Castro. These remember and appreciate that they lived well post revolution, pre special period (between the fall of the eastern block and start of tourism), and also appreciate that the tourists saved their arses when things were looking pretty bleak. These people hence treat tourists with gratitude, respect and kindness. The second type, what I’m calling the ‘next’ generation of Cubans, seem to be much more cynical and unsure what they get is really ‘fair’. These people are really quite resentful of tourists often to the point they are just plain rude (turning their backs, shooing away etc). I think the problem is as they are unaware of what life was like before. All they see is these rich idiots, with their snazzy clothes, flash digital cameras and disposable cash to throw about, travelling around seeing all different cultures and places. Everything they can’t have and what they could have if things were different. I suppose it would piss me off.

Another massive problem with letting tourists in is the discrepancy in what people earn depending on whether they work in the tourist industry or not. Money is a bit complex but Cuba has two currencies – local pesos and convertible pesos. Tourists are only eligible to use convertible pesos and each convertible peso is actually worth 10 Cuban pesos. So effectively if I were to go in to a shop and buy a bottle of water – this would cost me say 1cp (around 50p) and a cuban 1p (i.e around 5p). So effectively they are charging tourists ten times for everything which still always seems reasonable to us (2 mojitos tended to be around 5cp – £2.50 – not bad!). This means when you tip someone in a bar, say 1cp – they are getting about £5.00 worth out of it yet it is only costing you 50p. I think this is absolutely genius and I can’t see why other countries haven’t caught on. In Thailand why not charge £5.00 for a meal instead of 50p?! Tourists will still pay £5.00! However the people in tourist industry, with their tips, get much more disposable cash than anyone else which brings about inequality in the people – everything communism isn’t. Take for example the scenario of the hiking trip we did in to the mountains in Trinidad. The cost of this was 7cp each so 14cp in total and seeing as our guide stayed with us from 9am-2pm in the blistering heat enthusiastically talking all the time, we had a 20cp note and told him to keep the change. So he got 6cp – £3 to us, worth £30. This makes you feel great as a tourist. Giving a tip of not that much value to you makes a huge different to the local’s life. In fact their monthly salary is 300p so we actually tipped him a 5th of what he would earn in a month. Crazy really. However you think of all the doctors and teachers etc who slave their arses off and don’t see anything of the sort coming their way. Where is the incentive to work then? This isn’t fair and is where the system really breaks down. You could definitely feel a certain civil unrest and I reckon especially now as Castro has stepped down, big changes are afoot. I guess if you were thinking of going I’d recommend going asap. (Hark at me making political predictions when 2 weeks ago I didn’t even know what communism really meant!)

Anyways enough politics and back to reality. Damn I wish I could but I’m hooked! Six months ago, to spend all my time googling Che Guavara and ‘communism for dummies’ or writing ridiculously long blogs that no-one will read (except maybe Sam – and even he will probably have got bored by now), would have been fine as I had nout better else to do. However right now I do, like revise for these bastard exams, and this new found obsession is greatly reducing the productivity stakes!

All in all the holiday (which is what it was at the end of the day) was a big success. I’d love to go back there and see and do more of it, and like so many places I’ve been I say I will one day. But then I realise that to go back to somewhere I have already been means sacrificing going somewhere new which I can get momentarily obsessed with until the next place…..etc etc.

Alice
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/cubana-na-na-na-na-salsa-415287.html

As with anything else in this world, you are going to find a plethora of different garbage disposals to choose from for your kitchen. While it is always nice to have options, it can be a bit overwhelming looking at the various options. To make things easy on yourself, take the time to look at a new In-Sink-Erator garbage disposal.

The new In-Sink-Erator garbage disposals introduce new technologies you will find with no other manufacturer. With the MultiGrind and SoundSeal, it takes care of the two most common requests and features people are looking for with a garbage disposal.

The first thing it does is improve the grinding ability of the system. You do not want to have a garbage disposal that will grind certain pieces of food you throw down the sink and not others. This is especially true when running a kitchen in a restaurant as you will be throwing a wide array of foods down the sink. Some of the foods that typically are difficult to grind up include celery and potato peels.

The next feature people are looking for is reduced noise. A new In-Sink-Erator garbage disposal has been said to be 60 percent quieter than any other system on the market. The Evolution Series within this manufacturer is the most efficient and quietest line that is available today.

Having a powerful, efficient, and quiet garbage disposal is an important piece of restaurant equipment. You are going to be throwing a wide array of foods down the disposal making it all the more important you have a legitimate disposal to work with.

Whether you are replacing an old unit or designing a new kitchen, having a Sink Erator garbage disposal is the best option. You will be able to dispose chicken bones, fruit rinds, coffee grounds and much more. Once throwing it down the disposal, the food will virtually liquefy into your sewage system.

Large restaurant equipment like this can be quite expensive to ship. If you go through JES Restaurant Equipment, you will receive free freight with your purchase of any garbage disposal. This is something you do not want to pass up on.

As you begin to look for the right garbage disposal unit for your kitchen, take the time to look at the In-Sink-Erator unit. It offers features no other unit has to offer with an improved grinding ability and reduced noise. Overall, it will function far better than anything else on the market.

Eric & Vivian Smith
http://www.articlesbase.com/restaurant-reviews-articles/how-can-you-benefit-from-a-new-insinkerator-garbage-disposal-755422.html

Before the popularity and large scale integration of Internet, businesses were performed in a conventional manner. It took several hours in completing a business transaction. But with a boom in Internet, a remarkable change came across various industries. Food Industry is one of those industries, which experienced the influence of Internet. Online Food Ordering Systems have changed the way the food was ordered from a restaurant. ‘Just click and order’ this is the only hymn of these online food ordering systems.

Online Food Ordering Systems are particularly designed and engineered to allow restaurants to operate with effectiveness and speed by utilizing the advanced technology. The systems are quite simple and quick to implement and require no special hardware, software, or technical knowledge. By employing an online food ordering software in its services, a restaurateur offers convenience to its customers in many ways. This becomes the main reason behind the popularity and brand icon of that restaurant, among the customers.

Elimination of bottom line by cutting costs, online promotions, larger customer database, ability to remember last orders, sales report generator, accuracy in orders, easier installation etc. are some of the conveniences which restaurateurs enjoy with online restaurant ordering system. Not only restaurateurs, customers also are benefited with this. An all time reach to the restaurant liberate the customers from time constraints. Online menus allow them to enter their food preferences, online payment gateways enable them to pay for the order easily. Electronic coupons, gift certificates etc. encourage them to utilize online ordering again and again.

As customers are becoming more and more accustomed of accessing Internet at their homes/offices and their tiresome work does not allow them to cook at home or go and eat out in a restaurant, online food ordering systems prove to be a complete convenience package. No doubt employment of online food ordering systems is the wise decision taken by all those restaurateurs for whom customer satisfaction is the topmost priority.

Shefali Dhamija
http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/the-convenience-of-online-food-ordering-735226.html

by Philip Yaffe

I live in Brussels, Belgium; however, I am a native of California. It used to be fun to watch the reaction of people here when I told them this. Their eyes would almost glaze over and they would sigh, “If I ever visit the United States, it will have to be California.”

It used to be fun to watch this reaction. It isn’t any more, because I now feel like a traitor to my heritage. “If you ever visit the United States,” I now say, ”there is better than California.”

Certainly, Joshua Tree, King’s Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite and other natural splendors in California are well worth seeing. And Los Angeles (my hometown), San Diego, San Francisco, and Sacramento are exciting cities. However, what you will see in Utah will literally blow your mind.

Utah? Yes, Utah. Plus a little bit of Arizona and Nevada. But principally Utah.

I didn’t come to this conclusion lightly. I was led to it several years by a Belgian friend who had recently returned from a vacation in the U.S. and was showing me his photos, particularly of Bryce Canyon (western Utah). They were blindingly beautiful. With a smile of knowing superiority, I chuckled a bit and said, “Look, I know something about photography. I know how such pictures can be arranged.”

“I didn’t arrange them,” he replied. “In Bryce Canyon, all you have to do is close your eyes, point your camera anywhere. And this is what you get!”

I took him up on the challenge. A few months later, I went to visit family in Las Vegas, then rented a car and headed north into Utah. First stop after driving through the barren Nevada desert was Zion Canyon National Park. Exceedingly green, even exceedingly beautiful, but not exactly what I would call spectacular. Two hours further on, I saw Bryce Canyon National Park and simply didn’t believe my eyes. “This just can’t be!” I gasped. I spent the whole day exploring the place, still gasping and still not believing my eyes,

I have now seen Bryce Canyon seven times, and always with the same unalloyed amazement. I admit to having a particular weakness for the park’s indescribably tangerine-orange symphonies in stone, thousands of them—literally. But my reaction to Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, and Natural Bridges national parks, all in Utah, come reasonably close.

If there is truly an enchanted land anywhere on earth, Utah must be it.

Now knowing the region reasonably well, I would like to propose an easy itinerary for first-time visitors, with some personal tips you probably won’t find in guidebooks. This will not be a fixed itinerary, except for the first few stops. Everyone has different interests, and time and money to spend on them. So beyond the absolutely key things to see and do, you will be on your own.

How to Win In Las Vegas

Start your vacation in Las Vegas. If you have never been there before, it is well worth seeing. If you have been there before, you will probably want to see it again, because it is constantly changing.

Since it has become such a popular tourist attraction (just under 40 million visitors a year), Las Vegas is no longer the unbelievably cheap oasis it used to be. However, it is still very good value.

Plan to arrive on a weekday (Monday – Thursday). On the weekend, hotel prices can zoom to double and often triple what they are during the week (Friday, Saturday, and for some hotels, Sunday).

You can take full advantage at any time (weekdays and weekends) of LV’s lavish buffets for practically nothing. The different hotels ferociously compete with each other to put on the best possible spreads at the lowest possible prices. Why? The theory is, when you come into a hotel to eat, whatever they may lose by lavishly feeding you, they will more than recuperate by what you drop in the casino.

Avoid the trap. Enjoy the bargain in the buffet and keep you hands in your pockets as you pass through the casino. In most hotels, they only way to get to the buffet is through the casino, specifically to tempt you!

If you are going to gamble and think you can win, play poker. Avoid black jack, roulette, baccarat, and certainly the one-armed bandits (slot machines).

What’s the difference?

When you play poker, you are pitting your skill only against the others at the table. If you are sufficiently good, you can walk away with a bundle; the casino simply rents the space and couldn’t care less who wins and loses. However, if you play any these other games, you are playing “against the house”. The casino cares very much who wins and loses, you or them. So they fix things so that the loser will always be you. Always.

Don’t believe it? There is no secret about it. Virtually every casino has signs shouting something like “We give you the best odds in town: 98%!” This is LV code that means ”For every 98 times you win, we win 100 times.”

Saying that the games are fixed doesn’t mean that the dice on the craps table are loaded or that the croupier has a secret button to control the spinning of the roulette wheel. It’s the rules that are fixed.

In black jack, for example, the dealer first distributes two cards to each player, including himself. Anyone whose cards add up to 21 automatically wins; otherwise the winner is the person (or persons) who come closest to the magic number 21 without going over it. Imagine that your first two cards add up to 14, so you ask for another card. It is a 10, bringing your total to 24. You have gone over 21 (you have gone bust), so the dealer collects your bet. The dealer is always the last to play. Suppose he also goes bust. What happens? Nothing. He still keeps your bet. So even though the dealer loses, the casino still wins!

It is like this with all the other games where you play against the house. The rules are fixed to guarantee that sooner or later the casino will take your money.

Knowing that you are going to lose—get it firmly into your head that you are going to lose—the only reason for gambling is to have fun. If you enjoy playing black jack, craps, roulette, etc., go right ahead. But choose the lowest possible bet. You can have just as much fun losing $10 as you can losing $100, probably a lot more.

If your objective is to win at these games, stay as far away from Vegas as you possible can. As the joke goes: How can you leave Las Vegas with a $1 million in your pocket? Easy. Arrive with $5 million.

First Stop: Zion Canyon

To get back to the real world, it’s time to move north to Utah.

Foreign visitors should know that the American highway system is divided between federally financed highways and state financed highways. Both classes are usually high quality and easy to drive, with federal highways tending to be wider with more lanes.

Federal highways are shown on signs in the shape of a shield. There are two categories of federal highways, designated “Interstate” or “U.S.” plus a number. In conversation, the names are often abbreviated, so that Interstate 1 becomes I-1, Interstate 2 becomes I-2, etc. U.S. highways remain U.S. 1, U.S. 2, etc.

State highways are identified by the state’s name plus a number, and shown on signs depicting the state emblem. Utah, for example, is known as the “beehive state”, so its highways are show on signs in the form of a beehive. Within a state (because you know where you are), it is common practice to drop the state name and simply say Highway 1, Highway 2, Highway 3, etc.

You will leave Las Vegas by heading north Interstate15 (I-15). Once in Utah, turn off on Highway 9. Your first stop will be Zion Canyon, about 4 – 5 hours from LV, where you will probably want to spend the night.

How to Find Comfortable, Inexpensive Lodging

Should you book motels ahead before you leave LV? Absolutely not!

One of the best things about touring the western national parks is the sense of freedom and spontaneity it can give you. You never know what is going to impress you the most, so you never know how long you may wish to stay anywhere. Booking ahead regiments you.

So how can you be certain of finding a convenient and reasonably priced place to spend the night? Actually, it’s not that difficult.

Throughout the West there are motels galore, even in fairly remote areas. You can usually find a place to stay even in high season. The trick is to begin looking about 5 – 5:30 p.m. The choice is likely still to be plentiful and checking in no later than 6 p.m. gives you time to take a nap or a dip in the pool before going out to eat around 8 p.m. then returning to the motel about 10:30 – 11 p.m. for a relaxing night’s sleep.

However, don’t become blasé about finding a room. In Utah, the high season does not follow the late May – early September convention when children are not in school. In many places the high season extends into mid-October.

Don’t insist on being right at the entrance to the national parks. For example, the town of Springdale at the entrance to Zion Canyon has numerous motels. But prices are high and in high season you may struggle to find a room. Hurricane, a pleasant 35-minute drive from Zion, has many more motels, with prices about half those in Springdale, and a much broader selection of restaurants.

Also, don’t automatically head for a brand-name motel. As the major motel chains continue to spread their tentacles across the country (Motel 6, Super 8, Ramada, Holiday Inn, Best Western, etc.), locally owned motels are fighting for their lives. You can benefit from this.

For example, my wife and I rolled into a village looking for a place to stay. We were particularly eager to go for a swim. The first sight we saw was a name-brand motel. It had a pool, but it wasn’t heated. We were in the late autumn, so the water temperature was tolerable but not really inviting. I asked the price of a double room. It was $79. “That’s a bit beyond our budget,” I said. “Oh, that’s on the ground floor. If you go up a floor, it’s $59.” That was more to our budget, but since it was just after 5 p.m., I said we would look around first, and maybe come back later.

About 2 kilometers down the road, we saw a local motel. It was less spiffy because it was not brand new, but it appeared to be well-kempt. I asked the price: $42. The room was more than acceptable, but the best part was that it had a heated indoor pool! After luxuriating for an hour or so in the caressingly warm water, we went out for a delicious meal in a nearby restaurant recommended by the motel owner. All in all a delightful—and money-saving—experience.

For foreigners not familiar with the traveling in the U.S., you should know that most motels do not serve breakfast. This is why a number of local restaurants (called coffee shops) will be open, often from 6 a.m., where you can chose whatever you want to start the day—eggs, bacon, waffles, pancakes, steak, oatmeal, etc. You may not wish such a lavish breakfast every day, but you should not disdain the idea. A hearty coffee shop breakfast is very much a part of the American travel experience.

On to Bryce Canyon

About 1½ hours away from Zion Canyon is Bryce Canyon. You will leave Zion Canyon on Highway 9, then turn north on U.S. 89. Where U.S. 89 intersects with Highway 12, you must turn right for about 35 minutes to the park’s entrance.

For lodging you have two choices. All along Highway 12 you will find motels, whose prices rise the closer you get to the park. They have another disadvantage. They are rather isolated, so you are almost obliged to eat where you decide to sleep.

The other possibility will cost less and give you greater freedom. About 5 minutes beyond the junction of U.S. 89 and Highway12, you will find Panguitch. This town has a plentiful supply of motels, a number of restaurants, a supermarket and other shopping opportunities.

Count on spending two days in Bryce Canyon, and possibly three if you simply can’t tear yourself away, before going on to your next destination. So book your motel accordingly.

When you decide to move on, resist the temptation to return to the interstate for a quick trip to Canyonlands and Arches in eastern Utah. This is about a 4-5 hour drive from Panguitch along a comfortable, high-speed superhighway. The problem is, you see practically nothing of interest along the way.

Rather, take Highway 12 back past Bryce Canyon towards Capital Reef National Park. Highway 12, one of the most scenic routes in the U.S., will offer you sights as remarkable as any you will see in the parks themselves. The temptation to stop frequently to take pictures will be overwhelming.

Stopping at Capital Reef: A Capital Question

Should you actually stop at Capital Reef?

Everything depends on how much time you have available. Like all the national parks, Capital Reef is splendid. But to my mind, it is one of the least spectacular (there are there degrees of spectacular).

The best thing is to follow Highway12 to Torrey, which is just outside of Capital Reef, and check in some place. There are plenty of motels and some local restaurants. By leaving Panguitch by 9 a.m., you can arrive in Torrey in plenty of time to see part of Capital Reef that day. The next day you return for a second look, then in the afternoon move on towards Arches and Canyonlands.

Highway 24, which leads from Capital Reef towards Arches and Canyonlands, has many attractive sights along the way. So keep your camera ready and don’t hurry.

Highway 24 joins the I-70 at a place called Green River. You will still be about an hour’s drive from Moab, the local metropole and the so-called “Gateway to Arches and Canyonlands”. However, unless you have a particular reason for going to Moab, don’t.

Considerably smaller than Moab, Green River has a wide selection of motels and four or five restaurants. On average, you will find the motels about 20 – 25% cheaper in Green River and you should have little trouble finding one, whereas in Moab, depending on the season and the time you get there, you may have to look around a bit. Both North Canyonlands (known as “The Island in the Sky”) and Arches are only about an hour’s drive from Green River.

Before you read any further, I should warn you this itinerary does not include the world famous Grand Canyon. There is a good reason for this. North Canyonlands has a section right near the entrance that looks very much like the Grand Canyon. If you have never seen the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands offers a convincing substitute. And you will not need to spend two precious days to go see the real thing!

South Canyonlands

Your next stop will be South Canyonlands (also known as “The Needles”), which is about a two-hour drive from Green River and a one-hour drive from Moab. But don’t hurry. The road that leads from Moab to South Canyonlands offers a number of photo opportunities.

You will probably want to stay in Monticello. This town is much smaller than Moab, more like Green River, with a reasonable assortment of motels and restaurants. Be certain to ask directions to the Mormon Temple, a few streets off the main road but well worth the detour.

If you leave Green River or Moab by 9 a.m., you should arrive in Monticello before noon. The entrance to South Canyonlands is several kilometers before you arrive in Monticello, so you might want to spend a few hours in the park first. This way, you can then decide whether or not you want to return the park the next morning or immediately move on.

Natural Bridges and a Breathtaking Overlook

When you leave Monticello, head south on U.S. 191 towards Blanding and the junction with Highway 95, then turn west. Here you will find two sights seldom mentioned in travel guides. The first is Natural Bridges National Monument. Like Capital Reef, it is less spectacular than some other attractions, but well worth the visit.

A few kilometers from Natural Bridges, turn south on Highway 261 to one of the most awesome sights you will ever see. The road seems to abruptly end at a sheer cliff that drops several hundred meters towards Monument Valley, but gives the impression of diving straight to the centre of the Earth.

The road does not actually end here, but descends the cliff to the plain below. You may be reluctant to make this apparently perilous journey on a gravel road. However, there are long, slow switchbacks all the way down, making the descent easier than it may look.

But what about getting back up again? Don’t worry. Once at the bottom you can drive along Highway 163 back to U.S. 191 and a gentle rise back towards Blanding.

This will be a decision point. You can now head east about 130 kilometers to Mesa Verde, with spectacular scenery and the remains of Indian cliff dwellings. Or you can head south into Moment Valley, the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert.

However, if you are now beginning to doubt that what you saw at Bryce Canyon was real (I have seen it seven time and I still have doubts), you can take Highway 95 beck towards Capital Reef. Highway 95 is every bit as interesting and photogenic as is Highway 24 between Capital Reef and Green River.

After leaving Bryce Canyon for the second time, you may be looking for an interesting, inexpensive place for R & R (rest and relaxation). Stop in Mesquite. This is the last gambling oasis in Nevada before crossing into Arizona and Utah. Still a small town (but rapidly growing), Mesquite has only a handful of big casino hotels, which in their own way rival many in Las Vegas at about half the price.

As you head down the I-15 back towards LV, swing off for 2-3 hours in The Valley of Fire, a Nevada state park well worth the detour.

Another possibility. If time permits, take the I-15 straight through LV towards Laughlin, about 1½ hours south. Laughlin is the last gambling oasis on Nevada’s southern border. There are several advantages to spending a couple of days there.

1. To get to Laughlin, you must pass by Hoover (Bolder) Dam and Lake Mead, both worth a look-see.

2. Laughlin is on the Colorado River, so if you like water sports, you will be very much in your element.

3. The river is the border with Arizona and California, so if you have never been to California and insist on setting foot in the Golden State, it is just a few minutes away.

4. Because Laughlin, like Mesquite, is not a highly publicized tourist attraction, its hotels are very much less expensive than those Las Vegas. You will especially appreciate the difference on the weekend, when a $60 hotel in LV can easily go to $140-170, whereas an equivalent hotel in Laughlin at $35 may move up to $70-85.

Final Tips for Foreign Visitors

The United States tends to “march to a different drummer”. Things there are done differently. You have already noticed that rooms in hotels and motels generally do not include breakfast, which is quite different from the practice in many other countries. Here are a few other things to watch out for.

1. Posted vs. Final Prices

Local and state taxes are almost never shown in posted prices, so the price you see is almost never the price you pay. This is true in hotels, motels, restaurants, department stores, etc. For example, if a motel shows $55 a night for a double room, the final price is likely to be around $61.

Why do they do things this way? The idea is that if people don’t know what they are paying in taxes, they don’t know when to get properly angry about them. Gasoline (commonly called “gas”) is an exception; the posted price is the final price.

2. Tipping

“Service” in restaurants is almost never included in the price. The customer is expected to add this voluntarily as a tip. Normally, the tip should be about 18% of the bill (in a restaurant known as the “check”). It is traditional to leave the tip in cash on the table. However, if you pay by credit card, you can add it directly. Many people chose to do both, i.e. pay with a card but leave cash on the table.

Whatever you do, don’t forget the tip. Restaurant workers generally get a minimal wage, so they depend on their tips for their livelihood. Not tipping is equivalent to stealing.

3. Metric – American conversions

If you are used to the metric system, you may find American measures confusing. Here are some easy approximations.

A. Weights

1 pound (1 lb) = 0.45 kilo. To convert pounds to kilos, divide by 2, then subtract 1/10.

Example: Convert 6 lb to kilos. 6 / 2 – 0.3 (1/10 of 3) = 3 – 0.3 = 2.7 kg

For smaller weights such as in a restaurant: 1 pound = 16 ounces, written 1lb = 16 oz. So an 8 oz steak is 1/2 of 450 g = 225 g, a 12 oz steak is 3/4 of 450 = 340 g.

B. Distance

Some areas in the U.S. show distance in both miles and kilometers, but such places are rare, so you will have to use miles. 1 mile = 1.6 km. For a good approximation, add half of the mile distance, then add 1/10 to get kilometers.

Example: Convert 70 miles to kilometers. 70 + 35 (1/2 of 70) + 7 (1/10 of 70) = 70 + 35 + 7 = 112 km.

C. Temperature

Fahrenheit to Celsius: subtract 30, divide by two, then add 1/10.

Example: Convert 88° F to Celsius. 88° F – 30 = 58, divided 2 = 29. Now add 1/10 of 29.to give 29 + 2.9 = 31.9° C.

Celsius to Fahrenheit: multiply by 2, add 30, then subtract 1/10.

Example: Convert 32° C to Fahrenheit. 32° C x 2 = 64, plus 30 = 94, subtract 3.2 (1/10 of 32) = 90.8° F.

D. Prices

Approximating prices is tricky because exchange rates constantly vary. Assume 1 euro = 1.3 dollars. Divide the dollar price by 2, then add back half.

Example: Convert 24 dollars to euros. 24 divide by 2 + 6 (half of 12) = 12 + 6 = 18 euros.

Have a great trip. And be prepared to come back. Because once you have been to Utah, it’s truly hard to stay away. For me, it is impossible.

Editor’s Note

Philip Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like A Professional, his recently published book, is available from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).

For further information, contact:

Philip Yaffe
http://www.articlesbase.com/destinations-articles/indescribable-utah-natures-munificent-masterpiece-260103.html

The Grupo Mayan country called Mexico is flourishing. Perhaps it’s evident by the fact that one of the first civilizations started here. There are also countless business opportunities that you can find here, and it’s definitely bringing in investors all over the world. 

However, there’s a catch: doing business here is different from how you do it someplace else. The Grupo Mayan people have their own culture, which they also bring with them when they talk to prospective partners. If you want to be more successful in closing transactions, keep in mind these following tips:

1. Address them by their titles or family name. First names are only meant to be spoken by friends and family members, not by business partners. Thus, you should address him on his family name or title such as “doctor” or “engineer.” Moreover, you should wait for them to say your first name before you do. 

2. Set a meeting during breakfast. You can go to a Grupo Mayan restaurant and reserve a table for two or more, depending on how many people are coming, during breakfast time. Lunch is usually expensive, and since you’re the one inviting, you have to foot the bill. Moreover, people have clearer heads early in the morning, and you can definitely stick to the agenda. These people have other things to attend to. 

3. Meet them in your prospect’s place of choice. You want your business partner to be as comfortable as possible. Thus, give him the chance to pick the place. If he can’t come up with one, you can always recommend any of the Grupo Mayan establishments, such as a restaurant or a café. These are considered to be neutral places. 

4. Look for a prospect even before you go to Mexico. Even before you go to this Grupo Mayan nation, you should already have a business lead. It will definitely help you save time and effort in looking for one. You may even have more time to go sightseeing and turn your business trip into a Mexican vacation. 

To get contacts, you can rely on the power of your own network. Perhaps a friend of yours knows someone who is currently in Mexico, and he can introduce you to him. You can also look them over in business forums over the Internet. There could be somebody else who is also searching for a partner, and you are it. 

5. Confirm meetings. This practice is not only done in Mexico, but in different parts of the world as well. Again, these people are always busy, and you can’t call them up for a surprise meeting. In fact, you need someone who can vouch for you before you can organize one. Make a call at least a week before the scheduled appointment. You also need to phone back two days before the date to confirm. 

Your browser may not support display of this image.Mexican business culture is something to be respected. As long as you can extend courtesy to their practices and follow them even if they are completely different from yours, there’s a huge chance that you will go back to your office with a huge smile on your face.

irinaM
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/doing-business-in-mexico-learn-how-to-close-deals-more-effectively-725564.html