“PR Superstar is a proactive, focused, and results-driven professional. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Jill, and I would not hesitate to recommend her services to anyone wanting to build their profile.”
Sanjay Nandi, co-founder, Ristorante Frescobaldi
Ristorante Frescobaldi is the first UK restaurant by Italy’s oldest and most respected wine dynasty, the famed Frescobaldi family of Tuscany, who have been making wine since 1308. The 708-year-old Florentine winemaking dynasty – whose vintages have been enjoyed through the ages by Michelangelo, Donatello, the Pope, and King Henry VIII – partnered with restaurateurs Sanjay Nandi and Levent Büyükugur, of The Good Food Society, a London-based hospitality group, to open the fine dining eatery off Savile Row in Mayfair.
After seeing my work for another client – and being impressed with the media coverage in terms of quality and quantity, plus the speed at which I made it all happen – Ristorante Frescobaldi’s founders approached me to help with their PR. After an initial blast of high-profile coverage following Frescobaldi’s opening at the end of 2014, their PR agencies had struggled to get regular reviews, interviews, and articles as the restaurant was no longer considered ‘new’ and therefore not of press interest. And with around 250 restaurant openings in London alone in 2016, it was increasingly hard to stand out from the crowd and attract journalists’ attention.
At my first meeting with the restaurant’s founders, I suggested that we target top-tier luxury lifestyle, travel, business, food and wine media. I explained that critics on the national press would not write about Ristorante Frescobaldi as it had been open almost two years by that time.
I crafted a press release, supported by stunning imagery, highlighting the restaurant’s outstanding food and wine, as well as its elaborate interior, and Frescobaldi’s rich history and heritage, including links to English royalty. Journalists on quality publications were offered lunch, or dinner for two in return for reviews. And they came in their droves – from GQ and Esquire to Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive with GQ heralding Frescobaldi as among “the best Mayfair restaurants.” Online press reviews contained high authority back links to the restaurant website, helping to improve its Google rankings in what is a highly competitive sector.
Journalists were also invited to have lunch with Ristorante Frescobaldi’s founders, with a City AM writer and photographer producing a half-page profile piece on them and their restaurant. It attracted further interest from the likes of Bloomberg, The FT and the BBC.
PR for a ‘guest chef’ event at Ristorante Frescobaldi helped to ensure it was a sell-out, with an influential article placed in The London Evening Standard. The restaurant hosted a pop-up with A-list head chef Franco Aversa, from Aurora, Capri’s most exclusive restaurant, whose celebrity fans include the likes of Giorgio Armani, Jay Z and Beyonce, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Dolce and Gabbana.
Ristorante Frescobaldi London has been so successful that another 10 restaurants under the Frescobaldi brand – again in partnership with The Good Food Society – are planned globally, from New York to Milan and Dubai to Tokyo, starting in 2017.
