Chickens Galore

Well it seems the whole World is going Chicken crazy. So here is a picture of some of ours taken recently. This is really just a test post after an absence of ove 18 months to check everything still works

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Satinwood Crescent,Liverpool,United Kingdom

2010 Mascot Grand National Gets a Pizza The Action

The Mascot Grand National – hosted every autumn by Huntingdon Racecourse in Cambridgeshire – is entering its third decade with an exciting new sponsor.

The original and best mascot race in the world, which began in 1999 and is now poised for its 12th running, is to be supported by Domino’s Pizza.

The event attracts a worldwide television and online audience for the crazy antics of the participants, and it’s the highlight of every year for Britain’s mascots.

Mascots the length and breadth of the country step up their training as they prepare for the big day.

It’s an hilarious occasion when lots of mascots run, walk, stagger and stumble over obstacles on a gruelling 220 yards course.

There’s been mayhem, controversy, accusations of gamesmanship, and claims of ‘ringers’ over the years since this madcap race was first run, but strict rules ensure good clean fun.

Georgina Wald, Corporate Communications Manager at Domino’s Pizza, said: “The Mascot Grand National is a fantastic event at Huntingdon Racecourse that represents exactly what Domino’s Pizza is all about - spending special time with friends and family, laughing, smiling and having great fun. We hope that sponsoring the race will inspire our own mascot – Danny Domino – to do better than he did last year!”

Sophie Hodgkinson, managing director of Huntingdon Racecourse, said: “The Mascot Grand National has grown in size and popularity year after year, and we are delighted to welcome such a fantastic brand as Domino’s Pizza as our new sponsor for the 2010 race.”

The Mascot Grand National kicks off an afternoon of jump racing at the Cambridgeshire racecourse on Sunday 3 October.

*Domino's Pizza is recognised as the world's leading pizza delivery company. The first UK store opened in 1985. More than 20,000 staff are employed in Britain and Ireland. There are more than 620 Domino's Pizza stores throughout the British Isles, including the Huntingdon restaurant at 1 Grammar School Walk - 01480 454700.


MASCOT GRAND NATIONAL HISTORY

1999: The Mascot Grand National was born as 17 mascots took part in one of the most unusual sights ever seen on a racecourse. Beau Brummie Bulldog, of Birmingham City FC, won.

2000: Word spread, and 49 mascots lined up, with Watford FC's Harry the Hornet stinging the bookmakers in a flying finish.

2001: Controversy as Freddie the Fox was first past the post, but turned out to be an Olympic athlete. Uproar ensued, and Dazzler the Lion (Rushden & Diamonds FC) roared as he was proclaimed the new winner.

2002: Chaddy the Owl (Oldham Athletic FC) flew to victory amidst claims that he was another ‘ringer’. The accusations were unfounded – it had been Chaddy’s vigorous training routine that enabled him to wing it.

2003: For the second year Chaddy the Owl was crowned victor, but only after several rivals were distracted by a female streaker. An attempted £10,000 betting coup using a Commonwealth Games gold medallist as Sedge the Field Mouse failed when one of the rodent’s feet fell off.

2004: The year of Graham the Gorilla, the mascot of local football club Finedon Volta FC, who sent the crowd bananas.

2005: The bookies expected Chaddy and Graham to dominate, but the Sun newspaper’s Scoop 6 Squirrel drove everyone nuts with a stunning turn of foot.

2006: Football charity Kick 4 Life’s mascot Mickey The Monkey proved he was the business despite an attempted ‘rugby’ tackle on him in the closing stages. Sammy Saint was second for the second year.

2007: Wacky Macky Bear saw off the 2006 winner Mickey the Monkey to win for Saffron Walden FC on his Grand National debut.

2008: The tenth running of the mascot race sees Wacky Macky Bear win for the second year in a row, with Cambridgeshire-based mascots filling second, third and fourth spots.

2009: At last a local winner, as Stag from Huntingdon Rugby Club triumphed. Inside the costume was Heath Crawford, a New Zealand-born rugby player.


RACECOURSE ADMISSION DETAILS

Admission on Sunday 3 October: Main Enclosure £15; Picnic Enclosure £8. Accompanied children under 18 – free. Tickets for the Main Enclosure can be purchased in advance, either online at www.huntingdon-racecourse.co.uk or via the ticket hotline on 0844 579 3007.

Parking: Free.

Times: Gates open at 12.10pm. Mascot Grand National at 1.10pm. First horse race 2.10pm.

Contact information: telephone 01480 453373

Domino's Pizza - Any Pizza Any Size Only £9.99

To celebrate its 25th UK Anniversary Domino's Pizza is running it's very popular £9.99 promotion from Wednesday September 8th 2010 to Sunday 12th September.

It's available for delivery or collection and you can order it online, over the phone or in person.

To order it online you need to go to the Meal Deal tab. One nice feature of using the website is that you can select a pizza from the menu, like a Pepperoni Passion, and then add 2 extra toppings at no charge. You won't be able to do this over the phone as the staff will correctly charge you for the toppings, but it is a feature, or bug depending on how you look at it, of fixed price meal deals on the Domino's website.

On the downside, half and half pizzas cannot be ordered as meal deals. This is just due to technical reasons, though I believe a workaround is being sought.

Happy Birthday Domino's Pizza!

Domino's UK Launches Lunch With youTube Takeover

Our friends from Domino's Pizza UK have asked us to help launch their new lunch campaign by promoting their brand on our blog and other platforms. PizzasandStuff is happy to help them gain market penetration of this exciting initiative.

Here's the release.

Pizza delivery expert, Domino’s Pizza, is set to launch an advertising takeover on top video website – YouTube. The takeover is running on Friday [September 3, 2010] to mark the launch of Domino’s new lunch campaign.

The takeover sees Domino’s becoming the first brand in Europe to use YouTube’s new Quick Launch template. The template enables companies to cost effectively develop an ad from their existing images, videos and links and run it directly on the YouTube masthead.

Domino’s will be taking over the YouTube homepage to promote the company’s new UK-wide lunch menu, which includes six new oven-baked subs. The advertisement on the website masthead will include a 20 second lunch video, as well as an image gallery of the new menu and a Google Maps search listing to enable users to locate their nearest Domino’s store. A direct link to Domino’s Facebook page will also appear on YouTube to help generate click throughs and more fans.

The YouTube takeover will be running in the lead-up to lunchtime on Friday and appear on the website until 3pm. The takeover is taking place alongside a range of other media, including TV, radio and press advertising, to help promote Domino’s lunch campaign.

Simon Wallis, sales and marketing director for Domino’s Pizza, said: “We wanted to do something bold and a bit different to help promote our new lunch menu and we’re delighted to be the first in Europe to use YouTube’s new Quick Launch template. What better way to announce that Domino’s is not just for dinner than with our own lunchtime video on the world’s most popular video site. We hope this will liven up the lunchtimes of UK YouTube users and encourage them to get their teeth into our great new menu.”

Domino’s new lunchtime menu features six new oven-baked subs. The range features a number of Domino’s top pizza toppings, plus a host of new filling choices, in a freshly baked ciabatta. Each sub is made to order in-store using fresh ingredients.

Grandma, Grandma Look In The Coop. The Chicken Just Laid her First Egg.

There was much excitement earlier this afternoon at The Liverpool Micro Chicken Farm as we discovered that our little white Amber Star pullet had laid her first egg - and in the right place too!

We first got her back in the middle of May, when, we were told, she was about 9-10 weeks old. She was a lovely looking little thing, tho' when you picked her up she seemed about the size of a small dove.

For the first week or so, she, and the other new arrival, were terrorised by our last remaining Warren, but things soon calmed down and the girls have been getting along OK, but not without the occasional squabble.

The Warren stopped laying almost immediately the others arrived, probably induced by the stress, while the Speckeldy one, which looks like a Cuckoo Maran, promptly began laying lovely chocolate-coloured eggs that were rather small considering her size.

The three hens struggled through the heatwave in June, but at the start of July Speckeldy went broody, which we thought rather strange due to her young age. She was about 30 weeks old, and refused to move off the nesting box except under the most extreme provocation.

The internet proved invaluable as we tried all manner of things to bring her out of it and return things to normality, the most bizarre of which was giving her a bag of frozen peas to sit on. She turned her beak up at these, and just moved elsewhere in the coop.


As neither of the other chickens were laying, we decided to lock her out of the coop during the day time. She was out of sorts for a couple of days, but it seemed to do the trick and things have been fine for the last couple of weeks.

As the weather cooled down and all the three hens were looking a lot happier, the Amber Star had a growing spurt, developed a full comb and wattles, and we kept our fingers crossed that she was approaching Point of Lay.

As can be seen from the video above, she has now moved from being a juvenile to an adult and we wish her a long, happy and productive laying career as part of The Liverpool Micro Chicken Farm Ltd.

Please subscribe to our youTube channel, where you can keep up to date with our Tales From The Chicken Coop" or follow Trisha, the Warren on Facebook - yes our chicken does indeed have her own Facebook Profile.

Peppadew Bread for Beginners

Here's another recipe from Stacey at Peppadew, but we reckon it would also be great flattened out and used as a pizza base.

What do you think?

Domino's Does Lunch! - See the new TV Advert Here

Lots of Domino's Pizza outlets in the UK have traditionally only opened at the weekend for lunch, but now they are all open 7 days a week from 11am.

Pizza is a great lunchtime treat and is perfect for sharing with your work colleagues.

There is also a new range of oven-baked sandwiches which Domino's are pinning their hopes on, though I doubt Subway or McDonald's will be quaking in their boots.

But perhaps they should be, as Domino's are "The Pizza Delivery Experts" and lots of people are tied to their desks during their all-too-short lunch breaks and will really appreciate having their lunch without having to walk half a mile down the road.

"Not just another bloody panini" could prove to be a great strapline.

Domino's Pizza UK iPhone App

Domino's Pizza UK have posted this video about their new iPhone App. You can download it from the App store and use it to place an order for delivery or collection from your local branch of Domino's Pizza.

It has some very fancy graphics, without forgetting the main purpose of the App, which is to order pizza, and is very intuitive to use.

It features Meal Deals, Halfie halfies and if you are unsure of what to choose there is even the option to randomly generate a 3 topping pizza. When I tried this out I had to politely decline the suggestion of Anchovy, Birdseye Chillis and Chorizo :-)

I like the way it remembers previous coupon codes so that you can use them again and again, and also the way it pretty much simulates the experience you get from the full-blown website.

We'd love to know what you think?

Domino's Pizza Employee- Rubik Cube Solved

We came across this video recently of a Domino's Pizza employee "crushing" the Rubik Cube.

Or rather not!

Chicago Town Pizza Has The X-Factor.

GET YOUR HANDS ON THE PIZZA THAT’S GUARANTEED TO BE A WINNER!

Are you as obsessed with The X Factor as the rest of the nation? Do your ‘Saturday nights out’, turn into ‘Saturday nights in’ between August and December? Have your days been dull since last year’s show ended?

If so, you’re going to love the guys at Chicago Town TAKEAWAY for bringing you the official The X Factor pizza!

This winning pizza will be in supermarket freezers from August - just in time for you to stock up, ready for this year’s show to hit your screens – and is guaranteed to tickle your tastebuds just as much as the show’s contestants tantalise your TV!

Made with Chicago Town TAKEAWAY’s famous fresh dough that rises in the oven and its delicious BBQ-stuffed crust, it’s topped with Ham, Sausage, Onion, Mozzarella, Red Cheddar and X-tra large Pepperoni – well, what did you expect? This is the only pizza with The X Factor!

You’d be forgiven for thinking nothing could make this better. But that’s where you’re wrong!

They’re also going to give you the opportunity to share your pizza with one of last year’s contestants. Yep, you heard right!

If the pizza alone wasn’t enough to get you excited, Chicago Town will be running a competition on its Facebook Page giving you the chance to win an intimate personal appearance from Danyl Johnson.

The super-hot singer will make his way to your very own living room and serenade you and your mates ‘til your heart’s content! And when he’s done with the singing, you can chat over the free pizza, nibbles and drinks the lovely people at Chicago Town will be throwing in too!

And it doesn’t stop there. The Chicago Town TAKEAWAY The X Factor pizza will also be running an on-pack promotion giving you the chance to win tickets to the live shows, plus The X Factor merchandise and Chicago Town Pizza Packs!

They sure know how to spoil you, don’t they?

First they gave you the Footie Feast - perfect to snack on while watching the World Cup - and now this… the only pizza with The X Factor!

Chicago Town TAKEAWAY – it’s the pizza that just keeps on giving.

Chicago Town TAKEAWAY The X Factor pizza will be in most supermarkets with RRP of £3.49.

Domino's Pizza UK iPhone App Progress Report

Domino's Pizza UK have posted this video about their new iPhone App. You can download it from the App store and use it to place an order for delivery or collection from your local branch of Domino's Pizza.

It has some very fancy graphics, without forgetting the main purpose of the App, which is to order pizza, and is very intuitive to use.

It features Meal Deals, Halfie halfies and if you are unsure of what to choose there is even the option to randomly generate a 3 topping pizza. When I tried this out I had to politely decline the suggestion of Anchovy, Birdseye Chillis and Chorizo :-)

I like the way it remembers previous coupon codes so that you can use them again and again, and also the way it pretty much simulates the experience you get from the full-blown website.

We'd love to know what you think?

Now You Know Why Domino's Pizza Delivery Drivers Wear Shorts!

We came across this story from The Consumerist about a Domino's Pizza Delivery Driver going "the extra mile" in order to keep a customer satisfied.

We think it's a great example of how being customer-focussed can generate excellent Word of Mouth Publicity.

Read the comments below the article, especially the one about Strippers in the afternoon. I guess I went to the wrong college. We never got strippers at all, let alone in the afternoon!

Eating Pizza Can Save Your Life and Make You Healthier

Andy, one of our more educated readers from Lincoln, Mass. sent me a link to an article in today's Guardian

A series of Italian research studies suggest that eating pizza might do good things for a person's health....(read on)

Personally, I have to say, from my biased standpoint, that owning a pizzeria is akin being in the bakery business - and nothing beats the smell of freshly-baked bread in the morning.

Fresh, wholesome toppings, 100% mozzarella cheese and dough made only from the classic 6 ingredients with no additives.

Just thinking about it is making me hungry for a pizza right now!

Domino's Pizza Ditches Halal Menu in Trial Stores

Luckily my mum is an avid reader of The Daily Telegraph and she alerted me to this story about Domino's Pizza stopping its trial of a Halal-only menu in 3 stores due to poor sales

The chain enraged customers 18 months ago by completely removing pork from its pizzas in favour of halal-only meat at its branch in Hall Green, Birmingham.......Read the article here

For what it's worth, I am not surprised at the poor sales, and commend Domino's (and it's franchisees) for their bravery in both starting the trial in the first place and in stopping it when it became evident that it was not a commercial success.

Companies should engender a culture of not being afraid to make mistakes, as only by learning from them do you become better and stronger in the long run.

History is littered with examples of companies and their mistakes like the Ford Edsel, New Coke, The Oreo Dessert Pizza, McDonald's Hulaburger and the Sony Betamax.

Yet the companies behind these are all among the most successful in the World, because they were not afraid of failure and knew how to deal with it when they encountered it.

Indeed, the enormously successful Domino's Chocolate Lavacake was born out of the failures of the Oreo pizza, which identified a market for a dessert pizza and the comical Fudgems. Who can forget the advert where the little girl looks like she has just been covered in poo by the supposedly adorable Fudgem?

So instead of quietly chortling at Domino's Halal "mistake", we should be praising them for their bravery in pushing boundaries and exploring new marketing opportunities.

Who knows, people one day may look back and laugh at those unbelievers who can see no future for Oven-baked Subs which have been launched to a fanfare of publicity as the latest menu's headline product and supported by hundreds of thousands of pounds of Franchisees Marketing Fund Contributions. Or maybe they won't!

Personally I hope they're a huge success and prove to be the final nail in Subway's coffin (to quote a Domino's Senior manager).

What do you think?

Domino's Pizza Delivers Breakfast in Bed as Manchester All Saints Store Opens 24/7

Residents of Central Manchester who fancy breakfast in bed are in for a treat as Domino’s Pizza in Grosvenor Street, Manchester, is now delivering just that – delicious, hot sweetcured back bacon, sausage and egg subs, Lavazza coffee and even pizza. The store, which is open 24 hours each day, will deliver a piping hot breakfast sub and a coffee to your door for just £7.99 or two of each for £14.00.

Store manager Steve Cubitt, currently Domino’s International Manager of the Year, said: “We are already open until 5am, but could see that there was a big demand for a tasty Domino’s breakfast – so we’ve increased our opening hours and made one available.

“Residents and office workers within the Central Manchester area can now order their breakfast from us and we’ll get it delivered right to the door. And if you fancy pizza for breakfast – no problem! We’ll deliver that too!”

The store will be sampling its new hot breakfast subs around the Manchester area throughout the week commencing August 16.

The hot breakfast subs are available with any combination of sweetcured back bacon, sausage and egg and come with a sachet of HP Sauce and one of Heinz Tomato Ketchup. Delivery is available to anyone currently within the Manchester City Centre store’s delivery area and the store can be contacted on 0161 273 5666.

A sub and a coffee delivered will cost £7.99, or £4.99 if you collect it from the store, and customers can order online too.

Domino's Pizza UK - Special Offer - Any Pizza Any Size Just £9.99

What can I add except to say that it is valid until August 15th 2010?

You can order by phoning your local store or online

There's an iPhone App coming shortly, but I'm told by my moles that it's not quite ready yet. but will be very very soon. Watch this space.

There are the usual Terms and Conditions, I suppose. It can't be used with any other special offer. While stocks last. Participating Outlets only. Regular or Thin Crust Only. A premium will be charged for Dominator or Double Decadence bases. Order a pizza from the menu or Create Your Own with up to 5 toppings.

Err that's it!

Easier than Easy Peppadew Pizza

You might think that here at Pizzas and Stuff we are couch potatoes who just sit in front of our iPads all day, waiting for our next pizza to be delivered.

Well that's only partly true. Occasionally, we believe it is within our remit to also show that it is actually possible to make your own pizza from scratch.

And how nice they can be when you do!

Here's Stacey, from our good friends over at Peppadew UK showing us how we can make "Easier than Easy Peppadew Pizza"

And if that whetted your tastebuds and you fancy some dessert then take a look at Stacey making Peppadew cheesecake

Domino's Pizza UK Special Offer - Any Pizza Any Size Only £9.99

What can I add except to say that it is valid until September 12th 2010?

You can order by phoning your local store or online

There's an iPhone App coming shortly, but I'm told by my moles that it's not quite ready yet. but will be very very soon. Watch this space.

There are the usual Terms and Conditions, I suppose. It can't be used with any other special offer. While stocks last. Participating Outlets only. Regular or Thin Crust Only. A premium will be charged for Dominator or Double Decadence bases. Order a pizza from the menu or Create Your Own with up to 5 toppings.

Err that's it!

Someone Feed That Man - Steve Jobs Gets Turned Away From SF Pizzeria

Andy, one of our readers from Lincoln,Mass. sent me a link from Cult of the Mac on this "slow news day" story about our Steve getting turned away from a SF Pizzeria recently.

While the story itself is unremarkable, the post contains a nice list (with links) of some half-decent pizza restaurants in San Francisco.

Enjoy!

Local Domino's Pizza Manager Wins Global Award

Out of 9,000 Domino’s pizza shop managers in 60 countries, Steve Cubitt has been crowned the best.......(Read the story from The Manchester Evening News)

Well done Steve.

Although I don't know you personally I was honoured to be present at the Rally in Las Vegas celebrating Domino's Pizza's 50th Annversary when your award was announced.

They showed a video biography which demonstrated your passion to be the best and to strive to improve continually. It made me proud to be a Dominoid!

You are doing a great job in All Saints.

Keep it up!