Atlanta Commercial Real Estate Contractor Carves Out New Sales with Corporate Cooking Competitions

Holland Hamilton loves to cook, and he loves to sell. So, when he landed a new position in Business Development at Gray Contracting, a fast-growing/mid-sized commercial real estate contractor in Atlanta, he seized upon an interesting way to grow the company’s business. Hamilton pitched the concept of a series of corporate cooking competitions featuring Gray and three of Gray’s most important business partners:

• Tarkett Flooring
• USA Cabling
• Corporate Environments (Furniture)

The idea was that each of the four companies would also invite four of their primary partners or vendors to compete in a series of cooking competitions. The corporate cooking competitions would be held at the kitchens of Team Building with Taste, a leading culinary team event company based in Atlanta. Team Building with Taste’s 5200 square foot facility turned out to be ideal for the large crowds of participants and spectators Hamilton was anticipating.

“We were looking for the networking effect,”, explained Hamilton. “We wanted to magnify our efforts through the engagement of our partners and their partners in something completely different and engaging.”

But first Hamilton had to sell Billy Gray, Gray’s owner and founder, on the concept. It turned out it to be an easy sell.  Gray loved the iconoclastic thinking and out-of-the-box approach. In the commercial real estate industry, all his competitors went about new business development the same old way. A corporate cooking event like this was game changing: Billy Gray jumped in with both feet–throwing his full support behind the effort and even naming it: The Knifes Out CRE Cooking Competition.

“Local Heroes” Judge the Winners

What unfolded over the next nine months was a series of five cooking competitions attended by roughly 400 commercial real estate leaders. It culminated in a championship event attended by more than 90 people and won by Atlanta-based architects Hendrick Design.

Each event was jointly managed by guest chefs and the staff at Team Building with Taste. Judging was done by “local heroes,” including police and fire chiefs, first responders, Navy Seals and others. Spectators crowded into Team Building with Taste and enjoyed the feast, as well as beer, wine and signature cocktails.

Business Development Turbo Charged by Social Media

Gray hired a videographer to attend and document each event. The resultant videos were posted (and reposted) on social media. LinkedIn was especially valuable. “The first video we posted on LinkedIn quickly generated more than 7000 minutes viewed. We would have never been able to generate that type of viewership with more conventional content,” noted Holland. The championship round video was especially exciting

The Corporate Cooking Competitions Lead to Impressive Results

When asked about the business results of the program, Hamilton was effusive. “I am not exaggerating when I say that we won more jobs and projects from this than we can even count.” Nicolette Pizzoferrato, Event Specialist at Tarkett Flooring concurred in judging the program’s success. “We loved this program. It really moved the needle for us as far as new projects are concerned and we look forward to participating again next year.”

Paul McKeon, President of Team Building with Taste added his perspective. “There are company bowling leagues, softball leagues, touch football, etc. Why not cooking leagues? The success of the Knifes Out CRE Cooking Competition shows there is demand for these kinds of engaging culinary competitions, beyond what you just see on TV.”

Knives Are Being Sharpened for 2023

Planning is already underway to replicate the event in 2023 only on a larger scale. “We plan to bring in more guest chefs, do even more pre-event marketing and bring the media to these events,” said Holland.  “We can’t wait,” he added.