First UK Chinese Restaurant to Use Twitter for Business
When Lisa Tse, CEO of the award winning restaurant and cookery school, Sweet Mandarin (@sweetmandarin) in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, UK, first heard about Twitter from one of her customers, she was puzzled but intrigued. Lisa was already hooked on Facebook, Myspace and her own blog on her website www.sweetmandarin.com which also features their self titled memoir, Sweet Mandarin which was shortlisted for the Barnes and Noble prize. Nonetheless Lisa credits Twitter with increasing her orders, bookings, book sales and clientele as well as forging a closer knit community in Manchester.
Twitter is a social networking site where you can follow people and access information via Twitter as it happens – from breaking news to the special deals of the day. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, "What are you doing?" Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant messenger or the web.
Lisa tweets about the dish of the day, the special offers, her business, advice to friends and cooking techniques. Followed by 900 of Manchester's Twitterati, Lisa's fun, easy going and concise words of wisdom have made her real life friends. Remarkably, she's the first Chinese restaurant in the UK to utilise Twitter and nothing can build your brand faster than being or doing something remarkable. And Sweet Mandarin is just that, remarkable.
On 11 February 2009 a follower booked a table for 2 for Valentine's Day. Lisa quickly replied and after a twittering frenzy, Valentine bookings were full. Another follower booked a takeaway. Lisa delivered the takeaway and twittered about it. Lisa tweeted about their book, Sweet Mandarin making an ideal present for Mother’s Day and Amazon sales shot through the roof. Lisa has been using Twitter as a booking / ordering service with ease taking regular direct messages (or as Lisa nicknames them "Sweet Treats") from the Manchester Twitterati
Sweet Mandarin offers modern Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails in a relaxed atmosphere – as well as teaching her Saturday classes how to make dim sum, stir fries and the perfect egg fried rice. Lisa successfully hosted the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School Tweet on 28 February 2009 10am UK time where Lisa tweeted all through her cookery course and answered questions as she took us on her culinary journey from East to West.
The community which Lisa and her sisters have built in the Northern Quarter, Manchester has strengthened thanks to Twitter. Says Lisa Tse, "I look forward to hosting the Manchester Tweet at Sweet Mandarin on Thursday 12th March starting at 6pm. I can't wait to serve our dim sum and cocktails."
With Lisa and Sweet Mandarin, Twitter has not only been a fun past-time but is now central to their marketing strategy. To attend the Manchester Tweet Up contact Lisa Tse (@sweetmandarin).
