Who? Ryan Advincula, Communications and Marketing Manager at The Diplomat Radisson Blu hotel in Bahrain.
Waiters Race organized: Bahrain 2011, on January 8th.
Number of waiters races organized: one.
About the concept
WR.com: How came-up the idea of organizing a waiters race in Bahrain?
Ryan Advincula: the idea was created out of a sustainability drive of different international hotel chains of Bahrain which wanted to create and event for all their employees but in the same time to contribute to the communities in a charity event.
The General Manager of Moevenpick Hotel, Heinz Krähenbühl organized the first meeting on 24th October 2010 in their premises with the Five Star Hotel Committee consisting of: the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa, the Moevenpick Hotel, the Sheraton Hotel, the InterContinental Regency Bahrain, the Ritz Carlton, the Crown Plaza and the Gulf Hotel.
All the F&B managers have been showing great interest in the race and the idea organizing this as an annual event being was very well appreciated. The committee went forward to finalizing the event date which was the 8th of January 2011.
About the organisation of the waiters race
WR.com: How many months before the race did you start organizing it?
Ryan Advincula: we started in October 2010 onwards until January 2011.
WR.com: What are the main difficulties you faced during the organisation of the race?
Ryan Advincula: some difficulties we faced were getting sponsors for the event, as it needed a lot of convincing through our suppliers. Thankfully, through the efforts of the team and the hotels involved, we managed to get some sponsors to fund the event.
WR.com: What kind of media support did you use to promote your waiters race? Please detail…
Ryan Advincula: we started the campaign in November through a press conference in the Moevenpick hotel, where we invited all the media including the dailies and monthlies magazines/newspapers and showed them an overview of the competition. The team of each hotel also did a live demonstration of the course that was set up in the ball room.
We got the media support from Bahrain Confidential Magazine where they have given us a Full advert, Press releases through the Daily newspapers and Monthly magazines, Massive Email and SMS campaigns through each of the hotels databases and off course we got a contact from your website that also helped increased our visibility.
WR.com: How did your sponsors received your project in general?
Ryan Advincula: they actually took it positive, as the concept was also based for charity and promoting a goodwill to community of the kingdom.
WR.com: Could you please give us an idea about the cost of the waiter’s race for your organisation?
Ryan Advincula: the overall cost of the building the race track and other catering infrastructure was at U$ 4’500. We have contributed to the Muharraq charity fund trough sponsorship and food sales during the race day a total sum of U$ 4’500.
About results and plans for the future
WR.com: Did you face any difficulty during the event itself?
Ryan Advincula: the event went smoothly as planned and with over 1’500 spectators it was very successful. The plastic glasses were not strong enough and we had a great breakage.
WR.com: Were the other people involved in the waiters race (participants, sponsors etc…) satisfied with the waiter’s race?
Ryan Advincula: the employees were extremely pleased with meeting their counter parts from other hotels and most of the hotels had hundreds of team members cheering the teams. The sponsors had a great time out in the park with lots of media mileage.
WR.com: Were there any VIP/Special guests at the waiter’s race?
Ryan Advincula: N/A
WR.com: Do you intend to organize a waiter’s race in the future? (if yes when and where)
Ryan Advincula: yes, it is in the thought process, and this time it will be organized by the winning hotel, which this year was the InterContinental Regency Bahrain.
WR.com: Was there at your race something very original, innovative that you are proud of?
Ryan Advincula: very, I believe the concept of the “Race” was not only reaching the finish line first, but having to go through the obstacles, and the amount of water you fill in to reach your target which was a real challenge for all the participants. The combination of having a competition among hotel teams and selling food from their restaurants promotion as well as the contribution to the communities made this race a very special one.
WR.com: If that is not the first time you organize a waiter’s race, how did it evolve over the years?
Ryan Advincula: this is actually the first time we organized this in Bahrain, and we are hoping to evolve it through years to come.
About Waitersrace.com
WR.com: Were you surprised to find a waiters race community on the web?
Ryan Advincula: I was surprised when we were contacted, it went viral, which was a good thing. And we also thank you for your support towards this.
WR.com: How do you think Waitersrace.com can help you with your waiter’s race and what do you expect from the community?
Ryan Advincula: I think we can evolve this to a bigger prospective event, where we can have participants from your website register for the competition.
And to finish with…
WR.com: According to you, what are the main components of a successful waiters race?
Ryan Advincula: sponsors, branding and P.R,
WR.com: Your main advice(s) to other organisations in the world that wish to organize waiters races…
Ryan Advincula: make sure you have the F&B managers on board or the owners of restaurants, start 6-8 month before the event (if you do for the first time)
Have a good contact with the communities in order to have them participating and finally get sufficient sponsors to promote the event in the media.
