Often times, an organization discussing development of a new community cookbook will feel as if their community has nothing special about it to develop a theme. Well, we all remember the term ethnocentrism from our sociology classes—everyone and every community thinks that there is something unique about them. This is what a community cookbook should attempt to accomplish—draw out the uniqueness of the community through the subject of food.
Here is an idea for getting started:
Begin with a book development workshop. Decide who should attend, but prior to the meeting send out a survey and ask everyone to complete and return at least one week prior to the meeting date.
The survey should ask questions that will give the leadership some insight into the dynamics of the group such as strong personalities that might push an agenda the majority doesn’t agree with. They should try to uncover interesting ideas that may be initially “blown off” but in reality are quite good. The survey might give the group an idea of who they are or who they want to be.
Here are some sample survey questions:
What are the top 3 cookbooks in your area that will be competition?
What do you like and not like about these books?
What are your 3 favorite cookbooks?
What cookbook do you use most? Why?
What type binding do you like and why?
What foods are indigenous to your area?
Name 3 things that are unique about your town, city, and region.
Who is the target market for the (whoever) cookbook?
How many people live in a 100 mile radius?
Do tourists visit your city/region? Name the top 3 tourist destinations.
You might also want to ask the attendees to bring their favorite cookbooks to the meeting.
The leadership of the group should take the survey responses and do its own homework by answering the survey, gathering information packets on the community from sources such as the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, AAA, etc.
From a time stand point, we suggest that you budget approximately 4 hours for the brainstorming session and remember that it is important to have a neutral facilitator conduct the workshop. This person should be good at leading a discussion and drawing people out to explain their thoughts and opinions. The facilitator should have an easel or white board or pad and basically brainstorm with the group – setting the basic guidelines for brainstorming – no idea is a dumb idea – write every idea down, then go back and prioritize.
Start with target markets, that is, who you are going to sell the book to (select the strongest 3 to 5), then brainstorm what type of book these individuals would like to purchase. What will make them want to purchase your book over another cookbook?
The next step gets a little tricky because the facilitator needs to be able to guide the group to point out to them what they are saying that makes them unique and will make the book unique. The discussion should point out other elements to give the reader than just the recipes and photos which make the community interesting and different.
Here is an example from one of our consultants that served as a facilitator for a group in Savannah, GA.
“St. Andrews School in Savannah, GA. is an upscale private school – and this was right when Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was really hot. Everyone associated Savannah with this book and tourists were coming in record numbers – BUT there was so much stuff about the book and the typical Savannah Squares, etc. "
The group knew that tourists would be their biggest market – and a tourist would obviously want a ‘Savannah’ cookbook – so what could they do different?
"In my research, I discovered that Savannah is the City of many Firsts…there are some very interesting ‘Firsts’ and this was not something that the city promoted – I had a list of the ‘Firsts’ that we went through, the committee immediately bought into the theme, they of course knew this about Savannah, but they had never thought about using this as a theme for the book. The excitement was great and we came up with the title right then – First Come, First Served…In Savannah! They knew they wanted concealed wire, and had originally wanted 4-color dividers (but didn’t have a clue what would be on them) with the storyline taking shape, it was determined that since most of the “Firsts” were historic and if a photo existed it would most likely be in black and white, they decided they would do a one color book – the side bars are very entertaining, they take the reader by the hand and give them a tour into the lives of the people of Savannah.”
If we can be of help to you, or someone you know, by leading a development workshop all it takes is a phone call.
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