07 · Format
Tasting rooms & F&B showcases
Coffee, tea, drinks and food put in front of buyers properly, in a sequence and a setting that let the product show what it can do.
- Typical size
- 12 – 150 guests
- Lead time
- 5 – 10 weeks
- Runs in
- UK-wide
- Best for
- Listings and menu wins
The work
A tasting is a technical exercise dressed as hospitality. Get the water, the ratios, the temperature or the order wrong and a good product shows badly, and the buyer blames the product, not the room. We run these to a specification rather than to a schedule.
We run tasting rooms and showcases for roasters, blenders, drinks brands, importers and export bodies: structured cuppings, blind panels, menu-development sessions with a chef, and buyer showcases where thirty lines are presented in a sequence that does not exhaust the palate by line twelve.
Equipment, water spec, brew ratios, service temperature, glassware and the order of tasting are all written into the plan and rehearsed, because every one of them changes the verdict. We work with the producer's own team where they have one, and supply trained pouring staff where they do not.
Formats we run
The shapes this usually takes.
- 01Structured cupping or blind tasting panel
- 02Trade buyer showcase across multiple producers
- 03Menu development session with a chef or bar team
- 04Consumer tasting and education evening
- 05Producer showcase inside a wider exhibition
What we deliver
Included in the scope as standard.
- Tasting sequence and session design
- Equipment, water specification and glassware
- Trained pouring and service staff
- Buyer invitation and attendance management
- Scoring sheets and collated panel feedback
- Trained pouring and presentation staff
Anything outside this list is quoted separately and shown to you before it is committed. Nothing gets contracted on your behalf that you have not seen priced.
How it runs
Brief to report, one lead.
- 01
Brief
We take the objective before the format. What has to be true after this event that is not true now: a listing, a distributor, a launch date met, a room that renews next year.
- 02
Proposal
A written scope with a costed budget, a venue or show shortlist, a date-by-date plan and a clear statement of what sits with us and what stays with you.
- 03
Build
Contracting, design, production, permissions and paperwork. You get one project lead and a single schedule, not four suppliers with different versions of the truth.
- 04
Delivery
Our crew is on site from install to derig. Whatever happens on the day is ours to solve; you should be talking to guests, buyers and press.
- 05
Report
Numbers and outcomes against the original objective, plus the assets, the lead list and an honest note on what we would change next time.
Related formats
Have a tasting showcases brief?
Send us the objective, the rough date and the rough headcount. You will get a written scope and a costed budget, usually within three working days.