My Mom is a prolific gifter - especially when there’s a 90% off sale at Lands End (aka every week).

My brother and I like to say she takes a lot of at-bats when it comes to gifting. There are undoubtedly a lot of misses (as evidenced by some of the more brutal items in my closet), but I do have to admit that there are a few home runs. 

That’s how I think about MeetWell. Not every event or experience will apply perfectly to your clients and may even fall outside your typical client entertaining wheelhouse. But my goal is to take a lot of at-bats to get you considering new options and every now and then to spice things up.

— Robbie

Featured in the who’s who of the LA Media world, the Gourmandise hosts an array of delicious sounding cooking classes 7 days a week.  

You’ll learn how to actually cook things like steak au poivre, thai red curry, homemade pasta, and other totally normal dishes you usually whip up during the week at home after work. 

Once you’re done cooking, you’ll be able to sit down and enjoy your creation. The whole experience takes around 3 hours. 

Gourmandise is BYOB, but they provide water, ice, glassware and openers for you. You can purchase wine at a 50% discount from their neighbor restaurant, The Curious Palate, or you can send your beverages ahead through Instacart no earlier than 48 hours prior to your event. Everything will be chilled and ready for your arrival. Be sure to give the team a heads up about your order and delivery details so they can keep an eye out for it. 

You can cruise around to check out all the group class offerings on their detailed, but web 2005-feeling, reservation page.

They also offer private classes for groups with several different menu options (sides and desserts included). 

Finally, if you need an interesting client gift idea, they sell some fun packages like this Sushi-to-go Kit for $26. 

In almost all instances, they can accommodate dietary restrictions. 

Basics:

General Event Flow:

Cost and Reservations:

Links to send your client: 

Added Value: Cooking classes have come up several times in my research with buyers for bringing some life and conversational kindling to the good ol’ client dinner experience. I also like this one because it leaves you with something beyond the evening itself, even if you forget exactly how to toast the almonds next time you fire up a meringue for your crew at home.   

If the World Cup has sparked your long dormant itch for soccer, but the ticket prices are still a bit too picante for your Accounting team, the freeway series between LAFC and the LA Galaxy is a fun option. 

See if you can find a client willing to take advantage of a summer Friday and meet up for dinner or a drink beforehand. 

Some of the best looking options near the stadium are Restaurant 917 (New American - $$/$$$), SoCal Vibes (Brewery - $), and Nam (Asian fusion - $$).   

Tickets: 

Added Value: I tend to avoid weekend events for MeetWell, but the cocktail of a summer Friday, peak soccer interest, and a classic intercity rivalry feels like a fun one to run by the right client. Target someone on the Westside or in the South Bay and let the geography do some of the lifting. 

Founded by fellow members of the media world, The Blending Lab lets you become a winemaker for the day. You’ll taste, experiment, and create your own blends, and walk away with a custom bottle.  

And to be clear, this is not a snooty, high-end wine experience. It's designed as a fun, interactive experiment, and they have NA-wine blending options for clients who'd rather not drink.

They host events at their West Adams event space, will come to your office, or can run it virtually for distributed teams. They're also happy to personalize it if you've got an idea of your own.

Since drinking on an empty stomach is always a recipe for disaster, they also have several local food vendors they work with, which you can add to the experience.

Basics:

Pricing based on location

Group Sizes

Links to share the experience:

Added Value: When researching the Blending Lab, I spoke with one of the owners, Magdalena, about why she launched it. She told me it was in part because she’d been to a fair number of client dinners, and saw an opportunity to create a more interactive experience where you got to do something fun and didn’t feel obliged to make conversation the entire time. 

As someone who has gone so far as to create an entire section of this email devoted to random ideas you can bring up when you’ve run out of conversation (see below!), I can relate.  

Ever been hanging with a client and the conversation just completely runs dry? Whether it’s recent and topical, or general and evergreen, this section is about giving you one idea for helping in that moment.

Jury duty stories. I find these fascinating and often hysterical. My wife has been on three juries with the best being a case from a guy whose business was shut down because he was caught selling counterfeit Nike shoes. So what did he do next? He decided to sue Nike for loss of livelihood! What a legend!  

My wife got to spend five days witnessing our amazing legal system in action while an extremely buttoned up corporate Nike lawyer went toe-to-toe with the counterfeit shoe seller who felt he had all the legal acumen he needed and decided to forgo a lawyer. Unbelievably, the case was thrown out, but we did win in the end with a cool $15-a-day jury check and a hilarious dinner party story for a lifetime.

Thanks for reading. If there’s a client experience you’ve always wanted to research, but never had the time, just reply to this email and I’ll look into it.