Marriott International Inc. is launching a restaurant incubator competition, hoping to tap the world’s growing cadre of food and beverage entrepreneurs to bring a new level of cool to its hotels.
The Bethesda hotel giant bills the competition, called Canvas, as a “global concept lab for food and beverage ideas.” The winners will get up to $50,000 each and six months to operate and prove their concepts.
It is accepting pitches for spaces in hotels in Phoenix, Denver and Irvine, Calif. It’s also holding the competition in three international destinations: Shenzhen, China; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and an unspecified location in Europe. No sites in the D.C. area are in the competition, though executives are looking at two local hotels.
The goal is to turn under-performing spaces into destination hot spots that will attract the millennial market, said Wolfgang Lindlbauer, Marriott’s global leader of food and beverage.
“If you think about our current customers, we’ve been very focused on consistency, because they want to have the same experience over and over,” Lindlbauer said. “But there’s been a big pivot in customer perception, driven by millennials. They’re very excited about truly local concepts with an individual behind them.”
Canvas is just the latest attempt by major hotel companies to appeal to the elusive millennial market. The past year has been rife with technology announcements, new, hip brands and other concepts that aim to please younger travelers.
Some of the spaces in the competition are small: a 500-square-foot former private dining room at the Irvine Marriott or a former lobby Starbucks space in the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown. Others are larger: At the JW Marquis in Dubai, the hotel’s management hopes to convert the existing Middle Eastern restaurant and lounge into a bar and nightclub.
Eligible candidates could be a local bar or restaurant manager who has been wanting to strike out on his or her own or an existing hotel employee with a great idea. Competitors must submit a basic business plan, but they won’t be required to put in any startup capital at first. At the end of the six-month trial period, Marriott (NYSE: MAR) will determine whether to negotiate an independent operator contract or a consultant contract.
Lindlbauer acknowledges many hotel operators are wary of ceding control of food and beverage operations.
“The larger owner organizations who are more rooted in the traditional way we have run food and beverage in hotels, for them it will be more difficult,” he said.
But Lindlbauer sees the move as essential to bring that sought-after, authentic cachet that millennials crave to Marriott hotels.
“I think this is very important, but it’s certainly not easy,” he said. “It will be a big journey, and we hope that we learn along the way.”
