To follow the success of its two recent initiatives featuring international culinary traditions, Omni Hotels & Resorts brought the focus back home for its “Vibrant Flavors of the U.S.A.” promotion. The Irving, Texas-based Omni Hotels—rated “Highest in Guest Satisfaction Among Upscale Hotel Chains” in the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study—sought to build on the excitement created by the previous promotions to offer new culinary experiences to their loyal clientele and educational opportunities to employees on all levels. The U.S.A. promotion, which ran from September 19 to December 31, 2005, surpassed the achievements of the earlier events.
Omni chose to celebrate American cuisine with well-known, comfort foods—presented in a manner that still manages to surprise despite their familiarity. Corporate Director of F&B Operations Fernando Salazar recognized a heightened sense of American patriotism and saw the chance to reinforce guests’ sense of the honest goodness of American culture that manifests itself in American food. Salazar reports that the promotion went “exceptionally well,” better than its predecessors, in part because guests were “reminded” of the great quality of these familiar foods rather than being challenged by unknown dishes.
Like the Chile and Italy promotions before, Omni worked with sponsors in the U.S.A. campaign who presented histories, culinary information, and recipes for their products. The Idaho Potato Commission, the National Pork Board, the California Raisin Marketing Board, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and the National Cherry Growers and Industries Foundation were all instrumental in shaping the menu items selected for the promotion.
Sponsor “chef-ambassadors” gathered with chefs from 40 Omni properties located throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico for a three-day symposium to create the representative dishes. Each day, sponsors were allotted two hours to present their products, after which chefs broke into groups for culinary “ideation” sessions, or recipe brainstorming, to create six dishes using those products for specific menu categories.
Awards were given for the most creative dishes, best use of product, and dishes most likely to succeed. The symposium yielded 75 to 80 recipes agreed upon by the chefs as the best and most innovative.
Salazar split the Omni properties into five regions, allowing the chefs and F&B directors within each region to create one menu for that area. One chef was appointed as the lead within each region to help manage implementation of the new menus. Mike Jackson, executive chef at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Dallas, was chosen as lead for his region.
“These were a lot of familiar foods so the real challenge was to try to think outside of how they are usually served to find something adventuresome,” says Jackson. He and his fellow chefs chose items like Idaho fingerling potatoes baked in rock salt with Hook’s Cheese Co.seven-year aged Wisconsin cheddar and apple-smoked bacon fondue and a spicy Idaho potato chowder with golden California raisin bruschetta. “People know the basic items in these dishes and they feel comfortable eating them so items are selling even better [than the earlier promotions.]”
Barry Sondern, director of F&B at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, acknowledges the recognition factor in higher sales and also points out the versatility of sponsored products that made using them throughout the menu easier. “For the Italy promotion, we had Chianti and Parmigiano-Reggiano sponsors—which were great—but they aren’t as easy to work into every meal period as pork, raisins and potatoes.” Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, acknowledges the recognition factor in higher sales and also points out the versatility of sponsored products that made using them throughout the menu easier. “For the Italy promotion, we had Chianti and Parmigiano-Reggiano sponsors—which were great—but they aren’t as easy to work into every meal period as pork, raisins and potatoes.” Sondern oversees F&B operations at Omni’s largest property and asserts that with this promotion “the impact has been even greater” in sales and excitement and affirms that the task is less difficult to “reintroduce” people to new versions of some of their favorite foods than to introduce them to Chilean olive oil or Italian cheese.
The reaction Sondern and Jackson had to American artisanal cheese highlights the educational value of these promotions. Both were astounded by the range and quality of artisanal cheeses brought to the table by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
“To be exposed to artisanal cheeses from Wisconsin was incredible,” says Sondern. “I had no idea we were producing cheese of this quality here. It’s on a level with cheese anywhere.” Likewise, Jackson was enthusiastic about the discovery and added a cheese course of three 1-ounce portions of Wisconsin cheese plated with fruits, pecans, and California raisin-apple chutney.
Education: A Prerequisite
The continuing education of the staff—from top to bottom—is one of Salazar’s prerequisites for a good promotion. He examines the possibilities for new dining experiences for guests, associates, and staff as well as revenue opportunities to support the bottom line. He has gone so far as to take some of the chefs to Italy and Chile for training for the respective campaigns.
“This way, the chef not only learns how to cook the food, but he can see the land and the people and see the passion and genuine love that goes into the food . . . so he or she can understand it and enjoy it more,” says Salazar. Through all three promotions, Salazar has witnessed a growing thirst for culinary knowledge among guests and staff and increasing enthusiasm for the rewards of the campaigns for chefs, directors, and servers.
Rewards go beyond the day-to-day increased sales. Omni has set up awards to honor servers, directors, and properties that reach the pinnacle of sales. The top prizes for the Chile and Italy promotions were trips to those countries and the Vibrant Flavors of the U.S.A. sales winner will be heading for a stay in California’s wine country.
The benefits for Omni are greater than just gross revenues, as well. These promotions form strong relationships with sponsors and attract interest from producers, corporations, and countries wanting a spot on Omni’s dance card. Along with its sponsorship of the U.S.A. promotion, the California Raisin Marketing Board has featured 11 of Omni’s chefs in its “Look Who’s Cooking with California Raisins” ad campaign, further raising Omni’s profile. Salazar claims that sponsorship also provides marketing boards and producers with an inside look at what hotel chains need to make promotions succeed and teaches them what they can offer to help create these partnerships in the future.
Meanwhile, Salazar is sorting through a pile of prospective countries eager to bring their “Vibrant Flavors” to Omni’s dining rooms. The proposals come from far and wide—from Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia, and many other locales. It seems Antarctica is the only continent left out. The ongoing success of these promotions has left Salazar with the admirable problem of having to decide which suitors to accept and which areas of his curiosity to indulge.
Denny Lewis is a frequent contributor to Hotel F&B Executive.
