Take a competitive culinary institute in the Cordon Bleu tradition. Add a class of 30 students, just graduating. What’s the best incentive travel idea for a group like that?

Our answer was a tour through France where food is the heart of culture. It wasn’t a superficial tour. We went behind the scenes: vineyards, wine tastings on location; then we went deeper.

We visited a truffle farm, saw the pigs sniffing out the truffles, showed students how the truffles look coming out of the dirt, how they’re handled before they go to market, how to tell the difference between ripe and unripe, to discern top-quality from sub-par. We visited small-scale family producers, and large-scale manufacturers. At a cheese factory, we witnessed how a delicacy is born.

Then we tied it all together at Le Marché International de Rungis, the largest wholesale food market in the world, where Parisian restaurant buyers choose their menus for the evening: an overwhelming assortment of cheeses, fishes, meats, vegetables, flowers.

At last we finished at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School of Paris: the seed and root of Le Cordon Bleu cuisine and education throughout the world.

The students were blown away. Their trip to Europe touched history, architecture, culture – and not just through tourists’ eyes; rather, it was a continuation of their culinary journey: an incentive travel event to crown their education, from which to draw inspiration throughout their career.

How did we make it happen? First, we honed in on the particular food traditions the trip director wanted to explore, brainstorming the destinations where those are most vibrant.

Then we designed the itinerary and arranged the details. Transportation, lodging, meals, tour guides, flights. We designed brochures and registration forms; tracked payment schedules, deposits and follow-up. In short, we kept the busy-work off their plate.

The only thing the trip director had to do was promote their trip – and eventually, lead it. Which is, of course, the best part. (Most of the time, trip-leaders get in for free.)

Not surprisingly, culinary schools for which we’ve planned these trips have continued to request them for each new class of graduates.

This story is special to us. Partly because it shows what we do here at Beatty Group: we give people experiences they couldn’t have gotten as individuals. And partly because it demonstrates how we engage people on several dimensions – in this case, culture, architecture, history, food. It’s exactly what we love to do.

We’d love to do the same for you. Contact us.