In Part I of our series on experiential marketing, we spoke to Luke Neale, Director of Sales and Marketing for Spicers Retreats, about a series of Brisbane dining events called ‘Chefs in the City’. Luke discusses how these events provide a platform for recreating their regional experiences in urban locations, and how taking payment upfront helps secure revenue and provide valuable customer feedback.
Spicers Retreats has seven properties across QLD and NSW with a very strong focus on the experience of quality dining. Offering more than a restaurant attached to a hotel, the Spicers brand takes as much pride in the restaurants and food as they do the accommodation to create exceptional destination dining. Between the properties, they have seven chef hats.
Four years ago, a surprise birthday party for the owner of Spicers brought all seven head chefs together to create a spectacular seven-course degustation dinner. This special dinner spawned the idea to bring this event to life for guests, bringing the regional dining experience to the city of Brisbane.
“We’re very focused on quality in everything we do as a brand. Chefs in the City came from wanting to create a really special series of events that were easily accessible and gave people a taste of what they could experience at any of our regional properties. It’s great advertising for what we do and gives our talented regional chefs the chance to showcase their dining experience in an urban setting” says Luke. “Food tourism provides such a different environment to racing home from work and simply going out for a good meal. We focus on every aspect of the food, quality, and location to create an unforgettable experience.”
Chefs in the City: Creative dessert ft. lemon curd and white chocolate ‘egg’
The Chefs in the City series concluded with an incredible finale, with all seven chefs serving their seven course degustation to 250 eager diners in one enormous family-style banquet dinner. This popular event is tipped to double in size for 2016 as word gets out and people increasingly look to spend their money on event experiences rather than material possessions.
As the event grows, organising event attendees manually has become more of a challenge, so Spicers Retreats have turned to Eventbrite to help with their 2016 series. Luke explains, “Collecting bookings for groups is challenging, especially when people would pay for their tickets but book for additional friends — it caused a bit of confusion and extra work to chase up payments. It’s so much easier having a system in place to manage payments upfront and be able to print a guest list knowing that everyone has paid. We can also go on to better use this customer information to follow them up and get their feedback on the events. Even our central reservations team is able to use the system to book tickets for guests, so everything is in one place.”
Spicers also plans to use Eventbrite as a marketing platform, using the site and social media integration to introduce Chefs in the City to a wider audience. “This isn’t an event that we have trouble filling, last year we only promoted it to our existing database. This year we want to spread the word further and introduce more people to our brand” says Luke.
Chefs in the City events take place at Spicers Balfour Hotel in New Farm, Brisbane throughout 2016. Visit the Chefs in the City website for more details, or book online at Eventbrite.
