Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa drew 500 restaurant and food service company executives in early August to The Flavor Experience conference in the inaugural year of a four-year stint at the property.
“We’ve grown every year,” said Sharyn Iler, who co-owns the show with her husband, Bruce Iler, under their Ventura-based BSI Conferences Inc.
The first show 11 years ago attracted about 99 people, she said.
Attendees are “vice presidents and above with some C-level executives” from national and international restaurant chains, multiconcept operators, and food-service companies who oversee menu development and marketing.
Local chains in attendance included Huntington Beach-based BJ’s Restaurants Inc., El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. in Costa Mesa, and Pieology Pizzeria in Rancho Santa Margarita, Sharyn Iler said.
Others included Carlsbad-based Islands Fine Burgers & Drinks, CKE Restaurants Inc. in Carpinteria, and the cafe operations of Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc.
“Nordstrom has a very sophisticated cafe operation,” Iler said.
Exclusive Event
Flavor Experience isn’t a trade show, but an “invitation-only” event where speakers focus on “what attendees are doing and what they need,” she said.
“Not just every ‘Tom, Dick or Harry’ who gives us money can come. It’s the hottest and hardest conference to get into for food service management. The idea is to be special, and that’s why people come.”
The sponsors are restaurant company suppliers that include the Irvine-based California Avocado Commission, state and national groups representing strawberry, walnut, watermelon and mango growers; and international brands, including Dole, Barilla and Boston Beer Co.
Speakers come from the stable of industry notables and experts. Celebrity chef Jet Tila gave the opening keynote this year.
Chicago-based restaurant industry research company Technomic Inc. Executive Vice President Darren Tristano led a session on “eater archetypes,” which analyzes customers’ eating choices based on behavior versus basing it on “how age, income or ethnicity may align.”
This “psychographics versus demographics” approach—which includes cultural elements, life stages, and even work schedules—makes for more effective customer targeting, Tristano said.
Tristano has spoken four times at Flavor Experience.
The company provides the research and presentation in exchange for sponsorship of the show, he said.
He said Technomic founder Ron Paul keeps a home near Fashion Island and that the company holds one of its events—a “consumer insights planning program” for food industry companies based on Technomic research—at the Island Hotel across the street from the Marriott. The event attracts about 200 people.
Location’s Role
The Flavor Experience was in Coronado for five years, at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach for three more, and then at Fairmont Newport Beach for two years. It’s now booked at the Marriott through 2018, Iler said.
She said the conference outgrew both the Hyatt and the Fairmont and that attendees “wanted a resort-type environment” in the new venue.
“Marriott has beautiful views from their rooms,” she said, “and 47 restaurants at Fashion Island—so that’s kind of right up our alley.”
Industry sources said hotels can spend two years working to bring in growing events—from meeting with organizers to attending a current conference to planning the new one at their location—and a common way to draw one is to show how their spaces can accommodate an event’s expansion.
The Marriott said it has 25,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, 30 event rooms, and three outdoor areas. Its biggest single space is an 8,000-square-foot ballroom.
Director of Hotel Sales Chad Ceretto said event areas were renovated in time for this year with “modern new decor”, including carpeting, wall coverings, chairs and other furnishings to create “an inspiring setting” for meetings.
Iler said about 20 BSI employees work the conference, including multiple chefs who cook food that organizers bring to the site—a big difference from typical food and beverage arrangements at events, which are usually catered by the venue or an outside caterer.
“All the food we serve is from sponsors, and it’s used the same way as if someone were ordering it in a restaurant,” so attendees can see how it would work on their menu.
The Marriott gets “what we’re doing … and they know how to work with our team.”
