Summary
The DMO partnered with the James Beard Foundation and local chefs to stage a 'Palette & Palate' dinner in New York for media and content creators; staff said the dinner and follow-on Taste America activations generated more than 1 million impressions and will be used to attract food-focused visitors.
Visit St. Pete Clearwater officials described a New York event that paired four local chefs with local museums and brought the resulting menu to a James Beard Foundation platform at Pier 57 as part of a media and influencer outreach campaign.
"We wanted to show off our culinary excellence and the growing scene that's here in St. Pete Clearwater," Jason (marketing/PR lead) said, describing the "Palette & Palate" dinner. The agency flew four chefs to New York — Chef Artrip (The Black Pearl, Dunedin), Chef Rob (Wild Child / Slim Charmer, St. Pete), Chef Reyes (St. Pete Distillery) and Chef Nick (Alello and June on the Peacock, St. Pete) — and asked them to develop dishes inspired by four museums in the destination. The open kitchen dinner for 45 New York-based media and content creators featured an open kitchen, museum-inspired courses and branded storytelling about the destination.
Staff said immediate social and earned-media results were strong: more than one million impressions on social platforms, instant posts from attendees and a longer-form video planned to extend the content. The DMO said the James Beard partnership will continue through Taste America activations (two events of ~400 attendees each) to further promote the destination's culinary scene.
Council members praised the initiative as an elevated, branded effort to position the destination alongside national culinary and arts conversation, and staff said they will use the content and video assets for follow-up promotion and to invite journalists and influencers to visit in-market.
Ending: The DMO described the event as part of a broader push to highlight culinary and arts assets, citing subsequent James Beard Taste America events and planned video assets to sustain coverage and visitation interest.
