A week-long international culinary event series that brings the world's chefs and media to Vancouver and the Coast Mountains, and sends the city's story back out with them.
CMS is passionate about food, wine and travel. Using the tools of the culinary world, we develop and execute fully integrated, long-term marketing strategies that help clients sell more, build awareness and bring in more visitors.
With a diverse team and a wide range of specialties, CMS offers complete, top-to-bottom management. We have created and managed:
Whether it's a private concert in the Sistine Chapel, a Michelin-starred luncheon in the Grand Canyon or a Canadian culinary delegation to China, CMS has the expertise and connections to make delicious things happen. Celebrity chefs, master sommeliers and winemakers are at our fingertips.
The team brings gastronomy, sommelier certification, strategic planning, event management, creative development, sponsorship and public relations.
CMS builds culinary programs for the long haul, with client relationships that last for years.
A Calgary company with national and international scope. The team has produced more than 600 events and programs for clients including:
Imagine a world-class culinary event celebrating Vancouver and the Coast Mountains: its restaurants, its chefs, its regional food and wine. A week-long extravaganza that shows everything Vancouver has to offer, tempting the senses and invigorating the soul.
CMS recommends multiple experiences to interest a wide variety of visitors and media guests.
Chefs from around the world, targeting Vancouver's key destination markets, are invited to cook at a kick-off event held at YVR, an airport repeatedly named the best in North America.
International media. Each international chef brings an approved media guest from their home country or city, guaranteeing coverage in every market.
Visiting international chefs are assigned to key tourism partner hotels and collaborate with host restaurant chefs on special food and wine pairing experiences throughout the week. CMS works with the chefs to curate menus that reflect Vancouver cuisine, paired with BC wines.
Events are open to the public. Guests book a room night to secure an event ticket, and any remaining tickets are sold separately at a premium.
Proposed host hotels, pending partner confirmation.
Throughout the year, the host Vancouver chefs travel to the same key market destinations as brand ambassadors for Vancouver and British Columbia, a reciprocal exchange. It can be amplified by partnering with BC wineries to represent BC and Canada on the wine front.
A return to our beginnings.
ORIGINS is where individual histories collide to forge something entirely new. Originality is often understood as a beginning: a new angle, a fresh spin, an ability to think clearly in the face of so much sameness. In today's culinary landscape, true originality is driven by what has come before: by roots. Craving connection with the histories that make us who we are, we take cues from the kitchens of our ancestors, reviving techniques, ingredients and philosophy.
The Museum of Anthropology at UBC is renowned for its displays of world arts and cultures, in particular works by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest. It supports originating communities' right to "maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression."
The exchange pairs Indigenous Canadian chefs with visiting international chefs, setting the stage for an exchange of culture and culinary knowledge. International chefs leave with a deeper understanding of Canada's heritage and history, and international media carry the exchange abroad.
An ORIGINS Chef Collaborative Dinner pairs participating chefs with ticketed diners. Dates, chef count and seating are to be confirmed.
Special and on-theme. Outdoor, tented, with views. No onsite kitchen; staffing required.
Vancouver-esque. Indoor, with views. Serving and bar staff included; parking.
Indoor, with kitchen capacity. Staff included.
Chef Shane ChartrandEdmonton, ABShane Chartrand grew up on a farm outside Red Deer and moved to Edmonton for culinary training, working with award-winning chefs in some of the best restaurants and hotels in Canada.
He gives back through charities including Kids with Cancer, Make-A-Wish and CNIB, and has taught cooking classes to Aboriginal youth across Alberta and BC.
He has written for SAY Magazine and Native Peoples Magazine, appears in the Great Canadian Masters, Alberta Farmers' Market and FEAST cookbooks, and is writing MARROW, a book on progressive Indigenous cuisine. He has been featured in Cook It Raw Alberta, Chopped Canada and as a Redx Talks speaker.
"We sat around the table as a family. It's not what I was used to. My mom remembers that I always said "thank you" after every meal. She still brings that up."
To close the week, a large-format event at the top of Grouse Mountain, overlooking Vancouver. It can be a sit-down dinner or a large-format, outdoor walk-around tasting with a rustic, authentic Coast Mountain feel.
CMS would secure celebrity grill masters and other Canadian and BC chefs known for their BBQ skills, highlighting the heritage of BC's local cuisine.
Two Elements dinners CMS produced with Indigenous and BC chefs, the model for ORIGINS.
A media company becomes a partner that sells travel packages to its subscribers, features its editorial staff hosting or speaking at the events, and backs it all with advertising.
The media program pairs modern marketing, like experiential events and influencers, with long-established promotional techniques, reaching both media and consumers.
Culinary travellers spend 20% more and stay 10% longer than the average visitor.
Visit California
Vancouver has had its own MICHELIN Guide since 2022. YVR Experience gives that recognition an annual international stage, filling the seats with visiting chefs, media and culinary travellers.
Visit California paid MICHELIN $600,000 to underwrite more inspectors across the state, because culinary travellers are among its highest-spending visitors. South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand all have paid arrangements, with Thailand's reported at $880,000 a year over five years.
Vancouver has hosted MICHELIN on the Road before: Boulevard Kitchen welcomed New York's Del Posto in 2019. Canada's 100 Best and The World's 50 Best are further platforms for the week's chefs.
This celebration of Vancouver becomes an extraordinary annual event series.
It brings awareness to Vancouver and to the culinary and winemaking expertise growing across Canada. Through unique, entertaining and educational events, media coverage and sponsorship, backed by a solid marketing and public relations plan, the series will elevate Vancouver to new heights. We hope you will join us.
"CMS has consulted in our domestic and international marketing programs and provided insight, advice, marketing and experiential programming support across Canada, US, NYC, Seattle, San Francisco, China and Hong Kong. I highly recommend CMS as a top culinary marketing firm."
"Working with the CMS team is a rare opportunity to see how events should be achieved: effortlessly, perfectly coordinated and stress-free for all the participants. As a speaker who has seen too many events go off the rails because of poor planning or lack of coordination, it's a pleasure to see the clockwork precision of CMS."
Donald HouseCEO & Managing Director
Natalie Goldenberg-FifeCulinary Program Director
Irena KnorrCulinary Program Director
Paula KaneMarketing & Creative DirectorTourism, hotel, sponsor and media partnerships are open. Tell us who you are and we'll send the full proposal.