“Inspire personality to special events”, a campaign by Unilever Food Solutions and The Syndicate targeting restaurants’ owners

Unilever Food Solutions and the Syndicate ran, in the end of 2012 and for the 2nd year in a row, “Inspire personality to special events’ campaign, aimed to help Romanian operators with an Events Kit that may turn the gastronomical offer in restaurants more attractive to the clients. The campaign was implemented in 219 locations in Bucharest and other Romanian towns.

The operators that bought Unilever Food Solutions’ products between September 1st to December 1st  received “Events suited to your taste” kit and, depending on the value of their acquisitions, they also got prizes to make their kitchen activity more efficient.

The study we made in 2011 showed us that weddings – and special events in general – are an important revenues source for Romanian restaurants. That is why, the kit comes to support the operators so they could maximize their profit through an offer that is different from the traditional one (…) In 2012, the interest of the operators for this kit was higher than in the previous year, which means restaurants’ owners are more and more aware of how much presentation means for their business

Maria Gavrilescu,

Channel Marketing Leader Unilever Food Solutions.

The mentioned study gathered together answers from 100 restaurants’ owners from Bucharest, Cluj, Mures, Brasov, Arad, Oradea, Timisoara, Suceava, Iasi, Botosani, Prahova, Dambovita and Buzau.

The kit is available in an adaptable form, that can be modified to suit each restaurant’s offer and each meal from the menu is presented individually, together with a suggestive photo. The campaign was developed together with the chef Samuel Rus, that has extensive experience in events’organizing and conceived the recipes for the 25 courses proposed.

2011’s experience brought to light a very important aspect for our approach: each of our country’s regions has different gastronomic habits when it comes of special menus. For example, in Ardeal, weddings take place during the day and they serve soup also. That why we went ahead with the idea of adaptable presentation (…) The study made in 2012 showed, same as in 2011, that, when they want to organize a special event, Romanians are counting on chefs’ expertise. Generally, they present a list of options and clients chose the one closest to their desires. And when they are choosing the menu for an event, the visual aspect of the offer is always considered very important, according to most operators that answered the study

Valentin Vernea,

Head of Trade Marketing, the Syndicate.

In just 3 months, the campaign was implemented in 219 restaurants in Bucharest and other Romanian towns  30% more compared to last year. The operator were attracted by the opportunity to improve their menus with help from special recipes coming from UFS, that aren’t part from the usual offer Romanian restaurants have for special event. Another point of interest was represented by the other prizes offered during the campaign.