Who? Franciska Keserü, PR Manager, Le Meridien Hotel, Budapest
Waiters Race organized: Budapest 2010, on May 5th.
Number of waiters races organized: six
About Le Méridien Budapest Hotel
WR.com: since when does the Hotel exist?
Franciska Keserü: the Méridien Budapest Hotel opened its doors 10 years ago, in 2000.
WR.com: where is it located in Budapest?
Franciska Keserü: in the heart of the city, five minutes walk from the river Danube and within walking distance to all the famous tourist sites of the capital.
WR.com: what kind of customers do you have?
Franciska Keserü: most of our customers are business people and tourists.
About waiters races
WR.com: how came-up the idea of organizing a waiters race in Budapest?
Franciska Keserü: the idea came from our F&B manager who was French and told us about the concept.
WR.com: When did you start organizing a Waiters Race in your city?
Franciska Keserü: the same year we organized our first waiters race, which means 6 years ago.
WR.com: how did your waiters race evolve over the years?
Franciska Keserü: progressively, we involved sponsors and partners and other 5 star hotels and restaurants.
About the organisation of the 2010 Waiters Race
WR.com: how many months before the race did you start organizing it?
Franciska Keserü: since it was not our first waiters race, we started only 1 month before.
WR.com: did ask for any authorization from the city regarding the fact that the race took place in the streets?
Franciska Keserü: we didn’t have to ask for any authorization. We only asked the police to help us block the street at the moment the participants crossed it.
WR.com: what are the main difficulties you faced during the organisation of the race?
Franciska Keserü: the biggest challenge was to have a good number of participants.
About the promotion of the waiters race
WR.com: what kind of media, did you use to promote your waiters race?
Franciska Keserü: we mainly promoted the event into the Hungarian gastronomic and waiters’ magazines, but also into the local global newspapers. It was important to have the prestige to be in the media.
WR.com: were there any VIP/Special guests at the waiters race?
Franciska Keserü: yes, the mayor of the district attended the race.
WR.com: was there at your race something very original, innovative that you are proud of?
Franciska Keserü: the race has a charity aspect. The participants’ fee went to a foundation which helps underprivileged children.
About WaitersRace.com
WR.com: How do you think Waitersrace.com can help you with your waiter’s race and what do you expect from the community?
Franciska Keserü: as WaitersRace.com is the only website giving the chance to organizers of all the waiters races in the world to be featured and exchange ideas, I am sure that the capital of Hungary, Budapest being on the list may attract readers to choose us as a destination to visit in the future and stay in Le Meridien Budapest 5 star hotel. It is also a nice possibility and motivation for the waiters to be mentioned on the official site.
And to finish with…
WR.com: according to you, what are the main components of a successful waiters race?
Franciska Keserü: a successful waiters race needs a good ambience, a lot of spectators and enough participants.
