Good practice:

Local Gourmet Festival

Local Gourmet Festival is an event that took place in the Noble restaurant of the Elysium Resort & Spa, for first time in Rhodes in 2018. The guests of the hotel had the opportunity to taste unique creations of awarded Greek chefs who inspired their dishes from the land of their birth, from where they have grown up or lived. Using ingredients from their own regions, the invited chefs cooperated with Noble’s gastronomy team who represented the Rhodian gastronomy.
Every evening the guests had the opportunity to taste a unique 7 dishes tasting menu, three of which were inspired from the region of the invited chef, three dishes inspired from Rhodes, and one dish that was inspired from both regions. A number of important companies – business partners – have proven their support for the emergence and promotion of Local Gastronomy. Local Gourmet Festival is an innovation in hotel gastronomy. The passion of the chef for the Rhodian gastronomy and for the local products has led to a large investment in local cuisine since 2015 by the restaurant's service. The experience in flavours and in the notion of the traditional cuisine led to this festival, which continued successfuly the following years.

Travel and accommodation cost for chefs are being covered by sponsors. Local products are being donated by the local companies to support the event, infrastructure in the kitchen and the restaurantis being used for free. Total cost of 15.000-20.000 per year covered entirely by donations.

Every single event during the Local Gourmet Festival was sold out a lot earlier. Increase of demand for the Noble restaurant by the guests of the hotel, guests of the hotels in the area, local people. Full capacity during the rest of the summer period. A lot of publicity that gave an added value to the brand of Rhodian cuisine. The project had a positive financial result. It is well known in the island and very much appreciated. Feedback from local community, press, customers.

Additional resources like staff, preparation time, infrastructure and material for the promotion and advertising of the action were needed. The recognition that came from the first action requires a great deal of effort in communicating with each targeted audience. New sponsors needed each year

In a successful event, it is a fact that "mouth-to-mouth" advertising has a very good result. The success of the festival strengthened the brand. There was interest by the local community. The gastronomic mass media advertised it a lot. A new thematic product for the Elysium Resort & Spa was developed. It is different from other similar festivals, since it is specialized in gourmet local cuisine and this strengthens the business as well as its competitiveness. Focusing on local gastronomy is a great success, because in that way there is a connection between tourism, gastronomy and the primary sector of the island.