Silence the taste buds

This week I went to 3 different restaurants and looked for items that I would never order, then proceed to explain why I wouldn’t order them, and lastly offer solutions as to what might make me want to order these ‘meals’.

First stop: Oreganos 

The Item that I would never order is the Veggie Burger. As seen here in the menu.

This item is adverse to me more so because there are options that I would way rather. I am a meat lover and the though of going to a restaurant just to get vegetables is somewhat painful.

In my opinion the ‘veggie burger’ will most likely always be difficult to sell, except when you are catering to a vegetarian. My suggestion to make it more appealing would be to offer it as a part of a ‘soup and salad’ type deal. I feel that when people choose this type of deal they are trying to keep it light. When I think light I think soup or salad. I also think no meat… so the Veggie burger would be an awesome alternative.

Next stop was: Thai Basil

The item that I would never eat would be the sautéed tofu. I would never choose this item, as tofu really just doesn’t appeal to me. It is not that I despise it; I just do not enjoy eating it. Much like oreganos I would prefer to get something else on the menu.

For me to change my perception about tofu I feel like the dish should have a name change. If the fist thing I see is tofu I will often move immediately to the next option. Perhaps some sort of chilly coconut soup with bok-choy, prawns and tofu would make it more appealing. I know that in Thai Basil menu it offers sautéed tofu and that this dish I have suggested is a drastic change, but I feel that for me to even take notice there would need to be a drastic change.

The last stop on the tour: Casey Moore’s Oyster House

I. HATE.OYSTERS…I absolutely despise oysters, no matter how they are done. I can’t get over how slimly and salty they are.

I feel that it would be very hard for me to change my perception of oysters as the taste has engrained bad memories. If I were to make a suggestion as to how to mask that taste and get me to eat them I would recommend putting them in some sort of pasta dish (combination). I feel like the taste may be diluted if the oysters are cooked in with a tomato-based sauce along with the other ingredients. Perhaps asking the server if they could put the oysters in a pasta dish that is already on the menu?

Some of these changes were very drastic but personally they would have to be big changes for me to eat these items.

Bike through our new store…

After reading the assigned text that discussed how retail stores are now focusing on ‘the experience’ rather than the purchase, I have decided to take a look at how a Bike shop may go about capturing this in store ‘experience’. The atmosphere at a bike store is usually pretty generic, it smells like rubber and there are a lot of different shiny bikes all lined up in a row with their price tags hanging off the handlebars. There is usually no interactive kiosks or food/drink.

In my opinion biking is a ‘lifestyle’ and the stores should try and replicate this. They should try and capture the essence of being active in their stores. As was mentioned in the text, most customers can go online and look at exactly the same thing presented in the stores, often with more information and reviews. This brings me to how I believe cues in the bike stores should be altered…

I have here a rough sketch of the store design for a bike shop. Some of the key features and practices are listed below:

• Bikes should be all demo models: All of the bikes in the store are made for test riding, there will only be a select few (on rotation). The new bikes are kept unassembled until purchased.
• The stands: Rather than having the bikes all in a row with the price tags on the handle bars each bike will have its own ‘mounting’, a small wooden box with the small type/example of the type of terrain that bike is made for.

• There are multiple test tracks: It is important for the customer to get an accurate idea of what the bike they are purchasing rides like. Therefore their needs to be a road track, a mountain track and even some small jumps for BMX bikes. The test tracks run through the center of the store so in order to let some of the fresh air in. *** in summer and winter months the sliding doors remain closed until someone rides out, this is to save costs on heating/cooling.

• There is a juice bar: Nothing special but a place to sit that provides healthy beverages at a reasonable price.

• Tablets: The bar tables are equipped with special tablets that have information about the bikes the store offer. All the technical and specifics in regards to the bikes with access to Internet reviews will be made available with easy access.

The open doors at the end of the tracks will provide the sound and smell, that of fresh air. The ability to actually test ride the bikes will provide the touch. As for the taste the juice bar will bring new life to the bike store, giving it a healthy taste. Lastly, the sight will be unlike any other bike store with no line of bikes set up.

Dial up vs. 4G

The mission: find 2 people significantly older than me, observe how they use the Internet and talk about it. Then repeat this process for someone around the same age and someone significantly younger than myself…

My quest to find two older people to observe using the Internet was harder than expected. I was unable to locate any older (significantly older than me) people using the Internet in a public setting. I think this is because there is a large portion of older people who are still not fully comfortable with the using Internet. I say this solely based upon the experience I have had with my Dad and his Internet use. He only uses it when he has to and even then is highly cautious about his usage. This is backed up by the way my professors use the Internet, it is solely work based. They do not seem to ‘dilly-dally’ on sites or do much shopping…rather they get on, do their work and get offline. This is most likely why the only ‘significantly’ older Internet users I found were in a work environment.

I had more success looking at the age group ‘slightly’ older than me. Their Internet usage was very similar to mine in that I often use it ‘on-the-go’, with my phone/laptop. It seems like this younger generation is much more attune to the wonders of wifi and can make use of its practicality. The use of the Internet is not limited to work, as it seemed to be for older generations. All I had to do was walk around the business building and was able to observe countless students on their laptops, phones and tablets. The sites that they were on varied drastically, many were doing work as is to be expected on a university campus. However, there were also a lot of people on shopping and social media sites. The two that I paid closer attention too were on ‘wanelo’, a shopping site and ‘myASU‘ a student portal. Their pictures can be seen below.

Working

Shopping

Lastly, what do people who are significantly younger than me do on the Internet? I was somewhat hesitant to complete this section as I feel like many people would view it as creepy if someone of my age and gender was ‘observing’ a young child on an electronic device. With that in mind, I enlisted in some help. One of my close friends has a niece, Brynnlie, she is 6 years old and is just discovering the Internet. Brynnlie has a tablet that is used exclusively for games. Much to Brynnlie’s disgust she does not yet have a phone, however, she constantly steals her mother’s to text aunty. While observing Brynnlie I was amazed with the ease she demonstrates while can navigating both the phone (which is not actually hers) and the tablet. It must be mentioned that no actual work is taking place on any of her electronic devices yet.

In summary it seems that people are becoming more and more attuned to having the Internet as a part of their daily lives. Although it could be argued that the use of the Internet differs in accordance with your age, I would advocate that the difference is due to a generational divide. Those who were born with the Internet and those who were introduced to it will always have differences in the way they use this resource, it is my belief that this will continue until we don’t know life without the internet.