Tag: Restaurant PR

Certified Guac Guru

Cherith AndesBlog, Photo of the Week, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , ,

It was like magic. She started with a few Hass avocados, a ramekin of diced onions, sun-dried tomatoes and a pinch of cilantro and salt. After a flurry of action and a light clinking of spoons, our table was flourished with a bowl of fresh, mouth-watering guacamole.

And hence commenced our official research with Babalu Tapas and Tacos! We’re thrilled to work with this group of zany, creative foodies on such a fun (and can we say delicious?) concept.

We’re all just a bunch of foodies at heart, and we love working in the restaurant PR industry. Stay tuned for tasty updates!

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“Man-i-fy” Brunch for Father’s Day

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , , ,

Dads are getting short-changed. Mother’s Day brunch is a no-brainer, but what about brunch for guys? 

Client Pizza La Stella is “man-i-fying brunch” for Father’s Day — featuring all the foods guys love. You’ve heard of “breakfast for dinner?” Pizza La Stella —  a Neapolitan-style restaurant in downtown Raleigh —  is serving “dinner for breakfast” and pizza for brunch. 

Ready to man up to the menu? Try…

“The Chicken and Waffles ‘Za” Pizza

Spike your pizza! This Italian take on the traditional southern dish (chicken and waffles) piles eggs, pancuitto and apple-wood chicken on a cinnamon and sugar dough — spiked with black pepper maple syrup.

Chicken Wings

Pizza La Stella transforms this typical tailgating treat into a brunch classic with proprietary flavors like Maple Black Pepper and Honey Habanero.

Edible Drinks and Drinkable Eats

Try drinks you eat (a skillet called Bloody Mary’s Revenge) and eats you drink (like a cocktail made with French Toast cereal). 

Courtesy of Dylan Wade Film

The menu — big, bold and bodaciously brunchy — is now available every Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Celebrate on Father’s Day and every weekend after that!

We love creative ways to celebrate traditional holidays with our clients. Check out some of the other “sweet” food events!

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Instagram Slideshows for Restaurants

Clairemont InternBlog, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,
With the latest Instagram upgrade, users are now able to post “slideshows,” several images within one post where the next photo is accessed by sliding your finger across the screen. This feature gives restaurants a new and fresh way to present themselves on social media’s favorite app. Here are a few examples!

 

  1. Demo the Deliciousness

Have a fan-favorite dish? Restaurants have the ability to take their followers from start to finish of any meal using the slideshow feature. Since the app allows up to ten slides per post, users have plenty of space to show their followers exactly how their favorite dish is created. Giving them a sneak peek at all the fresh and flavorful ingredients and how they come together piece by piece will help to create some cravings among your followers and future guests!

  1. Recap an Epic Event

Saturday night’s dinner accompanied by a live band? Throwing a special event for the big game? Now you no longer have to pick the “best” photo or video to showcase the whole evening. Followers can relive the entire course of events rather than a snapshot of just one moment.

  1.  Highlight the Specials

Using the slideshow feature, you can advertise the entire night’s specialties (drinks, dinner and desserts!) in one quick and easy post. Note that the Instagram post represents the special for that specific night in order to create a sense of urgency and entice customers to head your way.

  1.  Show Off Good Customer Reviews

With so many consumers now relying on recommendations from others, such as Yelp, slideshows provide a perfect opportunity to highlight those great reviews. Take screen grabs from Yelp or use quotes from customers (even videos!) to create a post that radiates positivity for your restaurant.

  1. Capture the Entire Meal

Show off the three, five or seven course meals your restaurant has to offer! No longer are you limited to one picture or plate of food. Use a photo for each course in the slideshow, and by the end, guests want to know how to make a reservation. Hint: the link is in your profile.

Looking for other tips? Check out how to foodify your Instagram stories!

 

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Triangle Talent Takes Charleston

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , ,

Beers and bites, sips and snacks, cocktails and culinary creations. We’re heading off again to this year’s Charleston Wine and Food Festival celebrating some of the South’s finest and most creative cuisine. From special events like the “What the Pho” dinner to the bustling Culinary Village, chefs and artisans from around the country unite to share their passion for food and drink.

And the Triangle is showing up in a big way this year! We’re excited that the festival is featuring a wide variety of top culinary talent from the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill region, including these rockstars:

Congratulations and good luck to all the talented chefs and artisans showcasing this weekend!

See anybody that should be on this list? Let us know so we can give them a shout!

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The Power of One Pepper

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Real Estate PR, , , , ,

What started with one lowly tobago pepper has heated up to be the largest food festival of its kind in the Southeast! The Annual Pepper Festival, hosted by Abundance NC and Clairemont client Briar Chapel, now tops the charts as a spicy celebration of North Carolina cooking, music, fashion and culture — and all to support sustainable food and fuels.

But few hot events come out of the gate with 2,200 attendees, 50 competing chefs and an award-winning roster of bluegrass bands. As we approach the 10th Annual Pepper Festival this fall, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the fun milestones along the way.

2008: One Pepper, One Dream

Enter 40 friends who gathered at the Piedmont BioFarm (part of nonprofit Abundance NC) to engage in a little spicy sampling. Farmer Doug had long been dreaming up a seed-saving program to cultivate vegetables suited specifically for the North Carolina climate. Doug began growing, breeding and testing his favorite food —  peppers, but he needed palates to taste and assess his new produce. Hence, the first Pepper Fest was born! Angelina brought food (to wash down the peppers, she says!), and the sustainably minded, spice-loving friends noshed their way through almost 50 varieties of Farmer Doug’s peppers.

2009: The Second Amazing Pittsboro Pepper Festival

The Pepper Festival coined its first official name, Habanero Beer from Triangle Brewing Company made its debut, bands hit the scene, and a dozen chefs joined the fray to craft pepper-themed dishes. Briar Chapel began partnering with Abundance NC to support the festival and promote the organizations’ common goals of sustainability.

2010: Royalty Takes the Stage

This year witnessed the coronation of the first Pepper King and Pepper Queen, a tradition that still stands today. The Pepper popularity spread like wildfire with 500 attendees at the festival!

2011: A New Location!

Briar Chapel hosted the Pepper Festival first time at Boulder Park in Briar Chapel. As the largest green community in the Triangle, the partnership between Briar Chapel and Abundance NC to further sustainable lifestyles just made sense! Attendance hit quadruple digits, and more than a dozen community organizations joined forces with Briar Chapel and Abundance to take part in the Festival.

 

2012: Spice for the Whole Family

Pepper Fest added a bevy of family activities (like a vegetable circus, face painting and hula hooping). For a little extra fun, they added red-clad, pepper-themed acrobats! A record of 35 chefs and artisans fired up the culinary contest.

2013: Now We’re Winning Awards

This year, The News & Observer named the Fest as one of the “Must-Do Food Events of 2013.” Attendance skyrocketed to 1,500 festivalgoers with a record $20,000 proceeds raised.

2014: A New Location (Again!)

The Pepper Fest outgrew Boulder Park and made its debut at the all-new Linear Park at Briar Chapel. This year featured a judging panel of food and beverage experts along with a new array of dishes — from pepper chocolate to North Carolina’s inaugural batch of pepper jelly beer. And the scales reported that the chefs used a whoppin’ 800 pounds of peppers!

 2015: One of the Largest in the State

The Pepper Fest claimed the spot as one of the largest chef competitions in the state with 45 chefs and artisans. In addition, the Pepper fest debuted Pepperpalooza, kid-friendly activities to provide hands-on education about local agriculture with creative workshops like “Food Fonts” and “The Insane Science of Fairyland.”

2016: Kid Chefs, Fashion Shows and Pepper Personality Quizzes

Briar Chapel added zest and zip with the inaugural Kid Chef Competition and “Hot Glam” Pepper Fashion Show. Festival fans could find out how spicy their personalities were with the Pepper Fest Personality Quiz. In addition to a record 2,200 attendees and 50 chefs and brewers, the Pepper Fest celebrated raising approximately $100,000 over nine years to support more than 200 farmers who wouldn’t otherwise be in business.

 

 2017: It’s the Big 10! 

What do you think we’ll cook up this year? Tune in on September 24, 2017, the spiciest day of the year (and the date of the 10th Annual Pepper Festival). Who knows — we might even break a Guinness World Record!

 

 

Images courtesy of Briar Chapel.

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