The Culinary Alliance of Barbados- A Model for Collaboration Among F&B Personnel

Presenter: Michelle Smith-Mayers

Barbados – Culinary Landscape

Barbados has a very diverse culinary landscape, which like most Caribbean countries is fashioned by the diversity of our cultural heritage and the impact of migration of other cultures to the island.

The result:On an island of 266 sq miles, we have: over 116 registered restaurants 76 are stand alone restaurants (not attached to hotels) Numerous food suppliers – Oistins, The Souse Factory, Rum

shops, cook shops, street vendors, van vendors etc.

Food is a very big part of the Barbados experience!

Important that the culinary experience is memorable!

Key to the experience are the people in the Food and beverage industry:

•Suppliers•Chefs•Waiters•Bartenders•Cooks•Porters•Buyers etc

Start of the Culinary Alliance

Catalyst:•Working with the Barbados Culinary Team

•Chefs•Bartenders

•Need to create revenue streams for BHTA members•Working on an agro-tourism project•ZAGAT•Potential for Barbados to pursue culinary tourism as a niche

Working with Culinary teamWe discovered: Limited knowledge of Caribbean cuisine Lack of professional chef training Reluctance to use local products Misconception that visitors only want what they are used to

This applied to Chefs and Bartenders.Realised that we also needed to work with waiters and other food

service professionals to raise level of professionalism.

Creating revenue streams Members of the BHTA are suppliers to the industry, hotels

and restaurants. Wanted to reposition the importance of F & B as a driver for

increase earning potential and stimulate the level of importance they place on their F & B staff

Wanted to stimulate more diversity in product use on menus and the availability of products to be able to improve our food product offering.

Creating revenue streams for farmers also under an agro-tourism project.

All towards enhancing the culinary experience.

Alliance Targets

Chicken and egg situation.

Where do you start first?

Has to be driven by the market forces of supply and demand.

INCREASE DEMAND = INCREASE SUPPLY

Increasing Demand Training chefs and bartenders to use local products and create

more diverse menus and drinks. Training waiters as front line sales staff who can drive sales Lobbying for culinary tourism to be marketed as a new niche to

attract “foodies” to the island. Creating culinary tours etc Creating a dining culture among locals Bringing awareness to culinary experiences on the island Reviving our culinary heritage Encouraging local consumption Increased professionalism among farmers. Awareness of F & B needs by food suppliers.

Increased demand = increase supply = increase revenue.We launched the Culinary Alliance of Barbados in October 2004

The Culinary Alliance Model The Culinary Alliance of Barbados (CAB) is a dynamic non-profit

organization dedicated to promoting and advancing our local food and beverage skills, techniques and planning processes. Barbados is renowned for the diversity of its cuisine. CAB seeks to maintain this diversity while elevating standards to position Barbados as a world class culinary destination, and to establish Bajan and Caribbean in the international food and beverage arena!

Our members will include industry experts such as chefs, bartenders, waiters, food and beverage managers, purchasing specialists, restaurateurs, suppliers, manufacturers, farmers, educators, students, food writers, health and beauty product suppliers, etc. This broad partnership will help the Barbados realize its potential as a major culinary destination.

If you work in any aspect of the food and beverage industry, you can becoming a member and take advantage of the many training, career advancement and business opportunities.

The Culinary Alliance Model con’tOur Mission

The mission of the Culinary Alliance of Barbados (CAB) is to build vibrant and enduring relationships between people who are professionally engaged in providing food, beverage and hospitality in Barbados. Through the alliance we seek to:

Foster opportunities for learning and networking among our members. Offer training and scholarship opportunities for our members. Generate and support public awareness of sustainable, artisanal local

products and the quality culinary services our members offer. Harness, enrich and highlight our wealth of local food resources. Raise the profiles of our members and their profession through

showcasing skills and talents.

Membership - Who may join?

Anyone in the food and beverage industry, locally or internationally, who is passionate about the growth and development of the industry and about elevating Bajan and Caribbean cuisine in the international arena. To qualify for membership, members must:

1. Be professionally involved in the food and beverage industry; 2. Businesses must be a member of the BHTA; 3. Pay annual dues.

Partner / Sponsorship OpsYou can from an association with the Culinary Alliance of Barbados through

becoming a partner or a sponsor. There are many benefits, both immediate and long term. You can become actively involved in shaping the growth and success of your business through helping to shape the growth and development of the food and beverage industry.

Some accomplishments to date include: Staging of the annual Barbados Culinary and Bartender

Competition. Coordination of the award winning Barbados Culinary Team Annual Gourmet Evenings Series – A series of dinner events Barbados Restaurant Festival Wine training programs Bartending Training Programs Waiter Training Programs Professional Culinary Arts Training Programs Food Safety and HACCAP Training Programs Commencement of the NVQ Program

Most recent accomplishments include:

Recognition of culinary tourism as an international target market.

Pilot for the Taste of Barbados Food Festival in 2006 1st Annual Taste of Barbados Food Festival Oct. 5 – 14th,

2007 Barbados Farm to Table projects to be launched end of

August. Farmers and craft market – monthly

Award winning team

Taste of Barbados Food Festival

Why do all this? Why Culinary Tourism?A growing taste for culinary travel

POSTED: 11:29 a.m. EDT, September 1, 2006

CNN) -- Travelers seem to have a healthy appetite for culinary tourism, whether it involves making caldo verde or sipping Cabernet Sauvignon.

"It's definitely a growing market. I think it's becoming a very important market as a subset of cultural tourism," said Dr. Rich Harrill, director of the International Tourism Research Institute at the University of South Carolina.

Travel Agents Worldwide

Culinary holidays

FOOD TOURS, CULINARY, COOKING & WINE TOURS

California - Napa & Sonoma - Food & Wine Trails - Napa Valley Food and Wine Tours and Sonoma County Chef-led Wine & Culinary Tours California, Napa - COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts - a cultural museum and education center which focuses on food and wine in

American life.

Louisiana, New Orleans - Culinary History Tours - walking tours of French Quarter restaurants and kitchens.

New York City - Foods of New York - Unique Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tours in New York City. Belgium - Chocolate Lovers Paradise Tours - Chocolate tours.

Canada, Okanagan Valley - Okanagan Wine Country Tours

France - Paris Culinary Treasures Tours, Tea..Chocolate..Paris Tours - Gourmet Culinary and Tea, Chocolate tours in Paris and Wine/Food tour in

Burgundy. France - Active Gourmet Holidays - Gourmet Holiday Food & Wine Tours, Cooking Classes Italy - Good Tastes of Tuscany - Culinary Program, Cooking Classes, Food Tours and Wine Tours Spain, Seville - A Question of Taste - Food & Wine tours, tastings, cooking classes, gourmet excursions, gastronomic breaks Spain - Food & Wine Trails -

Food & Wine Trails 707-A Fourth Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Spain, Barcelona - Oldways Culinary Journeys - week long food & wine tours - culinary adventures.

Turkey - Bodrum - Atami Hotel Culinary Tours & Cooking Classes Spain, Seville - A Question of Taste - Food & Wine tours, tastings, cooking classes, gourmet excursions, gastronomic breaks Spain - Food & Wine Trails -

Food & Wine Trails 707-A Fourth Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Spain, Barcelona - Oldways Culinary Journeys - week long food & wine tours - culinary adventures.

Turkey - Bodrum - Atami Hotel Culinary Tours & Cooking Classes

The world is cooking CaribbeanEMERIL LAGASSE cooking oxtail on his show. Ebony

showcasing several Jamaican and Caribbean dishes. Rachael Ray expounding on jerk. Bon Appetit devoted to our cuisine. Actor Morgan Freeman wrote a caribbean cookbook.

Finally the world is taking note. But are we?

Culinary Tourism

Culinary Tourism is the hottest niche to emerge within the travel industry in years. Culinary Tourism is about how to best develop and market a new kind of visitor attraction - unique and memorable food and drink experiences.

Today, destinations are placing significant effort on developing food and drink product offerings to build excitement and develop a competitive advantage.

What is Culinary Tourism?

Culinary Tourism is:

- something every traveler does- an attraction to a destination- a subset of cultural tourism - oriented to consumers' benefits first and farmers' benefits second - focused on prepared foods more than raw ingredients- unique, memorable gastronomic experiences, not just those rated 4 stars or better- not pretentious or exclusive- low-impact, high-yield tourism- a tool for economic and community development

Simply put, the Culinary Tourism industry explores how food and drink attract visitors.

What are the top reasons why Culinary Tourism matters?

Nearly 100% of tourists dine out when traveling. Each dining opportunity is a chance to get to know local food and people.

Dining is consistently one of the top three favorite tourist activities. Culinary art is the only art form that speaks to all five human senses (sight, sound,

smell, taste, touch). The higher the dinner bill, the more likely the patrons are tourists. There is a high correlation between tourists who are interested in wine/cuisine and

those interested in museums, shows, shopping, music and film festivals, and outdoor recreation.

Interest in cuisine in travel spans all demographics age, sex, or ethnic group, etc. Visitors spend more time with foodservice personnel than any other frontline staff,

up to 3 hours per day. Unlike other travel activities and attractions, cuisine is available year-round, any

time of day and in any weather. Culinary tourists are explorers. Cuisine is "experiential" as it satisfies new traveler demands for hands-on,

interactive experiences.

Some FactsGourmet and TIA recently conducted the first ever culinary travel research study and it has been

determined that one in six Americans choose their vacation destination based upon culinary and wine offerings.

27 million travelers, or 17% of American leisure travelers, engaged in culinary or wine-related activities while traveling within the past three years .

More Americans are taking food focused vacations than ever before.

The future is bright for the culinary traveler market, as the share of U.S. leisure travelers interested in culinary travel in the near future (60%) is significantly larger than those currently engaged.

These travelers are younger, more affluent and better educated than non-culinary travelers. They are clearly motivated by unique experiences, reinforcing the benefits of focusing on a destination’s individual environmental and cultural elements.

A sizable proportion of the U.S. leisure market does indeed make travel decisions based on a desire for wine and culinary experiences. In fact, it confirms that wine and culinary experiences are a driver of destination choice,” said Laura Mandala, Vice President of Research for the Travel Industry Association.

Some more Facts

Culinary activities participated in while traveling include cooking classes, dining out for a unique and memorable experience, visiting farmers markets, gourmet food shopping and attending food festivals. Wine activities included participating in winery tours, driving a wine trail, tasting locally made wines and attending wine festivals.

These travelers are also more likely to take local foods and wines back home with them, providing a secondary opportunity for destinations to spread the word about their unique offerings.

Local cuisine is the #1 motivating factor in choosing a destination

Examples of Culinary TourismKeep in mind that just because it is food or drink it is not necessarily “cuisine”. To

foster culinary tourism, your food or beverage experiences must be unique and memorable.

Culinary tourism is much more than just restaurants and wineries. Here are some examples that would qualify as culinary tourism:

Product tours – Sugar tour, sea island cotton tour Cooking classes or workshops – inside or outdoors A historical winery or rum distillery A restaurant in and interesting location: the countryside, a cave, a field The best bread pudding with rum sauce that people drive for miles to experience A beer that is so unique, people make a pilgrimage to the brewery at least once in

their lifetime A unique and memorable product from your orchard, farm or ranch, such as

Grandma’s secret recipe for Apple Butter, which tastes better than anyone else’s The best fish fry party in the world – e.g. Oistins/ Baxters Road

Thank you and I encourage you to explore your culinary competitive advantage.