Food Revolution Supper Club Part 2

Food Revolution Supper Club Part 2

Thu 02 Feb 2012

Story by Yapo
 

Who are the partners?

The high point of these couple weeks is gaining partner commitments from San Diego’s largest organic farm Be Wise Ranch, and San Diego’s oldest Orfila Winery. I walked the farm and vineyard to connect, discuss experiences, share expectations and get the buy-in as partners for the event. I’m excited to see the interaction the attendees will have with owner/farmer Bill Brammer and winemaker Justin Mund. They are passionate and romantic about what they do and it’s evident in the incredible fruits, vegetables and wine they produce.

The stressful factor was not getting a protein partner committed for the event. I still needed to know what food ingredients I’d have to make a menu. Then it happened this past Friday… Ring-Ring! Looking at my cell phone it read – Phil Noble and I lit up. The cattle Phil has are some of the luckiest cows I know of. They graze on fields of organic wheat grass and lounge in rolling hills, fertilize the earth for future wheat grass and generate the best tasting beef, well maybe that last part isn’t so lucky for them, but I digress. Sage Mountain Green Fed Beef is our protein partner!

Obviously securing your food partners is paramount to the success of the event. Even with the best plans, life happens and you’ve got to have passion to handle it all. You know who your local farmers are. You need to go visit them on their turf, the farm or ranch. Without food partners, the menu and advanced reservations can’t be posted. Without those, no one can attend. They are our neighbors. Support them, see your community flourish and gain lifelong relationships with each of them.

What goes into planning the menu and attendance?

One thing I learned from the very first Food Revolution Supper Club(FRSC)… we waited to collect money from people until the night of the event and some people didn’t show up. Without having funds committed, it was easy to pass for whatever reason. Now we collect money in advance and really know what the attendance is looking like for food quantities.

Two days prior to the first FRSC, I still had a few seats available, so I invited a few key people to be my guests and fill up the seats. In reflection, that was a double win decision. The key people were great conversationalist and really added to the attendees’ experience, which helped give us a “fan base” with people commenting for days, how great it was. The second win was gaining the invaluable relationships with the vendors who, of course, also attended the dinner to share information about their products.

Menu planning may seem simple but when you are dealing with a singular seasonal food provider it’s not so simple. You will have an “idea” of what food ingredients you have, but until the foods are in your hands, you really won’t know. I learned this early and now every FRSC menu includes a note about a chance for food substitutions. Luckily this time I am partnered with San Diego’s largest organic farm, Be Wise Ranch, so I feel mighty confident the items “they think” they will have will be available.

Now that the menu is set and the pricing has been decided for the dinner, it came time to figure out how we’re going to integrate raising funds for the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. After input from others, I made an executive decision to keep the FRSC price and the donation contribution separate. See the menu and how we are integrating the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation in advanced reservations.

To maintain the intimacy of the FRSC, especially for the romantic date of Valentine’s Day, we plan to sell only 30 seats at a price point that we believe also encourages donations. My goal is sell out 5 days prior to the event and raise at least $750... Got to have goals, right?

How do I get the seats filled?

To do this, the FRSC marketing uses an “underground-esque” feel and what’s better than the no-cost, grassroots, email and social media push? To get momentum and maximize the effectiveness of these strategies, I want to maintain a continual push of the FRSC concept and keep it on the top of people’s minds.

For momentum sake, I make every update on the FRSC blog the greatest, most unique and exciting news every time… No matter what it is! This includes new and or updated information. Something I stumbled upon early is posting information via social media at different times of the day in order to reach more people. Also, pushing information even after you’ve sold out, creates buzz for future FRSC’s.

It is a few weeks out, where are we?

A week after releasing the menu and advanced reservations, chatter has increased in so many different groups of people. That’s exciting! This next week my partners are pushing the event to their subscribers and based on the amount of RSVPs and payments received about 10 days prior, we may implement a more “out in the open” less “underground” approach by paying for a neighborhood newspaper campaign about the FRSC.

Alrighty then fellow revolutionaries! Keep on advocating, be the change you want to see and cross your fingers for a successful Valentine’s Day FRSC.

About the author: A graduate of San Diego Culinary Institute in California and experience in the food industry, owner/chef David "Yapo" of San Diego's local, organic, sustainable YaposHomeCatering serves clients from SDGandE, US Green Building Council, Surfrider Foundation, Aaron Chang Ocean Art Gallery to smart households and more throughout the area. Yapo is a husband, dad of two boxer-lab mix pups, surfer, activist and a San Diego Zoo master compost educator.