Any seasoned journalist soon realises the value of good public relations people. Sure, they want to punt their products, but the good ones know that anybody with a bit of sense has experienced comebacks from people they like if they recommend something they haven’t experienced themselves. So they don’t.
Personally I’m often on the lookout for good ideas, but hesitant to recommend a wine or whisky release or leisure experience unless I’m certain it actually works, tastes good or offers a useful or unusual service, all the while representing outstanding value. Where it doesn’t, they’ll hear about it too. My flavourBlog is a private space to discuss things that inspire or annoy me, so if a place or service or clever product impresses me sufficiently, you may well hear about it.
I don’t know about the rest, but October holds more deadlines than I can comfortably cope with, thanks to most local magazines completing their December and January issues simultaneously. And since it’s a recession year where rates are down, and there is only one of me to go around, a bumper month means extra commissions, hence quality time with my laptop outside of business hours on quite a few weekends and extra nights.
Drumroll… The Picnic Company is a small business run by energetic Cape Town women that deserve a mention. I’ve tried their picnics previously at wine farms and en route to events, and I’ve never been disappointed. So when lunch arrived in a box on an October day where long hours at a desk seemed a foregone conclusion, it was cause for excitement.
The wine monster was around, and although no alcoholic stuff was included, plenty in the ‘District Six’ picnic satisfied two hearty appetites. The pictures do the talking here, but I should add that their picnics offer convenience, consistent quality, creative preparation and lots of tiny bags of extras. These picnic gals truly think of everything, down to the miniature cheese board and plastic bag to bin your waste afterwards.
Picnics start at R90 per adult, or R60 per child, and on short notice they’re prepared to cater to those annoying allergies, diabetics and kosher friends we’d rather forget about when standing in a supermarket making group catering decisions ourselves.
Oh go on, check out their website http://www.picnics.co.za/ I hold no responsibility for their tagline: With one call, we will do it all!
