The Chefs’ House

Client: George Brown College
Services: Website
Website: thechefshouse.ca

Problem:

George Brown College’s acclaimed culinary program was launching Chefs’ House, a student-operated restaurant that needed to both attract patrons and generate additional interest in George Brown’s cooking school curriculum.

Objective:

Develop a distinct brand identity for Chefs’ House and prepare a communications plan that will drive awareness of the restaurant, bring patrons to the restaurant, and increase interest and applications to the various culinary programs offered at George Brown.

Solution:

McDonnell Haynes developed a unique identity for Chefs’ House that reflected the sophistication and creativity of the student-run operation. The Agency also designed their website which not only promotes the restaurant, but also serves as a portal to George Brown College’s acclaimed faculty. Within the site, viewers can access information on such things as undergraduate and graduate courses, community activities, high-profile graduates, award programs, publications and food clubs.

Results:

Just try to get a table. Within the first year of operation, Chefs’ House has become one of the most attended restaurants in Toronto. Not only has it attracted celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay who have guest- cheffed in the restaurant, but it has sated the palette of many thousands of patrons.

Equally important is the restaurant experience, real and virtual, which has driven culinary school admission inquiries to unprecedented levels. As the facility and website have proven, the appetite for education in the culinary discipline has increased with the advent of Chefs’ House.

In January 2009, total website hits reached 159,000 with total page views of 28,000 – testimony to the effectiveness of the website design.

Sheryl Kirby, food writer and editor, called Chef’s House “inspiring space in which students could learn and grow, a starting point in which they would develop the roots of the career knowledge that will take them to jobs in some of Toronto’s best restaurants and beyond.”