Oktoberfest in Tokyo

Here are some scenes from an Oktoberfest celebration in Hibiya Park in the middle of Tokyo. Beer, saurkraut, big pretzels, sausages, and yakisoba. Plus enough cowbell to sastify even Christopher Walkens. Despite being Oktoberfest, this event is usually held in mid-September for 3 evenings from 6-10.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srq_KHJYQqk&hl=en

Specialty Produce Wholesaler Frieda's Sets the Standard With Customer Service That Goes the Distance

As a teenager, Karen Caplan and her sister Jackie learned about customer service the old-fashioned way. They spent weekends in the offices of Frieda's, their mother's specialty produce business, answering customer inquiries and sending recipes on how to prepare the company's exotic fruits and vegetables. Frieda Caplan had encouraged shoppers to ask questions and request free recipes at a time when no one else was doing it.

Nearly three decades later, Karen Caplan, now president and CEO of the Los Alamitos, Calif., company, and VP Jackie Caplan Wiggins continue to set trends in customer satisfaction.

Frieda's, which last year did $35 million in business selling everything from sweet dumpling squash to morel mushrooms, is the nation's largest wholesaler of specialty produce, exotic fruits and other foods. And it has honed customer satisfaction and education to a fine art. At a time when analysts and customers lament often slow corporate responses to consumer e-mails, Frieda's fields up to 500 queries week (most of them e-mails), typically replying within a day of receipt. And while other companies have been criticized for "dumb sizing" -- downsizing without regard to customer service or product quality - Frieda's continues to focus on making customers happy. It's a strategy that has helped build customer loyalty and push revenues higher each year in recent times.

"Twenty-eight years ago, no one was doing customer service. If you wanted a recipe or a refund, they'd tell you to expect to wait six to eight weeks," says Karen Caplan, whose company was also the first in the specialty-produce industry to offer full retail refunds to unhappy customers, and within a week. "Today, I'm relentless about customer service."

Give Customers More Than They Expect
Frieda's was among the first to include product descriptions, usage, handling tips, country of origin, complete nutritional information on its labels. And if that weren't enough, Frieda's assigns three employees to answer the dozens of questions that arrive daily, such as:

"Can I freeze my yakisoba noodles?"

"What's the best way to store horseradish?"

"Can I grow elephant garlic from the bulb I bought?"

Other customers simply want a recipe for the dried chipotle peppers they purchased, or have an occasional gripe, says director of communications Tristan Millar, who oversees customer satisfaction. The company lists recipes and product tips on all its labels, as well as its phone number, address and e-mail address, urging buyers to request refunds if unhappy.

Giving consumers a quick turnaround is the key to keeping them happy. Even on weekends, Millar checks her e-mail for customer queries. And the staff is especially diligent before Thanksgiving, because they know buyers will want tips on how to make the most of their holiday produce. Indeed, it's an attitude more companies should adopt, says a study by Jupiter Communications, which says 46 percent of online businesses take five or more days to respond to e-mails, or don't respond at all, collectively losing millions of dollars. Many sites don't bother to list a customer service e-mail address.

To ease the job, Frieda's has set up its own resource library containing books and publications on just about every fruit, vegetable and exotic food the company could find. So when an e-mail asks about unusual uses of various melons, dried fruits or other products, employees can find a solution and fire off a quick answer. They then stash the information in a special binder, because inevitably, someone else will ask the same question.

How can a company of 160 employees that sells its products to retail grocery chains afford to lavish such attention on individual consumers?

Over the past five years, the privately held company's revenue has grown from about $23 million to $35 million annually. It's difficult to peg how much customer service has played in the growth. But Caplan says that Frieda's refund policy -- unique within the produce industry -- says it all.

"In the past year I can tell you we've refunded less than $1,000, which tells you something about our quality," she says. To keep customers happy and complaints low, the company spends about $200,000 each year in employee time to field consumer requests. The results easily justify the expense, says Caplan, who believes the outreach helps build relationships and trust with end users.

"We have some customers who send the refund checks back to us," says Caplan. "Many have been customers for years and feel they have a relationship with our company. They just wanted to let us know that maybe some items were stuck together in the package."

Pick Employees Ripe for the job
The focus on customer satisfaction begins with the company's culture. Caplan and her clan pick employees with the same care it might select a good pepino melon.

"Make sure the people who are dealing with your customers are passionate about the product. Before they're hired, they have to give us the impression of being very customer- service oriented. You can't come in with a clerical mentality," she says. "They have to show a passion for food or customer service."

Frieda's builds on that natural interest by immersing employees in lore about the 500 specialty products it sells. Workers spend the first weeks of employment learning about products in the company's 81,000-square-foot warehouse in the Los Angeles suburb. They are encouraged to take products home and use them in their own cooking and recipes.

Training and education are the key to sparking workers' passion, Caplan says. Many companies are reluctant to shell out for such training, but it has been well worth it for Frieda's. "Some things you have to do on blind faith, just knowing that you're doing something positive for (employees) and they will do something positive for someone else," she says.

So when someone writes or calls with a question like, "How do I cook a squash?" employees know the answer, because it's part of their training. Caplan makes a point of reading every snail-mail letter herself, to keep taking the pulse of what customers want. In the end, she says, "If you aren't passionate about your products, don't expect customers to be."

By Lisa Plendl

Okonomiyaki - Specialty of Hiroshima Japan

A visit to Japan is not complete without enjoying many of the regional specialties. Hiroshima has a significant place in history with its tie to the United States due to dropping of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. Hiroshima and Japan as a whole has risen from the ashes to become a major economic power.
 
Hiroshima is also known for several dishes that are unique to this region. A visit to Hiroshima is not complete without having a dish of "Okonomiyaki". Okonomiyaki is basically a pan fried pancake filled with various ingredients. Although Okonomiyaki can be found throughout Japan, each region has its unique way of preparing it. In Hiroshima, the ingredients are layered on top of the batter with cabbage being the main ingredient. The ingredients vary depending upon the cook and you. Okonomi literally means "favorite" in Japanese, thus your favorite ingredients.
Although I never prepared Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki, I did find this recipe online,
 
Ingredients

- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dashi soup or water
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups chopped cabbage
- 4 thinly sliced pork
- 4 servings yakisoba noodles
*okonomiyaki sauce or worcester sauce to season
 
Preparation:

Heat a pan or an iron table. Mix flour and dashi soup stock to make okonomiyaki batter. Spread a scoop of the batter into a thin round over the pan. Place one handful of finely chopped cabbage on top of the thin pancake. Place a pork slice on top of the cabbage. Pour some okonomiyaki batter over the ingredients. Fry yakisoba noodles on the side and season with okonomiyaki sauce. Flip the pancake over with spatulas. Press the top of the okonomiyaki firmly with a spatula and cook it in low heat until ingredients are cooked. Replace the okonomiyaki with spatulas on top of yakisoba noodles and press on the top firmly. Fry an egg on the side. Replace the okonomiyaki on top of the fried egg and again press on the top firmly. Serve the okonomiyaki in a plate with the egg side up. Repeat this process to make more okonomiyaki. Before eating okonomiyaki, spread okonomiyaki sauce or worcester sauce and mayonnaise on the okonomiyaki. Sprinkle katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and ao-nori (dried seaweed powder) on the top.
 
But better yet, on your visit to Hiroshima, make it a point to taste this very tasty dish. Itadakimasu (lets eat!)