It's Official: Ruth's Chris to Crowne Plaza

[Sonrise]

Being the one to break the story a few months ago (pats self on back) I wanted to verify/confirm so I simply called the hotel. Wendy said that yes, indeed, they were going to come in and as a matter of fact Ruth's Chris would be running the whole food and bev/catering department @ the Crowne Plaza. She said the whole team was in yesterday scouting the site and they should expect a Nov. 1 opening date. RC is very pricey, everything is ala carte, i.e steaks come with no sides but the "prestige" is still very good for Greenville. Perception is very important.

[GvilleSC]

The recent exterior renovation at the Crowne Plaza looks one hundred times better than the old Holiday Inn look. I hope Ruth's Chris does well there.

[linkerjpatrick]

Being the one to break the story a few months ago (pats self on back) I wanted to verify/confirm so I simply called the hotel. Wendy said that yes, indeed, they were going to come in and as a matter of fact Ruth's Chris would be running the whole food and bev/catering department @ the Crowne Plaza. She said the whole team was in yesterday scouting the site and they should expect a Nov. 1 opening date. RC is very pricey, everything is ala carte, i.e steaks come with no sides but the "prestige" is still very good for Greenville. Perception is very important.

[Greenville]

How will the work for networking groups and other meetings who book the Crown Plaza during lunch hours? Will they have to pay RC prices or will RC do a special buffet deal for events like that?

[linkerjpatrick]

I don't know the answer to your question, but if I had to guess I would say that you will have to pay Ruth's Chris prices. Ruth's Chris isn't the type of place to do a reduced-price buffet.

[Greenville]

Hmm.... Looks like some meetings may be moving locations then if true.

[linkerjpatrick]

Hopefully someone at the Crowne Plaza will be able to tell you for sure so your group can plan ahead. How long have you been meeting at the Crowne Plaza?

[Greenville]

It's not "my" group per se. The main one I go to is the GSATC group that meets once a month and my wife has gone to meetings there for another business network group and I've seen other associations meeting at the same time. Usually meals for such events are between $10 and $20. It hard to imagine Crown Plaza losing the potential business of those large groups meeting there because they would be outpriced.

I will say this however. Downtown Greenville needs more places that can accomodate business meetings. A lot of the small resteraunts along Main Street are just two small and don't have the facilities for reasonable priced lunchtime meeting. The Hyatt has some space of course, not sure about the Poinsett in terms or reasonable stuff. Maybe the Mariott will help with this kind of thing when finished.

[DowntownCityGirl]

The city really should have space for local small business meetings and networking events. It would be great if they had at least 3-4 such rooms at City Hall that could be "rented" for free or either a very reduced rate. You know, sort of a public service to foster growing local companies. They could even have some sort of agreement with local restaurants to cater food to these groups for an agreed-upon special rate...

[greenvillehistorytours]

The city really should have space for local small business meetings and networking events. It would be great if they had at least 3-4 such rooms at City Hall that could be "rented" for free or either a very reduced rate. You know, sort of a public service to foster growing local companies. They could even have some sort of agreement with local restaurants to cater food to these groups for an agreed-upon special rate...