Then the idiot goes and rips his ankle to pieces on a tennis court. Blah, blah blah – some weeks are just more testing that others.

And then like cupid with his bow, a ray of sunshine battles its way through the haze and reminds you of the good times. Reminds one of why I have been so lucky to have worked with such a great group of people over so many years and build some great businesses.

We established Big Roast in 2008 with a member of staff who use to do a part time roasting job at the weekends. It has gone on to become the leading hog roast company in London and we have developed a great reputation for quality and service.

The email below was received today and is testament to the efforts of Gary Thomson, Nick Thomas, Sebastian, Ruth Weighill and lastly my wife (she would kill me if I didn’t acknowledge the work she does in pest control).

“Couldn’t let the moment pass without writing to thank you for all your help in organising my husband’s 70th birthday party.

It could not have been more perfect – and if I had any worries that the barbeque style food might not be quite the thing for a lot of ‘oldies’ – I could not have been more wrong!!  They all loved it.  From our first conversation, I was impressed with how helpful and supportive you were – no hard sell, even advising me that I needed less salad than I thought (which was quite right!).  The day went without a hitch – Sebastien arrived on the dot and just got on with things, so when we and all our guests got back from the cinema (yes! morning picture show, just like we old people did in our youth!) – everything was totally under control and just enough time for a drink (or 2) before lunch was served!

Without exception, the old and young thought that the pork was delicious – moist, tasty and lots of crackling!  The salads too were of an excellent quality – one notoriously ‘picky’ friend went so far as to say it was the best coleslaw she had ever tasted!!

Sebastian was professional, efficient and very charming!  When all the serving was over, he quietly packed up and went on his way!  As you had assured me, there was plenty of meat for 90+ guests – and about 16 of us finished up the leftovers at about 9pm, as we mulled over the memorable party.

Thanks again – I would certainly use Big Roast again – and am sure you will be hearing from some of our guests, who thought it an excellent party solution!

Best wishes
Sue”

The post Big Roast – It is all worth it appeared first on Rt7 UK.

In January 2013 we helped with the roll-out of the VARIDESK brand in the USA, and after a successful initial period in the USA we are today soft launching the VARIDESK in the UK.

Our initial batch of stock lands on 15th May 2013 and we are today accepting pre-orders through uk.varidesk.com which will be dispatched after 20th May 2013.

Customers interested in renting options from us for their business should look at the VARIDESK section of The Water Delivery Company website. We are initially offering the single and the dual monitor VARIDESKS for rental to existing water cooler customers, and later in the year we will be extending this on a national basis.

The market for standing desks has been developing in the USA and UK for the last three years with speed, and the VARIDESK offers customers a unique option for standing while working.

• The VARIDESK is retro-fitted on top of an existing office desk
• The VARIDESK offers options for users of single or dual monitors
• The VARIDESK price point is lower than that of any other standing desk in the market.

Interested retail customers should email contact@varidesk.co.uk for more information. The VARIDESK is also available on a wholesale basis through our sister company Root7.

VARIDESK™ – CHANGE THE WAY YOU WORK™

The post Varidesk UK website launches appeared first on Rt7 UK.

Jelly Bean 4.2 added quite a few improvements to the Android experience, but arguably the most exciting feature is the ability to create a Photo Sphere. Unfortunately, taking and viewing these 360-degree panoramic images has been a limited experience at best. The Photo Sphere feature is still only for Android 4.2, but the good news is that viewing these images is about to become a lot less complicated.

Being able to view these beautiful 360 images in more places certainly doesn’t take away from the sting that many of us feel for not having Android 4.2 yet, but it is still certainly a welcome feature.

What do you think of Photo Sphere, how do you feel it compares to other 360-degree camera software out there?

The post Google Photo Sphere appeared first on Rt7 UK.

Receiving company liquidation letters from solicitors is not my favourite thing in the world to happen to us but like rainy days and traffic jams – shit happens sometimes.

Businesses over-extend themselves, their customers don’t pay them and the doors have to close. Most of the time I have a lot of sympathy for the business owners as I would have to be in that position.

And then there are the ones that seem to have been planned by people who should never be allowed back into business today. You can see the letter attached but the highlight is £0.17 received – that is 0.0002p in the pound.

What is lovely is that the wrote a letter, issued a cheque and finally sent the cheque in the post. Obviously the value of the stamp was significantly higher than that of the cheque.

We will accept any other entries in the competition penned – “What is the Worst liquidation payout in history?”

The post Worst liquidation payout in history appeared first on Rt7 UK.

Rt7 were pleased to be asked to work on the rebuild of a website for St Josephs Residence in Dallas by a friend in the USA.

We were the web part of a team drawn from friends and co-workers who thought that the charity needed some help online.

The team have beta launched the website this weekend and we have all committed to a minimum of two years work on helping the charity extend its reach online.

For more information on how the charity helps the elderly population of Dallas please go to www.stjr.org.

The post New website for St Josephs Residence appeared first on Rt7 UK.

The Housewares Magazine and housewareslive.net have a long history of creating successful events for the housewares industry: the Housewares Conference, the Product of the Year Awards, and the Britain’s Best Retailer Awards. These innovation awards are an important annual event that often gives a good indication for buyers across the UK (and further afield) of what the biggest products will be in the house wares category this year.

The nomination for a the Corkcicle in the tableware category is a strong commendation for the efforts that our team has made in establishing a great contact base within houseware retailers across the UK over the years. It also highlights the ingenious design and function of the wine chiller. Simply place the Corkcicle in an open bottle of white wine and it keeps the wine chilled while the bottle is out of the fridge. More information on the product range including the Corkcicle Color can be found on www.corkcicle.co.uk.

The corkcicle was launched by us in the UK in spring 2012 and over the last year we have added other products from the Corkcicle range.

The Root7 team will be found at a table at the event tonight enjoying the fine wines on offer and celebrating the success that they have already had in getting the Corkcicle into the short list. We hope to walk away with the winning position in our category and have a great year with the product.

Root7 is the exclusive distributor of the Corkcicle in the UK and sells to many retailers. Root7 was established in 1999 in the UK and distributes many houseware & barware products on an exclusive basis.

For more information please look at www.root7.com, or like our facebook page. to get regular updates on PR and new products.

The post Corkcicle Awards celebrations | We wait with baited breath appeared first on Rt7 UK.

Since basing our family in South Africa, my wife has become involved with a community outreach project called ABC for Life which seeks to assist disadvantages school children in written and verbal English schools.

Using a base of teachers from the Harbour Heights community in Hout Bay, the scheme encourages volunteers from across Hout Bay to volunteer time and help teach the younger children some of the language skills that are essential for gaining employment in Cape Town.

The charity needed a new website and we were happy to help out on a pro bono basis. The first challenge was to migrate an existing website onto a wordpress platform which we completed today. Over the coming months we hope to integrate the website into the marketing and fundraising efforts that are need to support the charity on an ongoing basis.

If you are interested in assisting with the charity go to their website – www.abcforlife.org – and contact them directly.

The post ABC for Life website launched | Charity Work appeared first on Rt7 UK.

Apologies for the wording – we were young. Click on the image below and fasten your seatbelts.

The post Root7 Original Website | Tripping down memory lane appeared first on Rt7 UK.

Rt7 have today launched their flagship retail website in South Africa building on the back of our retail websites in the UK and USA.

Birando South Africa is initially supplying parts of the range of that we stock through our UK distribution company – Root7 - and will also be stocking part of our party-ware range that we sell in the United States through our Birando brand.

Our range will initially consist of the full range of our most recent products in the UK such as our Corkcicle and Vinturi ranges, but by Christmas 2013 we will also be showcasing our Sofloat range of floating bean bags.

We look forward to demonstrating the breadth of our range and stunning customer service to a new market through Birando South Africa.

The post Birando South Africa launched | Online Retail appeared first on Rt7 UK.

Over the years we have learnt (and continue to learn) is a whole load on what search engines want from websites – and how this affects the rankings of search engines for any particular query. We have researched, practiced and honed our skills over time. Mistakes have been made – but businesses have also been built.

Nowadays a lot of what we are doing is helping business partners, staff and clients understand what we do. Trying to get them to engage with us and the task ahead. Getting clients to understand the importance of writing regular, quality content and embracing bring their website into the core of their business. Only with lots of attention can your website stand out from the rest – and start generating traffic from natural positions online.

Google released today a search engine optimisation guide that we will be passing out to staff and also to clients who we are working for through Rt7 Media.

You can download the search-engine-optimization-starter-guide and encourage staff and others to read so that they can start to have educated opinions on what is bring done online. Getting staff to be part of the solution is key to our success for our own websites and as a web development company.

We are not here to do all the work for you – we are here to educate and work alongside you.

The post Google Teaching The Basics of Search appeared first on Rt7 UK.