Ramadhan treats with a twist.

Once again, we are nearly in Ramadhan and the mountains of caramel pudding and evaporated milk have been erected faithfully in Lulu and Carrefour just tempting you to buy 24 packs of the stuff. Dont forget to also pick up a handy 12-pack of hot-sauce as well. You can never have too much hot sauce.

So yes, Ramadhan. And with this time, comes two great things (other than the obvious religious benefits):

1. Awesome sales in the shops.

and, 2. Iftar and the foods that come with it.

It's become quite popular I have noticed in the last few years to give large bouquets of chocolates and such to friends/clients/etc with Patchi leading the way in the fancy chocolate stakes. Well, this year I received from a friend a box of BreadTalk mini pastries. I actually received 2 boxes, I guess they know I like sweet things. Being the nice person I am, I decided to share these beauties with the colleagues in my office. I had one Omani colleague asking me if she could have more than 1 and seemingly beyond herself with excitement at eating these pastries. She is pregnant so I'll give her a pass - glad she enjoyed them!

Someone had been in the office earlier with a box of 24 Dunkin Donughts and there were still a few left in the box, but these beauties were consumed in record time - I felt bad when 3 guys came looking for some of the pastries only to find they had all gone! You snooze you lose!

Anyway, it was such a success, I have decided that this year I'm going to give these BreadTalk boxes instead of my usual Patchi gifts to friends and clients. Check them out at Bareeq Al Shatti (Shining Shatti) - the box package costs RO 5 for a 16 piece box and makes for a nice change to the usual chocolate gifts :) I'm told if you buy 5 for RO 25, they'll give you a box for free as well, how nice! I wonder if they are in partnership with VLCC for people wanting to go on a diet after eating them!

le fin.

It's funny because I'm childish!

A special thanks to the person that sent me this picture, I think it was brilliant. Al Madina Plaza in MQ, had a re-branding exercise recently. Some enterprising solo-marketing executives decided to execute an affordable re-branding campaign by renaming the plaza the Mad Anal Plaza. It went for over a week un-noticed, presumably because it's in English, and no one noticed!

Excellent stuff! I wonder whether this had anything to do with the close proximity of the only bar in MQ?!

Enjoy the weekend!

le fin.

A rant about the cost of soft drinks.

In January this year, the cost of Bebzi and Coke products jumped from 100bz a can to 150 bz a can, or 600bz a 6 pack to 850bz a 6 pack.

Now, Oman Refreshments SAOG have announced their H1 results to the Muscat Securities Market which has finally allowed me to get some real facts before going off on my tirade against the soft drinks manufacturers for jacking the price of a fizzy pop by 50%. I'm going to get a bit technical and slightly geeky and talk about numbers and stuff, but I have a real point to this so please bear with me.

The Pepsi (bebzi) franchised brand is owned in Oman by Oman Refreshments SAOG, and they are listed on the MSM here. Unfortunately, the owners of the Coke franchise are private and so do not report their financials publicly, but one imagines that their margins are similar, but their sales volumes are probably lower. You can click this link and find Oman Refreshments in the list and download their H1 (Half 1) 2011 earnings on the MSM website.

To save you actually having to do that, here's the facts:

1. In 2010, their profit for the year was RO 3,357,752, up from RO 2,139,332 in 2009 (source)
2. In the first half of 2011 their profit is RO 2,254,196 on reduced sales volumes from 2010.

Now, back in January, Bebzi and Coke jacked up their prices because of "increasing material prices", yet when you analyze the information, it is apparent that their material/production prices have actually dropped since last year. Here's how I broke it down:

In H1 2010, 9.7 million cases were sold to create a profit of RO 913,227 (approx 94 Baiza profit per case)
In H1 2011, 9.3 million cases were sold to create a profit of RO 2,254,196 (approx 242 Baiza profit per case)

The increase in profits is, even if we take like for like (9.7 million cases in both years) more than a 50% increase, which would be 913,227*1.5 = RO 1,369,840. Yes I know this is a rough calculation and that there are other factors in play such as bottling costs variations and distribution/marketing costs too. My point is though, that their profits have soared, and their overheads have dropped (which was their given reason for jacking the cost of their products up so much).

Add to this the blatant collusion with Coke and you have a situation which in other countries would land them in court. But, of course, nothing like that will happen here. And so my top tip is: Buy shares in Oman Refreshments SAOG - increasing population = more drinks sold = more profits as the margin per unit is so much higher, and ultimately their share value and disbursements will increase. Totally unethical, but might as well take a punt with them if you have a few years to sink some cash in with them. What do you think?

Enjoy the weekend, and perhaps I'll see you tonight at Yolanda Be Cool.

le fin.

Yolanda Be Cool - The winners!

Tomorrow night, at the Jabrin ball room at the InterCon, Yolanda Be Cool are playing from 9-2. The tickets are RO 15 each, but 2 people just won a ticket each for tomorrow nights party courtesy of the lovely people at Hi FM. You can still buy tickets on the door, or you can call 9555 5699 to get one ahead of time.

Congratulations to: Mel and Rebecca - you were chosen totally at random by my fabulous wife - you have both been contacted with instructions on how to claim your prize!

le fin.

What the? I'm 2 already!

Well time has certainly travelled fast. I'm 2 already and really am surprised I stuck with this for so long. Writing is really not my strong point, I wish I was as talented at writing as people such as The Reluctant Mum and Lino.

I'm not really too sure what to write for this birthday post, so I'll just bore you with stats about.... you.

Since July 2010, the blog has been viewed 225,019 times. 120,000 of those have come from Oman.

Thanks everyone for reading, and if you have not already, I'd really like it if you "liked" my blog on Facebook. I'm vain like that!

le fin.

Giveaway: Alice Takes A Trip...

Frooly is a market place for independent retailers. Basically its a great way for small businesses to get there products out there. It sells a great mixture of fashion, jewelry, gifts and arts and crafts. Its the kind of place I'd go to to buy a special birthday present for someone.

Frooly recently got in touch with me asking me if I'd like to do a giveaway with one of their online shops. I've not done a giveaway in about a year and I thought it might be more fun than reading about something I got sent. They let me pick out any piece from the website but the shop 'Alice Takes a Trip' really stood out to me; its cute, vintage-style and kitch. I picked out the 'Rabbit Looking Glass Necklace' (Pictured Above) for one of my readers to win. All you have to do to win this necklace is go onto the Frooly website and pick out your favourite item, then leave a comment on this post with a link to the item. Simples! 


If you could leave at twitter name or email address that would be great. That way if you win, I can contact you to get your postal address. Please remember I will be passing on your address to Frooly so they can send out the prize. 


The giveaway ends on the 8th August so get commenting :)

Good Luck, 

Onna 

Last weekend before Ramadhan parties.

Well this weekend is shaping up quite nicely....

Wednesday night there is the Yolanda Be Cool show at the InterCon ball room, Tickets are RO 15 each and can be bought by calling 9555 5699 and finding out more details. And you can enter my competition to win free tickets to this event, I'll announce the winners tomorrow.

Then, on Thursday night, at Nuts and Bolts, there is Carnival Madness - RO 10 for a couple, RO 15 single guys and women are free. You get 2 free drinks when entering, and the party starts at 9pm.

And, hot on the heels of The Experiments party with Hed Kandi, The Experiment are bringing back a popular Bollywood dance night from 4 years ago - Bollywood Bash in partnership with Zouk. Friday night from 10pm, RO 10 with a free drink.

If you are throwing an event this weekend and want me to cover it, please email me with details and I'd be pleased to include it.

More tomorrow!

le fin.