Glasgow Loves Christmas!

Enjoying the lights and Christmas Markets in Glasgow last night 

:)#GlasgowLovesChristmas @GlasgowXmas @GlasgowXmasMark #Scotland #ChristmasIsComing

Promotional Video for the Supper Club for 2017!

2017 Promotional Video for the Kilmarnock Supper Club!

#scotfooddrink #events #supperclub #ayrshire #scotland... http://fb.me/17SfTWO97 

The Kilmarnock Supper Club - Calendar of Events held for 2017

The Kilmarnock Supper Club - Calendar of Events held for 2017

January
14    Franklin & Sloane, Kilmarnock - First Meetup                             £2.50
20    Titchfield's Restaurant, Kilmarnock - Dinner                                £15-25
21    Black Cat Cafe, Kilmarnock - Clubhoose Meetup                        £2.00
26    Frankie & Benny's, Kilmarnock - Dinner                                     £10.00
28    Burns Alicht Festival, Ayr - Coffee and Burgers                          £10.00

February
03    The Long House, Kilmarnock - Dinner                                        £12-15
17    Bar Luca, Kilmarnock - Dinner                                                    £15-20
23    The Mill House, Stewarton - Lunch                                             £10-15

March
03    Dragon Royale, Kilmarnock - Dinner                                           £15-20
14    Wetherspoon's - Wheatsheaf Inn, Kilmarnock - Lunch                £10-15
17    Jefferson Restaurant, Kilmarnock - Dinner                                  £18-25
23    Glasshouse Restaurant, Rowallan Castle - Lunch                        £10-15
31    Cochrane Restaurant, Gatehead - Dinner                                     £20-30

April
15    Portland Arms/McChristie's, Crosshouse - Dinner                      £15-25
28    The Ship Inn, Irvine - Dinner                                                       £15-25

May
02    Si Restaurant, Irvine - Lunch                                                        £10-20
12    43 Latin Steak Restaurant, Kilmarnock - Dinner                         £10-20
26    Pawsome Afternoon Tea Party, Black Cat Cafe, Kilmarnock      £2.00
27    Fairburn Restaurant, Mauchline - Lunch/Holy Fair                     £15-20

June
02    Fenwick Hotel, Fenwick - Curry Night                                         £15-20
09    Auchens Restaurant, Dundonald - Dinner                                     £20-30
23    Marie Curie Afternoon Tea, Black Cat Cafe, Kilmarnock            £2.00
30    Cochrane Restaurant, Gatehead - Dinner                                      £20-30

July
17    Races, Ayr Racecourse                                                                  £17.00
22    Minstrels & Mayhem, Dundonald Castle - Music Festival           £5.00
28    Fenwick Hotel, Fenwick - Curry Night                                         £15-20

August
04    Golf Inn, Prestwick - Prestfest                                                       Free
05    Highland Games, Dundonald Castle                                              Free
13    Prestwick Cricket Club - Rock for Resources                               £10.00
27    Alloway Food Festival, Ayr                                                           Free

September
8, 9, 10 Troon Concert Hall - Live@Troon                                            £15-25
16    Riverside Inn, Newmilns - Lunch                                                  £5-15

October
14    Dapper Squirrel, Kilmarnock - Dinner                                           £15-35

November
26    The Long House, Kilmarnock - Sunday Lunch                              £13-20

December
08    Fenwick Hotel, Christmas Party Night                                           £25-30

Where has the year gone!! 2017 is nearly over already.

I can not believe that it has already been nearly a year since I first started the Supper Club!

We have had over 4000 views on this blog since inception in January, and I have not updated this for a very long time as I took a wee break over the Summer! With that said, we have had a LOT of meet-ups since my last entry so I have a lot of catching up to do with my readers, and photos and reviews to share from my visits since March of this year.

Firstly, I would like to thank each and every one of the Members who have supported this venture since it was initially launched back in January 2017. It has been a very busy year, and I have made some amazing new friends, and been to some fantastic Ayrshire restaurants that I never knew existed.

Secondly, I would like to say a very big thank you to Jean Butterley and her staff at the Black Cat Cafe for making us feel so welcome this year. Jean and her staff were so kind to let us meet there every week for months on end, and they were always very helpful and accommodating! I can not thank you enough for allowing our small group to meet at your cafe every week, Thank you!

There have been a lot of challenges over the months, and I have handled them all in the best way that I could. My children tell me that I do not have a great deal of patience these days when dealing with other people, but in many ways I am proud to see how far we have come as a group!

At the very beginning there was a lot of interest from members of the general public who attended our events, and some of them came and went, but there is a core group of supporters who really enjoy these outings and long may the Supper Club continue!

This was our first Summer together as a group, and most of us just wanted to get out and about enjoying our holidays and making the most of the sun while it lasted¬! As a result, the attendance went down and I took a wee break myself to concentrate on other areas of my business, SPIN ADMIN where I offer photography and Public Relations. I completed some amazing projects on an FOC basis with new clients that expanded my network of contacts, and this gave me some invaluable work experience. I have been very fortunate to work with some great people in the local area, and have made some amazing new contacts that I will work with again. All of this enables me to bring a lot more skills to the Group, and this venture is now expanding into other areas.

I have been approached by two people in the last four weeks who wanted to work with us - one of them has a Loyalty programme called wee.com, and the other runs a network of Supper Clubs throughout the United Kingdom called WeFiFo. Both of these products complement our existing Kilmarnock Supper Club, and will allow me to offer financial CASHBACK rewards for coming to our events, and access to bigger and better events throughout Ayrshire.

I hope that you will join us on this exciting adventure and will enjoy these wee changes to the way that things are done. I look forward to offering you more events and a better range of options for outings after the New Year in 2018.

March update!

I have had a busy month and have been enjoying my life with the children and the Members of the Supper Club, and making the best of the time that I have had meeting new folks and getting out and about in Ayrshire with them!

The Supper Club has been meeting twice a week since inception, and this is working really well for us as not only does this keep the momentum going, but it gives people more opportunities to come along and meet us, and to find a date that fits into their schedules. I am always happy to try to work around people when this does not suit them, however, can also meet anyone on a one-to-one basis if it at least gives them the chance to meet myself or someone else from the group.

Rowallan Castle Estate

We have visited some smashing venues this month - which of course always includes our regular meetup every Saturday afternoon at the Black Cat Cafe at St Marnock Place in Kilmarnock.






We managed to visit one of the local craft fayres held by the BB in Galston, and I celebrated my 47th birthday at Wetherspoon's with a few of my new friends.

Some of the restaurants visited this month included the Dragon Royale in the High Street, The Salt & Barrell at the new Ayrshire College who held a Bond-Themed Dinner which was really well done, and the well-known Jefferson's Restaurant - all of which are in Kilmarnock itself. 

Bond Night at the Salt & Barrell

Glasshouse Restaurant at Rowallan Castle

Last week we had lunch at The Glasshouse Restaurant at Rowallan Castle Estate, and tomorrow night we are visiting the Cochrane Inn at Gateshead, just on the outskirts of town which belongs to the Costley and Costley Group. 

The prices of meals have been very reasonable, and in most cases we take advantage of 'Early Bird Specials' or 'Express Menus' advertised to members of the general public. 

Some restaurants offer a Loyalty Card where you can accrue points, and sign up for regular updates either by text or by email and this includes subscriptions to newsletters where you can be one of the first to hear about special offers, and forthcoming events.  I have joined a couple of these schemes where Loyalty Card points can be used to redeem discounts off future bills, or money-off vouchers and can highly recommend that you take advantage of these where available and membership is free.

On the marketing side things have slowed down a bit now that the initial set-up has been completed, so it is just a matter of focussing on the day to day running of the business and enjoying it. I must admit that most of my attention goes to managing the group on a daily basis on Facebook, as I find the daily banter and messages back and forth really interesting and create new events and administer stuff as much as I can. I always try to find engaging information and offers to share with our Members, and am always on the lookout for a good deal with either Groupon, or Itison that will allow us to sample local restaurants at a discounted rate.

I am not one of the most disciplined people in the world, so do not tend to follow a regular social media marketing plan, and update my media outlets including Twitter and writing posts to the Blog when I can. It is not an approach that would work for everyone, but it is one of the benefits of being your own boss I suppose :) and it works well for me as I only tend to do these things now when I am feeling inspired.

My meal at the Glasshouse Restaurant

The whole approach to events is a lot more relaxed now - particularly now that The Club has developed a regular following, and I have a lot more confidence knowing that people will be coming when they say they will. I am now making a conscious effort to 'check in' at venues on Facebook when I arrive so that the guests who are already on their way to the venue know that I am waiting for them. I think that this provides peace of mind for Members to know that they will be met by someone reliable, and that they will not have to face the anxiety of being the first one to arrive. I am also encouraging others to 'check in' too as it lets all their friends know where they have been and what they have been up to, and it gives the restaurant and the Supper Club a little bit of promotion at the same time which is always good :)

Bond Night Table Setting

Up until now, I haven't made a big point of providing testimonials for the venues that we have visited, but this week I updated my reviews on Trip Advisor and Facebook where I thought that feedback was warranted, or where the venue had earned an excellent review. I am also making a point of tagging the people who visit every venue with me, as we are still getting new members every week and I want them to remember the names of the people they dine with. 

I always encourage members at every event to befriend each other straight away, as this increases their social circle and provides them with the ideal opportunity to forge new friendships in the group - which is what this concept is all about.

From now on, I will be taking extensive photos of the venues and the food we are served, and am in the process of designing a feedback card for the Members to fill in that I can hand into the restaurant when we pay our bill, and so that I can also find out for myself whether they were pleased with the venue we visited on that occasion.

The Salt & Barrell held a fantastic Bond Night

During our meals, phones are always present as many of us have children or partners to keep in touch with. However, quite often I will miss calls or notifications sent to me on Facebook during this time as the phone is usually left in my handbag. 

I have to admit that I made the mistake a few weeks back of going through my phone while some of the others were having a conversation in front of me, and have made a conscious decision not to do that ever again as it is an anti-social habit. 

Accessing a mobile phone at any time of the day or night is completely addictive, and it is scary how quickly it can distract your attention away from everything else, and has become a terrible force of habit for so many of us these days.

Whenever we eat in the house, my children are not allowed to have their phones at the table, and I usually enforce the same rule when we eat out at restaurants as well. It is not that I am trying to focus their attention on me, it is just that we have so little family time these days, and want to make sure that we have the chance to talk to each other properly. They probably think that I am bit old-fashioned but I have to admit that I like it that way. We are surrounded by so many distractions these days, and I think that as a society we have forgotten the art of communicating with each other. 

Cheap and cheerful for my birthday celebrations!

On a personal note, I have noticed a growing trend where people are coming away from social media as the number one preferred form of communication, and there is a renewed focus on providing face-to-face customer service to clients once again. I always thought that there is lot to be said for providing the personal touch when you are dealing with people... and a quick conversation can often save so much time and is a lot more rewarding. It is an interesting time in marketing just now.

This week I found another person wanting to start a friendship group in Irvine and I contacted her right away as want to see the group do well - regardless of whether they are associated with our Club or not. The Kilmarnock Supper Club has been a massive learning curve for me in so many ways, and I must admit that I would love to see this develop into a national franchise some day, but it has shown me how such a simple thing can make such a massive difference to other people's lives, and only wish that I had done this ten years ago!

Now that the nice weather has finally arrived, and the nights are stretching, our choices for venues will continue to grow further afield in April with a potential visit to The Gailes at Irvine, and McChristie's at Crosshouse on the horizon. In May we are going to eat at the Fairburn Hotel on the day of the Mauchline Holy Fair, and the Ayr Country Show is back again which is always fun!

On a final note, I hope that you continue to follow our news updates, and interact with members of the Club. If you have not joined us already on Facebook, please feel free to do so at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheKilmarnockSupperClub/

Tamara :) 

Our blog stats have gone over the 1300 mark!

I have been blogging for probably ten years now and started with the original AOL journals in 2006 which had fantastic features for uploading photos and creating photo albums. I have always been an avid blogger and facebook fan, as since moving over to Scotland I have literally taken thousands of photos which is also one of my passions.

Having come from a Sales & Marketing background - both of which are extremely interesting fields to work in - I have always been fascinated by where my clients or readers originate from as this will tell you which of your ads are working and which ones are not.

I personally must admit that I prefer the blogger format, but these days wordpress seems to be the most popular programme for getting views online, and am teaching myself how this works so that I can build my brand new website. I have tried this before and it isn't easy I can tell you and I am sure that there are teenagers out there who can code much better than I will ever be able to. But I am determined to do it and it will allow me to launch my website as soon as possible, instead of trying to save up the money to pay someone else to do it.

You know how people show counters on their blogs and pages, and if you have ever employed anyone to do your marketing for you in the past - they will always be quoting the number of 'hits' that you have had - or 'impressions' from people who have seen your Google, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram advertisements online. 

Well this is a perfect example to show you - these are my stats for the blog page. At first I was excited at the number of 'hits' that I have had, but upon closer inspection - a very high proportion of my views are from overseas - approximately half in fact.

Thank you very much for following our blog!

Membership Drive

The past two weeks have been very busy at the Kilmarnock Supper Club and for me in particular.

I have created our profile page in Google and Google Plus, but it took me a while to get my head around the various systems they employ, as there are a lot of pages where you can display your information. In addition to this, the system has created two different profiles for me and I will have to get them merged at some stage.

This year I have started a Company, rather than a Business, and therefore there are different registration processes involved in getting organised for this. But all in all it has been very interesting and I have enjoyed it. This is not the only business that I run, as I am also self-employed under a company called SPiN ADMIN which was started in June of last year for freelance work. It has been an enormous learning curve for me the last twelve months, as I had never run a business before in Scotland, and it was a lot of work to set things up.

You need a Business Registration Name or CRN to utilise advertising outlets like 192.com and Yell.com, and I also wanted to protect my intellectual property for this concept. You also need to send the Registration Certificate to Facebook, along with a copy of the Articles of Association to become verified and get a Company or Business page so it is just as well I had already done all of this!

Up until two years ago, I had never used Twitter before and made some mistakes along the way with my first account. However, it is a fantastic medium for broadcasting blog updates to food companies and followers in the food industry, and I hope they enjoy these updates. I like to tie all of my social media outlets together in order to minimise the work involved, and have to follow a regular plan to stay on top of the sites every week. We now have 168 Twitter Followers!

In the last two days I have scaled back some of the publicity and accounts for SPiN, so that I can concentrate on administering the new accounts I have set up for the Kilmarnock Supper Club on a full-time basis instead.

These include Pinterest, Blogger, Twitter, Instagram and Google Plus - all of which have their place in the world and are great at attracting followers and getting the name of your business recognised.

I have just created an advertisement for the first time on Google which should be starting today, and it will be targetting new members to the Facebook Page from a 40 mile radius around Kilmarnock. Again it is the first time I have ever done this, and took me a while to create the advertisement as there is not a lot of space for words. I am also a stickler for layouts, and had to preview this a few times before I was happy with the final product to make sure it looked okay in the various formats, ie. mobile, desktop and tablet. It can be a fiddly process to complete. I have also registered the Company Name and had it verified so that we now come up in a name search on Google itself - along with some fantastic results for everything else already set up!

The Google Plus pages are now open for reviews and members who have been to our events can provide feedback and a star rating based on their experiences to date. I hope that everyone who can recommend our services would take a few minutes of their time to give us a review!

The blog has already had nearly 900 views, and 7 new members have joined our group in the last week and a half. Five of them came along to the Clubhoose (The Black Cat Cafe) on Saturday last weekend, and we hope they will be back.

The turnout at each of our events is always different as everyone has busy lives and just shows up when they can. It's a nice way of operating as they are not locked into anything in advance, and don't have to pay upfront for tickets, food or transport. I must admit that I enjoy a casual arrangement with everyone, and there have been no problems with this Pay-As-You-Go system to date.

If you are a member of any other groups on Facebook you will notice that they will have rules posted at the top of the page, which must be read and followed when contributing to the page, ie. making comments, or adding posts. I have purposely tried to avoid setting up any rules on our Group page so far, as I don't want to have to tell members how to behave when they are grown adults.I simply expect everyone to be nice and enjoy themselves. So far to date, this system has worked well.

We have a Closed Group which means that only members can write and view comments on the page. This is also the only way that you can view our current Calendar of Forthcoming events! If you want to become a member, then this is the place for you to join up with us!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheKilmarnockSupperClub/

All of the members are lovely people, and everyone gets along and enjoys the company. The Saturday venue is always the same, but the events held during the week are always at a different venue. As this is a Kilmarnock Club, most of the restaurants we visit are in the township itself. But with the onset of Summer as the weather improves and the evenings run longer we will travel farther afield.

This is a picture of our Official Facebook Company Page which anyone can read and make comments, and where current members can provide reviews for the General Public to see. Please do not feel obliged to do this if you are a current member of the Group and prefer for your profile as a member to remain private.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheKilmarnockSupperClub/reviews

If you have any questions whatsoever, please do not hesitate to email me directly at:

thekilmarnocksupperclub@outlook.com or text my mobile on 07711 584979.

You can join up as a member on our Facebook Group Page and send me a join request anytime:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheKilmarnockSupperClub/

Our next event is at the Bar Luca this Friday evening, and on Saturday at the Black Cat Cafe at 2pm.

Best regards always,


Tamara Campbell.