The team at Spice have a penchant for sweet treats, so when we heard Lindt Chocolate treated its employees to a team-building day in the Hunter Valley, we were all ears.
FAST FACTS
What: Lindt & Sprungli team-building day
When: September 2019
Where: Château Élan, Hunter Valley NSW
The brief
Luxury golf, spa and conference resort Château Élan was recently tasked with showcasing the best of the Hunter Valley region to 150 Lindt employees for their team-building day out.
Aptly named Bring the Hunter to Lindt, the event called for a market-style setting where delegates could sample produce from the regional NSW destination.
The goal was to create a series of food stalls allowing the employees to roam at leisure tasting different food and beverages and pairing them with the Lindt Excellence Cocoa Chocolate.
The execution
The team at Château Élan took inspiration from the region’s famed Lovedale Long Lunch and Taste of Italy in the Hunter events, which showcase Hunter Valley’s food and beverage offering.
The team wanted to create a barn-style market, showcasing wines, cheeses and delicatessen items all sourced locally.
Rain was forecast for the week, so the team put a wet weather plan in place that would still create the atmosphere the client wanted.
Lindt Chocolate
Bump in for the event started the day before with wine tents being delivered and installed. Team briefings were organised to finalise event orders and run sheets, which contributed to a smooth running event.
On the day of the event, the rain came and forced the event to be moved inside to the Founders Room, creating an inside/outside market area where guests could flow in and out tasting and sampling wine, cheese and chocolate.
The organisers said one of the event highlights was seeing the wet weather back-up plan go ahead and still be a success in the client’s eyes.
The result
Feedback from the Sydney and interstate attendees was extremely positive, and the client agreed the event was a huge success.
Sending her feedback to Château Élan, Sandy McGowan, PA to the CEO at Lindt & Sprungli, thanked the team for putting together a stand-out event.
“Leading up to the day, your events team were so organised and coordinated a great execution plan, down to every last detail including a wet weather back up plan from the start,” she said.
“Due to the great pre-planning and event management, this removed the stress from our end.
“No request was overturned and all the staff were very accommodating to all our guests at the event, which made it a huge success.
“As we return to normality here in the office, there is still chatter that of how a great day it was and that it all went smooth despite the rain.
“We will definitely be back in the future!”
About Château Élan
Nestled among vineyards in the heart of the NSW Hunter Valley, the Château Élan at The Vintage is an integrated golf, spa and conference resort. The venue has a variety of event spaces for corporate groups, capable of hosting everything from a sit-down dinner for 20 to a cocktail event for 330.
