Three Embers & Wright's Brew & Bistro

Three Embers, the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort’s signature restaurant, celebrates Midwest cuisine with simple, locally sourced, farm-fresh ingredients, while integrating influential flavors from various regions throughout southern Europe. The restaurant offers intimate and innovative dining atmosphere headlined by a dramatic wood-burning grill placed prominently in the lakeside dining space. The adjacent Wright’s Brew & Bistro is the perfect spot for lunch and serving bistro fare and rotating craft.

Initiative:

Work closely with the resort and the Executive Chef to manage public relations and social media for the restaurants. Vagus also developed and managed a series of events throughout the year: cooking and cocktail demo series, outdoor Bourbon and Bonfires, and other promotional activities to further generate awareness and drive business to the new F&B outlets.

To bring recognition and provide first-hand experiences to media in honor of Lincolnshire Marriott Resort’s $25 million renovation, Vagus executed three MEDIA DINNERS to celebrate the opening of the new restaurant as well as promoting seasonal menus. The events included a mix of traditional media and local influencers to experience the resort’s feature restaurant.

Vagus assisted in developing and launching a new monthly tasting event, featuring a variety of bourbons and bites, BOURBON AND BONFIRES. Hosted one Thursday per month, Three Embers restaurant invites guests to join them on the lakeside patio for exclusive bourbon cocktail flights and paired bites around its outdoor fire pits. The fireside events showcase a new bourbon purveyor each month through flights of unique cocktails and accompanied small plates prepared by the Three Embers chef.

Vagus developed and launched VIVA LA HONEY, a month-long, honey-themed celebration in September in honor of National Honey Month. The celebration featured everything from anti-aging spa honey treatments to the launch of an exclusive honey ale to a restaurant menu filled with endless tasty ways to utilize the bees’ bounty from onsite 600,000-bee apiary.

Top-line strategies:

• Target market analysis
• Introduce new restaurant concept to the local community as well as Chicago area
• Develop and strengthen strategic relationships
• Execute media-friendly dinners for local journalists
• Develop and execute a series of culinary events
• Create “buzz” with the media and get media excited about covering the restaurant

Results:

• Multiple social media posts and stories from each media dinner guest, resulting in thousands of organic “likes” across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• Garnered significant media coverage for the restaurant and the events including: