As on-premise “farm-to-table” promotions and multi-course tasting dinners have evolved from trendy to mainstream in the past few years, more people are seeking dining experiences that expand their horizons beyond a sit-down dinner. In response, an increasing number of hotels and resorts are developing and launching chef-led food tours, cooking classes, local producer partnerships, branded retail products, and inventive takes on room service that amplify customer engagement and promise personal enrichment in addition to a great meal.
Drawing Fans from Near and Far
Fontainebleau Las Vegas launched its “Signature Series by Fontainebleau” in September 2024, within its first year of opening. Michelin-starred chefs such as Richard Chen joined forces with key Fontainebleau Las Vegas culinary team members, including Master Sommelier Kevin Reilly and Director of Beverage Development Juyoung Kang, to sweeten the value proposition. The series of interactive and practical classes, running well into 2025 and drawing both area residents and visitors alike, showcases what happens behind the scenes with the property’s experts while providing attendees with practical skills and useful tips to apply at home.
The Mountain Shadows Resort in Paradise Valley, Ariz., launched restaurant activations shortly after it opened in March 2017. According to Charles Wiley, executive chef and director of food and beverage, it began with monthly dinners at the resort’s Hearth ‘61 that appealed as much to locals as they did to guests.
“As these dinners progressed, we noticed local regulars would recognize and greet each other,” said Wiley. “In several cases, two couples become a table of four at the next dinner. Hence, we started scheduling them on one Sunday a month [as the] ‘Sunday Supper Club,’ a four-course dinner paired with appropriate beverages. We always have a guest speaker, whether it's a chef, winemaker, artisan, or beverage brand ambassador, and these guests interact with attendees before, during and after the event.”
Although the goal was to find new ways to expose the community to Hearth ‘61 and demonstrate it is not just some generic hotel restaurant, Wiley observed that the ‘Sunday Supper Club,” and “Spirited Sipping Seminars,” an outgrowth of the latter’s popularity, have created a tremendous amount of goodwill and word of mouth.
The “Cook Your Catch” program at Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa expands on interactivity with a fishing excursion originating from the resort’s dock teamed with a cooking class. It shines a spotlight on its Four Flamingos: A Richard Blais Key West Kitchen and the resort’s sustainability efforts focused on the ocean. While the program is available to resort guests, Don Hood, director of commercial services, notes locals know about it and love it.
“It has been such a well-received part of the Hyatt Centric Key West stay that we have expanded it to be available in all our restaurant outlets and catering departments,” Hood said. “Each executive chef puts their spin on it, and we can't wait to see how our new Executive Chef Leandro Minelli will continue to elevate the ‘Cook Your Catch’ experience. It is also a great conversation starter for our colleagues when engaging with local guests and those from outside the Florida Keys. All participants learn how our culinary team keeps waste minimal when preparing food.”
Pop-Ups and Try-Outs
As many Phoenix residents are out of town in the summer months, Wiley and the Mountain Shadows team experimented with a new concept with broader appeal and a lower price point. “Brunch & Learn,” a brunch prefaced with a cooking demonstration of two featured dishes, was tried out this past summer. The trial was a success, with several sold-out brunches prompting the team to extend it in size and scope.
Jim Barnett, director of F&B catering and activations of hotel management and development company OTO Development, points to several activations attracting a mix of guests and residents in a variety of demographics. The “Most Romantic Rooftop Dinner Series” at the Limón Rooftop Bar at AC Hotel Naples in Florida combines a three-course prix fixe dinner and a chocolate tasting with regional chocolatier Norman Love Confections. Private cocktail masterclasses at the AC Waterfront Lounge at AC Hotel South San Francisco are popular among corporate groups and event planners.
“A recent AC GinTonic class followed by a tour of meeting and event space led to a client booking two catered events thus far,” said Barnett. “Hot dog carts and ice cream stands at various beachfront properties in Florida and the Carolinas promise to bring greater earning potential to previously non-revenue-generating spaces such as the pool deck.”
Concord Hospitality’s “The Collab” program launched this year, featuring chefs from properties in West Palm Beach, Fla., Little Rock, Ark., Pittsburgh, Penn., and Calgary. While it is still in its infancy, Dean Wendel, vice president of food and beverage at Raleigh, N.C.-based Concord Hospitality, expressed optimism that the initiative will take root across the company.
“Our (goal) was to bring our amazing teams together and showcase their talents beyond the confines of their hotels,” Wendel noted. “The events provide each chef with an opportunity to host and collaborate with visiting chefs [from other Concord properties], allowing them to work on-site at three different hotels—a 'traveling stage,' if you will. As each participating hotel and its general manager are committed to hosting and marketing the event within their property, this will help us attract the best talent in the industry both local and elsewhere.”
Venues for weddings, corporate happenings and other food-driven events at Europa Village Wineries and Resort in Temecula, Calif., generate steady income, as does retail space Mercato di Vienza, adjoining the resort’s Vienza deli. Executive Chef Hany Ali’s cooking demonstrations and hands-on food events also brought in repeat business. With the meaningful connections that Ali made with resort and local guests, the Europa marketing team wanted to expand upon that, as well as winery and wine club memberships popular with visitors and locals. The “Europa Table Culinary Club” initially took shape as a quarterly gourmet box sent to members with ingredients, chef tools and recipe cards. The contents correspond with videos where Ali guides members through the recipe as well as kitchen tips and tricks. Box themes now extend to global locations beyond villages in Spain, France and Italy that inspire the resort’s theme.
An Outpouring of Local Business Support
Hotel collaborations with local distilleries and artisan food purveyors benefit the partners as well as good causes. C Lazy U Ranch in Grand County, Colo. deepened its long partnership with Rick Talley and Owen Locke of the Locke + Co. Distillery in creating a limited-edition rye whiskey using charred aspen tree discs harvested from trees on the property affected by the 2020 East Troublesome fire. With this successful collaboration, C Lazy U Ranch also teamed with Peach Street Distillers to develop a bourbon, also released in 2024.
Brady Johnson, the resort’s director of Sales and Marketing says both partnerships provide guests the opportunity to taste, “hyper-local liquor embracing authentic western heritage and tasting notes."
“We got a lot of publicity,” Johnson said of the collaborations. “The story behind the small-batch spirits was covered in local newspapers, and people caught wind of how we created something positive out of something tragic. In addition to our guests and locals affected by the fire, a few local liquor stores wanted to carry it because their customers responded to the mission and vision behind it. Demand was so great that we had to start limiting (customers) to one bottle while we waited for the second half of the batch to arrive.”
Grand Junction, Colorado's Hotel Maverick, Palisade Winery and estate vineyard Sauvage Spectrum have teamed up to create Devil's Kitchen Reserve red and white private-label wines as a hotel exclusive. Winemaker Patric Matysiewski worked alongside General Manager Brian Smith, Executive Chef Michael Blake, and restaurant manager Brittnay Stuckenschneider to ensure the hotel-exclusive wine would pair perfectly with Devil’s Kitchen menus.
“Our primary mission is to focus on our regionally inspired cuisine and all things food and beverage native to the area,” explained Smith. “Our involvement is more than just putting our name on the label. We are hands-on in the process from start to blending to finish, and we’re putting what we learned to good use. Members of our culinary team, beverage team, servers, and front desk staff are also involved as we’re selling this in the restaurant, front desk and guest rooms.”
Local and On-Brand
“While the culinary programs are designed for guests, 100 percent of them need to be on-brand for our properties and appeal to the local community… So much so that we've coined the term 'resident expert,'” said Nicole Haarklau, Coury Hospitality’s corporate director of food and beverage operations. “Our teams at each property have brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas for these activations. They always develop a budget to see if the activation is profitable, and if it is a truly unique experience for guests and locals. The decision is then made to either proceed or rework the idea so it is more profitable and exciting.” In addition, Coury's employees all carry the moniker of "experience curators," as everyone contributes to making memorable experiences at their properties.
At Coury Hospitality-managed Hotel Vin, Autograph Collection in Grapevine, Texas, the 120-room boutique hotel takes Coury's "activate every inch" mantra to heart. For example, the Magnum Speakeasy is a well-loved watering hole. A retro phone booth conceals a secret door, which leads to an intimate cocktail bar with 18 seats. Inside the moody space (that used to be a seldom-if-ever used meeting room), patrons can find Prohibition-style cocktails and a cozy yet swanky atmosphere—the perfect place for a unique cocktail experience. Though wine education is at the heart of this Autograph Collection Hotel's Mark, sometimes a spirit or two is the perfect way to start or end an evening.
Focaccia-making classes with executive pastry chef Sophia Candida at Palato Kitchen & Bar inside Coury’s just-opened HALL Park Hotel in Frisco, Texas, quickly gained local and visitor following. At The Carmichael in Carmel, Indiana, a small groups accompanies executive chef Chris Coorts, the company’s only female executive chef, on a morning trip to the farmer's market via the Monan Trail to pick fresh produce and other ingredients. While the participants explore Carmel in the afternoon, the chef prepares a dinner with what the participants selected at the farmer's market.
“There is a growing desire for unique experiences,” noted Concord Hospitality’s Wendel regarding the uptick of experiences that connect culinary staff and guests in meaningful ways while cooking up a better bottom line. “They are ideal opportunities for our hotel guests to indulge in something new, and for locals to explore fresh and exciting flavors in their backyard.”
“We like to play offense, not defense, and generating revenue is always a focus,” said Russell LaCasce, executive chef at Scottsdale, Arizona's Hotel Valley Ho, on its equally colorful and trendy in-room food amenities, cooking classes and “Chef Roulette” multi-course dinner. “We are always looking for new ways to push the envelope and generate revenue, guest experience and, most of all, have fun."
Of Note
- Coury Hospitality’s Nicole Haarklau observes that while the culinary events were originally designed for out-of-town guests, up to 70 percent of the attendees are locals. The focus has since shifted to a community-style emphasis that makes “resident experts” the heart of each program.
- The popularity of Mountain Shadows Resort’s “Sunday Supper Club” led to “Spirited Sipping Seminars,” with the sommelier leading wine and cocktail tastings on Saturday afternoons between lunch and dinner at Hearth ’61. Executive Chef Charles Wiley estimates these events bring in an additional 25-35 guests that the restaurants wouldn’t normally attract.
- Hotel Maverick’s Devil's Kitchen Reserve wines are sold at 50 percent premium compared comparable house wines at other properties. General Manager Brian Smith noted that guests are willing to pay that premium as it is and “artisan product” that helps support local businesses.
- The Beatrice in downtown Providence, R.I. offers a “Snack Attendant” perk, where guests fill out a snack quiz when booking a room so they are given personalized, locally-crafted snacks on arrival, such as curated antipasti from Bellini, a Cipriani-owned Italian restaurant. Guests staying at Denver’s The Ramble Hotel can order Uchi sushi boxes with an exclusive extra “Ramble Roll,” ranging in price from $95 to $295, directly to their guest room via in-room via iPad communicating with neighboring Uchi Denver restaurant’s kitchen.
This article was originally published in the February/March edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.