Very shortly, A Taste of the Region will be introducing Strawberry Schnapps and Coffee Cream as made by Timboon Railway Shed Distillery. Alas, their whisky is in too short supply for us to stock, but the Schnapps and Coffee Cream make for great substitutes. Watch this space for more details!

(Keep up-to-date with A Taste of the Region's changing product list by subscribing to our newsletter)

We're happy to announce that our new online store is finally open, after weeks of copying, editing, adding and calculating.

Visit the new webstore now - tell us what you think!

The new webstore has its own quirks, as all technology does, but the most important benefit is that everything is now in the one online system. Register as a new customer, place an order, review previous orders, check on the status of your orders, make payments - it all happens in the one database, so that we can process your orders faster, more efficiently, and with less chance for error.

Now, it's not the prettiest of webstores (that costs extra, naturally!!). But we think it functions reasonably well, and certainly the shopping cart and checkout process are pretty good particularly if you use Paypal. We'll be able to keep in touch with you better too, so if you are interested you can be informed when we have special offers or new products. Just tick the box when you register with us.

We would be extremely grateful if you could pass back to us any feedback and first impressions - good and bad! Contact us by phone, fax, email or online form.

You can still order from our old webstore for now, while we transition. However, note that this version of our shop has no GORGE Chocolates or Warren & Hutch goodies!

A Taste of the Region is now a certified Retail Supporter of the famous Australian Made campaign. For more than 20 years, the Australian Made, Australian Grown Campaign has been helping consumers to exercise their preference for buying Australian, and promoting Australian products in Australia and increasingly also in export markets.The famous green and gold trade mark was launched in 1986.

Only products that have been licenced and registered with Australian Made Campaign Limited (AMCL) are permitted to use the logo. A recent twist to the campaign allows retailers that offer predominantly Australian-made and/or Australian-grown products to also apply for a licence, and we are happy to announce that we have been granted on. Our logo is a variation of the normal logo, with a "Retail Supporter" text at the bottom in place of Australian Made or Australian Grown. 

We cannot attach the logo to any of the products we sell unless that product in itself has been licenced, so you will only see the logo dotted around our informational webpages and on our literature. But, it's good to be able to publicise with official backing what we're all about - promoting the local produce!

A Taste of the Region has taken the bold decision to invest in an entirely-online financial and business management system. All accounting and inventory data and transactions will take place through a browser. In the near future, the webstore will also be integrated with this system. In theory, this means a much easier system to administer, automation of key tasks (such as entering customer orders in terms of both financial transaction and inventory adjustments), and a reduction in the chance of errors through re-keying data.

This has been a mountain of work & effort over the last couple of weeks, but the payoff is a single-view system that can be accessed anywhere, anytime. It's also a much more powerful solution than the stand-alone retail software packages available from the likes of Quicken and MYOB.

We hope that this will let us provide even better, faster service to our customers. The integrated webstore (still under construction, you can get a sneak preview at http://shop.atasteoftheregion.com.au) in particular will streamline our internal processes for your benefit.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions, do please contact A Taste of the Region.

Keep an eye out for A Taste of the Region's ad in "What's On In Geelong". A free publication available throughout the Surf Coast, Bellarine and Geelong, it is a great way to find out what's happening in those areas. The small-format newspaper includes events, markets, and categorised retailers - by region, by product etc. See our ad below - what do you think?

A Taste of the Region is happy to announce GORGE Chocolates products will shortly be available. GORGE Chocolates make particularly good Belgian chocolate in all sorts of ways and shapes. Situated close to the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road, they are an essential stop if you are touring that way. A Taste of the Region will be including GORGE Chocolate products in a number of themed hampers - the chocolate is available in dark, milk and white versions and there are mint, marbled, melba and more flavourings. Try the Loch Ard liquorice!
Opening hours and location can be found on the GORGE Cholocates website.

And a "Did you know?" - GORGE = Great Ocean Road Gourmet Experience.

Chocolates are of coure a very celebratory food - our hamper "A Taste of Celebration" will include GORGE chocolates teamed with Blakes Estate "Blanc de Noir" bubbly and a couple of champagne glasses. But you'll be able to make up your own hamper of course, or just order the chocolate!