North Italia, the 38-unit brand created by Fox Restaurant Concepts and expanding under the ownership of The Cheesecake Factory, highlighted its four Miami-area stores at the free Racing Fan Fest event during this past weekend’s Formula One Grand Prix.
The division of Calabasas Hills-based Cheesecake reprised an event it launched last year at SXSW in Austin, Texas, where it provided signature pizzas around Pi Day, March 14.
DJ Duporte, marketing director for North Italia, said that for both SXSW and the Racing Fan Fest “the whole point is to stay as connected to the community as we can.”
With four restaurants in the area and another in Orlando, Fla., Duporte said, “We recognize that Racing Fan Fest was that opportunity in South Miami.”
The Thursday-through-Sunday Fan Fest, at Miami’s Wynwood Marketplace, was “where all the locals of Miami were going to be,” Duporte said. The North Italia team, comprised of chefs and service staff from all over the nation, gave out nearly 30,000 food and cocktail samples during the Fan Fest, a spokesperson said, along with providing chef demonstrations and a miniature car racing experience to attendees.
“The goal is to be reflective of the experience that we have in the restaurant and be able to transform that into something that works outside of those four walls,” Duporte said during a break in preparing for the Fan Fest.
“When you think about building an activation,” he added, the company thought about the touch points of North Italia that set it apart from other dining venues.
Duporte said the planners worked with the marketing team as well as operations and culinary to create the venue.
“South Florida is a growth market for us,” he explained. “We just opened up two restaurants in Aventura and Fort Lauderdale in a little under six months.” The company also has a five-year-old unit in Brickell and another in Dadeland.
“We knew that Fan Fest was that opportunity where it was going to bring the entire community together,” he said. Formula One racing, which had its third race in Miami this past week, is a fairly new sport as well, Duporte said.
“The whole goal is to bring our handcrafted experience outside of our walls,” he said, and increase exposure for the brand.
The North Italia team, clad in red jump suits, distributed samples of North Italia’s top cocktails, such as Red Sangria, Aperol Spritz and Sicilian Margarita, as well as top-sellers from the menu, including Stracciatella with Heirloom Tomatoes, White Truffle Garlic Bread, Charcuterie, Hot Honey and Smoked Prosciutto Pizza, Baked Ziti, Braised Beef Ragu with Polenta, and Tiramisu.
Donald Evans, chief marketing officer and head of marketing for North Italia, added that “activations are very much about local impressions, and so for this event we're really trying to make an impact the Florida market we saw an opportunity to take advantage of Formula One.”
The brand will measure success by its impact on local traffic within the Florida market.
“Last year, we did South by Southwest,” Evans said. “We were in Austin and we saw a good impact in the Austin market and so we looked for a market that intersected with an event happening and therefore that's why we're here this year at Formula One at Fan Fest.
“We wanted to impact the local market,” he said, “so instead of being at Formula One we’re at the Fan Fest, the free event for the Floridians that live nearby.”
The local aspect is important to the 38-unit brand, Evans said.
“We know that Italian is ubiquitous,” he said. “We try to distinguish ourselves by being local. As we're growing, we know that's not easy. But putting out events like this should make it just a little bit easier to show the local communities how much we care about them.”
Chris Curtiss, North Italia’s director of culinary and research and development, said the brand tries “to put our best foot forward” at such localized events.
“We're starting to expand in a big way,” Curtiss said, “and we really wanted to showcase all of the bells and whistles of our amazing hospitality and amazing culinary offerings.”
The food samples ranged across a broad spectrum, he said, to reflect the range in the local restaurants.
The Wynwood venue offered many options, Curtiss added.
“I'm most excited about being able to set up a space that really speaks to our restaurant environment, speaks to our level of hospitality and the dynamic offerings that we offer on our menu,” he said.
North Italia, founded in 2002, is scheduled to open its 39th restaurant at the end of the month in Ballantyne, N.C., south of Charlotte.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
Follow him on X/Twitter: @RonRuggless