Cafe Salivation at 176 Race Course Rd - The Founders Part III

(Left to Right : Karen Raja, Prasad Raja )

Menu Planning 

Here at Cafe Salivation, the recipes for the menu items are researched, developed & launched by Founder Karen Raja, but prepared & cooked by native chefs from Calcutta, India. 

The menu planning is handled by Founder Karen Raja, where she works with the 2 native Indian chefs from Calcutta to conduct in-house tasting session, invites Focus Group for food tasting to further decide whether to keep a particular item on the menu. The Focus Group consists of a mix community of Indians, Chinese, expatriates. For each food tasting session, she uses a different Focus Group.

Cafe Salivation is managed by a full-time Manager who runs the cafe on behalf of Founder Karen Raja.

Cafe Salivation serves vegetarian Western Cuisine, with some dishes that come with a touch of Indian flavor such as Indian chutney to ensure the Indian diners will not feel out of place.

Menu Changes 
Cafe Salivation changes it menu on a yearly basis. Karen Raja does extensive research to find alternative substitutes that are more customer friendly to replace ingredients that she could not use in her recipes for customers with dietary preferences (such as gluten-intolerant, non-onion, non-garlic dietary requirements). 

For Cafe Salivation to succeed in its vegetarian stance, Karen Raja has to come up with vegetarian dishes that have protein ingredients to enable customers to include protein in their diet. So she uses ingredients such as tofu & coconut in their home made ice cream.

There are many customers with special dietary preferences such as gluten-free, non-garlic, non-onions requirements & she makes sure these are attended to by the kitchen. Today, there are a total of  55 items on the Cafe Salivation menu. 

Besides the 55 items in Main Menu, Cafe Salivation offers Specialty items for special occasion : e.g. 

• for Valentine Day's Special, the cafe offered Vegetable Mexican sizzlers with Moscato, 
• for Christmas Special, the cafe offers a 6 course Christmas dinner for 2 persons. 

Kitchen Staff Training 
Cafe Salivation has 2 native Indian chefs from Calcutta, India who possess culinary skills & are trained in their field. When Karen Raja hired the 2 Indian chefs she had to share the original recipe with them. 

The outlet here is the Central kitchen where all preparation work in done. 
All sauce made in house, all food prepared fresh. 
Food ingredients are locally sourced from Lim Kim Seng for vegetables, Angliss for English pasta, Karen Raja is actively sourcing for new suppliers.

Pita bread & burger buns are made in-house by the Indian native chefs. The kitchen is on a no onion no garlic mode - ideal for catering for monks & Buddhists. In fact a group of monks had vegetarian Lo Hei during Chinese new Year. 

Slogan & Mission Statement 
"For Droolicious Sensations" 

Cafe Salivation aim to serve the best vegetarian Western food in Singapore, to cater to every one's needs,  there is something for everyone at Cafe Salivation.

Cafe Salivation Differs from other cafes :

• Offers dine - in Western vegetarian cuisine.
• Have a colorful playful vibe in its branding, image & decor.
• Have a good selection of dishes in various categories from starters, soups, salads, sandwich, Mexican, pizzas,burgers, side dishes, pastas, Breakfast, oriental dishes, English desserts, Coffee, Fresh juices - everything under one roof.
• Uses soya in lasagna, tastes like the real deal. 

Fun Facts about Cafe Salivation 

• Payment - available by NETS,VISA, Mastercard, Cash.
• Catering - available, the cafe does catering for Corporate parties, private parties, minimum order for 30 pax. The catering costing is customised from S$13 to S$25 per head depending on the items the customers choose. 
• Takeaways - available with no minimum order required. 
• Delivery - minimum order of S$30. 
• Food vendor - Cafe uses Room Service for Pick up food & delivery to customers place.
• Promotion with Chope - for online reservations. 

• Booking of venue for private events - available, even for large groups. For other walk in customers they can go to seats from Raj Restaurant next door. 
• Promotion with online companies, banks - Yes, www.deal.com.sg, none with banks.
• Loyalty Programs - Loyalty card for 5% off total bill for any of Group restaurant. Birthday month enjoy 20% off. Get special discounts, & get invited for food tasting events by the group. 
• Merchandise on Sale - Not available yet. In future some of the dipping sauces, salad dressings might be available on sale. 
• Target Market & Audience - Vegetarians & non vegetarians who enjoy the occasional vegetarian food. Families, young cafe lovers, teenagers, expatriates, corporate customers. Age group : mid 20's onwards. 
• Seating Capacity - 30 to 32 pax (indoors), (alfresco) 6 pax.
• Signature Items - Lasagna, Ravioli, Mexican Pasta, Mexican Rice (popular among the Indian customer ), Soya Burger, Sweet Potato Burger, Panni Burger, Sesame Burger, Middle Eastern Burger, Wild Rice.
• Famous Celebrities who visited - Gurmit Singh & Michelle Chia

Marketing Campaigns 
Marketing efforts that Cafe Salivation have done includes - 

1. Being spotted in Straits Times Life section in 2008 when Cafe Salivation first opened at its old premise at Syed Alwi Road,
2. Working with apps such as Sugar app, Burpple app, AdWords,
3. Going by Word of Mouth recommendations to get new customers, 
4. Working with search engines like Google to move ranking up in search for vegetarian food. 
5. Participating in events with Vegetarian Society to promote vegetarian cuisine. 
6. Getting food carts in CBD & town areas to sell some of the product offerings from Cafe Salivation & to draw the CBD customers to visit the cafe at 176 Race Course Road.
7. Conducting Coffee Workshop, Cupping Workshops at institutions to promote the brand. 

Menu Category 
The extensive menu category found in Cafe Salivation Menu includes :

• Starters 
• Soups 
• Salads
• Mexican 
• Sandwiches
• Pizzas
• Burger 
• Side Dishes
• Pastas
• English Desserts 
• Oriental Dishes such as Laksa , Green Curry
• Breakfast Menu 
• Different types of Coffee
• Fresh Fruit Juices 

Cafe Salivation is located at :

176 Race Course Road, S(218607)

Tel : 62981412

Email: enquiries@cafesalivation.com

www.cafesalivation.com

www.facebook.com/cafesalivation

Opening Hours : 

Mon to Fri 10 am - 10.30 pm

Sat - Sun    10 am - 11 pm