When Richard Hughes (27) settled in Oslo with his partner a year ago he discovered that dining out in Oslo was a rather expensive luxury. Having traveled the world reviewing hotels and restaurants, Richard had developed a passion for food and decided to establish the Oslo Dining Club to make dining out more accessible to the people of Oslo. Daily Scandinavian had the pleasure of meeting Richard Hughes to learn more about his ideas as he’s about to introduce the Oslo Dining Club.
Introducing Oslo Dining Club
Richard tells us that he likes to eat a wide variety of foods; somewhere along the way, his friends and family realized that he had strong opinions regarding his dining experiences and started to ask him for recommendations all the time. What Richard really likes most about dining out is bringing people together.
What is the idea behind Oslo Dining Club, Richard?
In order to make dining out more accessible to people living in and visiting Oslo, we had to think outside the box to see how we could help food enthusiasts to afford more frequent dining while at the same time help restaurant owners fill their increasing capacity.
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Richard’s dining-based membership club is the solution; members enjoy dramatically reduced costs for their dining experiences and restaurants benefit from direct marketing to a growing enthusiastic membership. Oslo Dining Club plans to capitalize on the desires of an increasingly food-obsessed social media world in which we can offer new dining experiences to savvy restaurant lovers.
What are the member’s benefits?
As a member of Oslo Dining Club you are entitled to receive the best offers from restaurants in Oslo. These include, 50% off the bill or 2 for 1 on A la Carte food (effectively, it’s a buy one meal and get one free) in addition to exclusive offers on ‘Explorer Dining Experiences’ in the city which will be available from January. You get your discount immediately simply by presenting your ODC membership card when requesting your final bill.
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A benefit to members as well as member restaurants
For an annual fee of less than the price of a dinner, members can explore the Oslo Dining Club’s portfolio of restaurants, find their favorites and eat out more often – advantageous to the Club’s members, as well as its partner restaurants.
You established the Oslo Dining Club just a few months ago, how is it going?
At the moment during our soft launch phase, we have over 400 members and 10 partner restaurants, with a selection of exciting restaurants joining in the new year. Oslo Dining Club aims to attract people who are keen to explore the culinary diversity of Oslo and facilitate that curiosity by reducing the expense associated with each experience. We want our members to experience new cuisines, restaurants and dishes and perhaps to encourage ‘up and coming’ chefs.
How do you select restaurants?
We now have a team of enthusiastic people looking for good restaurants and we are eager to share our recommendations with our members. We keep in touch with restaurant owners, chefs and food & wine journalists who define our gastronomic lifestyle. And we translate what they are doing and saying into our efforts to bring new restaurants and/or information into our membership offerings.
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About Oslo Dining Club
The idea is that dining out brings people together; great friends catching up, colleagues developing relationships outside the office, families sharing exciting news and so on.
The ethos of Oslo Dining Club is to make eating out better value for money, thereby encouraging people to eat out more regularly and helping develop the culinary landscape of the capital of Norway. “By doing this, we are helping both our members and our partner restaurants,” says Richard.
“We love the idea that we are able to help create more opportunities for people to enjoy the city they live in, whilst supporting their local restaurants and creating a more vibrant culinary environment for the people of Oslo.”
The team at Oslo Dining Club are excited to provide people with this service and hope they enjoy dining out the smart way in their city!
“OK, enough about us,” concludes Richard. “Let’s get out of this office and head over to the latest restaurant to join the Club’s portfolio to experience membership privileges first hand. You’ll be impressed by the quality of service and the food; perhaps even startled by the affordability offered to our savvy Club members.”
Want to save on dining at fine restaurants in Oslo? Apply here.
Introducing Oslo Dining Club: Richard Hughes interviewed by Tor Kjolberg