Have you ever hosted a successful cooking show or open house at your own home?

[dannyzmom]

Just curious - how many of you have done a cooking show in your own home and invited all your friends/family/customers?
Was it successful?
Did you run it like a normal cooking show? Or did you do an Open House?
Which way do you feel is more successful?
Would you share your stats?

I am asking because of my yucky summer season I am thinking in ugust I may just host my own show...invite everyone in my neighborhood, all my friends, past hosts, customers,etc...

thought...tips...ideas?

 

[sillylittlechef]

lol! I just posted a similar thread...
so, no ideas from me. sorry. I've had bad luck with mine.

 

[pamperedlinda]

I've done this a couple of times. Each time as a Mystery Host Show. At my One Year Anniversary party I gave everyone who came a 10% discount (costs some out of pocket, but I still made money). The other time I did this was with 3 other DS consultants and all of did VERY well! The best part was each of us invited EVERYONE we knew so we were able to feed-off of the other's customer base. Both times my sales were over $800. And, I gained more customers & got bookings.

Here are my invites that I used. Good luck!

 

[DebbieJ]

Just curious - how many of you have done a cooking show in your own home and invited all your friends/family/customers? I hosted a customer appreciation show last August (I had my first show to start my business in August 2005), thanking my past hosts and preferred customers for helping make my business a success. I make it mystery host and all guests have chances to earn tickets. I draw two winners to split the benefits and do other drawings throughout the show and give away stuff I have on hand. I plan to do it every year in August. I'm trying to set my date for this August, but I'm already so busy!

Was it successful? Yes, I had 20 people there and did $1100 in sales last year
Did you run it like a normal cooking show? Or did you do an Open House? It's a show in that there is a definite start time and it's not a come and go kind of thing. There is no demo. I make a few of the new season's recipes, I have everyone go around introducing themselves and their favorite PC product, I show what's being retired and give them a sneak peek at the new fall line.

Which way do you feel is more successful? I don't think open houses are as successful as shows with a firm start time.

I think the key is really host coaching yourself--making the calls to invite and remind are SOOO important.

 

[Chef_2_Four]

I had my grand opening which was a regular show at my house and I was the hostess. In January I had a mystery hostess show. Where each guest tries to get their name drawn to be the hostess of the show. At each I probably had at least 6 people there. They were both $500 shows I believe. I got 0 bookings at my grand opening and 3 at my mystery hostess party since that gives you more chances to win.

 

[pamperedbecky]

I agree about Open Houses.....those don't seem to be as successful. Actually making it a SHOW without that open-ended-ness seems to work better for me. I agree about making it a Mystery Host show. I've done a few of those and they work well.

What I found was successful for me was tying it in to a specific theme. I've done a "stoneware workshop" every September to coincide with our usual stoneware sale. Because it also had an education component, it seemed to have good attendance. I know some consultants who have done something similar like a "knife skills" class. Oooh, that would be good to do in August because of the cutlery. I actually took a knife skills class at a local kitchen place ("Sur la Table") and learned lots of great stuff. You could tie it into a yummy recipe and let people also try out the knives themselves. Just a thought!

 

[pamperedlinda]

I love your workshop ideas Becky!

 

[missydivine]

I love the workshop idea too! I've had better results with shows at my house than I have open houses. I think with a real time people remember, and get it on their calendar.

Mary

 

[Chef_2_Four]

I am going to do a tax free thing in August. Not the same weekend of the Tax free weekend if they do it again. But I will offer tax free on everything and then if they spend $50 or more I will do free shipping and tax and see if I can get some good sales for August. I am still wanting that $1000 show!

 

[ChefJWarren]

How do you give them no tax? Do you pay the tax yourself? How do you put that in P3?

Jessica

 

[chefann]

You enter it as "Consultant Gift".

 

[Chef_2_Four]

You enter it as "Consultant Gift".

I pay it and mark as consultant gift, then i can write off on taxes right?

 

[chefann]

Yep. You can set P3 up to put all Consultant Gift items onto the Expense Report when you finalize the show. Then at tax time, you just need to print the report.

 

[zmom58]

Why not offer a knife skills class in July in hopes of booking August shows. If it is held after conferece then you could get some September bookings too, and we will know the new products and host and guest specials by then.
It's worth a try.
Deb

 

[ughubug]

November I did one and did it as an amazing race show...Most people had been to a cooking show and I found the hands on experience to be great sold 5 Ultimate Mandolines! Show was $1100...We had about 20 people show!

 

[GourmetGirl]

November I did one and did it as an amazing race show...Most people had been to a cooking show and I found the hands on experience to be great sold 5 Ultimate Mandolines! Show was $1100...We had about 20 people show!

I love this idea! I did a mystery host in March and will do one in August and I love the idea of a amazing race show! Everyone who comes has already been to multiple shows, so why not make it fun! Great idea!

 

[Leigh0725]

Amazing Race Show?How do you do an Amazing Race show?

 

[jrstephens]

My last one turned out great. I have about $400 in orders, got a bunch of bookings, and got a recruit. I prepared simple, low cost PC recipes. I did not do a demo. I set out all the new products that I had and the products that were the present and upcoming Specials. I just let everyone browse and look and eat. Very low key. I plan to do the same this this Fall. I do mine at the end of August and submitted my order on Sept 1. I also did an order in August for the discontinued items or if I did not have enough separate orders I split them up to have two shows or add them to an existing show.