Splurge is a social club in Philadelphia that offers dinner sessions where immigrants share dishes from their home countries. It was founded in 2015 by William Ek, a former chef, to introduce different world flavors prepared by people familiar with those cultures. In its first year, Splurge served 8,000 guests and generated $400,000 in revenue. It is looking to expand its customer base beyond its current demographic of middle-aged women through improved public relations and social media presence. A PR firm has been hired to promote Splurge and help it reach a larger, more diverse food-enthusiast audience.

1. Taste the World Differently
Name of organization:
Splurge
Headquarters address:
5708 Main St
Philadelphia, PA 19127
Other locations
N/A
Mission of organization
Splurge’s goal is to introduce different tastes from around the world in a new way. It encourages first and
second generation immigrants to share some of their favorite dishes from back home with food lovers in
the Philadelphia area. Splurge is a social club for food enthusiasts who wish to gain knowledge in food
cultures around the world without spending their savings on traveling all over the place or a high-end
restaurant’s take on a dish. It seeks to give regular immigrant folks an outlet to share their cultures while
being surrounded with people who appreciate it.
Branding:
The organization’s logo is a carved red apple with a bite taken out it. The carving is an illustration of the
world map. Its slogan is “Taste the World Differently” written in green.
Ownership
Splurge is a private company owned by William Ek, located in the Manayunk area in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.

2. Publicly traded or privately held
This is a private owned company.
Board of directors
N/A
History of organization
Splurge opened its doors in 2015 in Philadelphia, PA in Manayunk after the owner, Ek, decided to offer
the taste of the world from people who knows it best. Since it’s opened, Splurge has had dinner sessions
for five days a week for people in Manayunk, East Falls, Bala Cynwid, and other areas in the
Philadelphia.
Name of CEO or executive director
William Ek, Owner
Profile of CEO or executive director
William Ek, owner of Splurge, is a former chef from the Lancaster,PA. He started to work in the food
industry since his teens. He started out washing dishes, became fascinated with the energy around the
kitchen, and soon moved on to the line. After cooking for other people for so many years of his life, he
wanted to finally start working for himself. The first thing that came to mind was opening a restaurant. He
has always liked to cook, but his favorite thing to do was trying authentic foreign food. He loved how
different cultures make the same dishes in countless of other ways. Instead of opening a traditional
restaurant,he chose to share his passion by opening a place where people can learn, taste,and share
favorite recipes from around the world, hence Splurge. He is an avid traveler, punk lover, and owner of a
dog and a cat (Fat Boy and Baby respectively).
Finances
Splurge’s first annual revenue was approximately $400,000 from attendee fees. Each attendee pays $50
per session hosting about 30 people five days a week. The restaurant’s annual expenses are approximately
$250,000 which include payroll, rent, utilities, and equipment.

3. Customers
For the first year,Splurge has served approximately 8,000 guests from the Philadelphia area. The guests
are majority middle class women from 35-55, most of them married with children.
Employees
The restaurant currently employs five people full time. This includes a busser, two servers,a dishwasher,
and a host. The cooks are employed on a temporary basis. They are average men and women who want to
share recipes that they grew up with. Each week, the countries being featured change,so do the cooks.
The busser helps setting up the tables around the room according to the crowd expected for the day and
clean up after each session.
The servers,obviously, serve the dishes when they are ready. They also serve as assistants to the cooks
when needed.
The host’s role is to primarily take reservations, set up the sitting charts,contact potential participants,
and so on. When the owner is not available, he/she manages the other employees. The official title for that
position at Splurge is host/hostess, but they do the work of a floor manager.
The owner, William, is a hands on employer. He takes on different roles when needed and occasionally
cooks some of the dishes he has learned from the places he has traveled to.
Competitors
There are many other restaurants with that format where their cooks are international, famous chefs who
cook for small groups of people at a time for a hefty fee,and they are usually located in big cities like
New York. However, Splurge’s cooks are average men and women with no formal/professional training
other than what they learned from home. Though other restaurants/organizations have the same format,
Splurge is the first of its kind to be opened in the Philadelphia area.
Political Environment
N/A
Regulatory Environment
This restaurant operates under the Department of Public Health in the City of Philadelphia.
Current situation
Since Splurge opened its doors, it has made its business mostly through word of mouth. A Facebook page
was started as way to reach people, but it has been poorly maintained. Being opened for only one year,it
has done pretty well with acquiring new customers mostly by having friends tell their friends and so on.
However,the owner feels it important to expand its target market. Approximately 90% of the

4. guests/participants are women from the ages of 35-55, but there are more opportunities to diversify that
market.
Public-relations needs
After the first year of operation, Splurge needs public-relations professionals to increase its name
recognition and what it offers its guests. The restaurant needs a bigger social media presence so it can
reach a larger audience. Sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are essential to getting more people
aware of the restaurant’s existence and encouraging them to get involved. It also needs to be featured in
food magazines and social media specifically geared toward food enthusiasts in the Philadelphia area.
Such websites and social media sites include Urban Spoon, Chow, and FriendsEat.
To meet those needs, Ek has hired a local public-relations group, T&P Communications.
My role
I am a public-relations manager at T&P Communications. This account has been given to me to promote
the restaurant’s overall image. I will be working directly with the owner and staff at Splurge to learn more
about their expectations and identify some areas of opportunity. I, too, am a food lover, and am overly
excited to work with a place that offers such a unique experience to its guests.