It’s time to celebrate with your team!
It’s the time of year when companies start thinking about their end-of-year group activity. Or something they can do together for fun to help build a cohesive, productive team: to build trust, employee engagement, efficiency, and cooperation. After these last few years of COVID and virtual teams, how often have you really connected with your colleagues? In person?
I encourage you to speak up! This year, don’t let your team fall for another generic office dinner. Make it exceptional! Make it fun. Ditch the design sprints and reconnect with your team in person with any of these foodie activities that are chock full of fun, festivity, and team bonding.
Progressive dinners
A progressive dinner is an evening of dining experiences where each course is served in a different place. Depending on how you organize your evening, you could organize anything from hosting at a few colleagues’ houses to a few different local restaurants or even…depending where you live…different wineries or breweries.
Have colleagues sign up to help out at each stop by either preparing and serving the food or preparing a team building game.
Get outside. Connect in nature
Take your team out of the office (or home office) and reconnect with nature (and your team). Try a short hike or eBike in the morning. Arrive at a planned destination for lunch. This destination could be a local restaurant–or if you are in Switzerland–a mountain hut. OR learn basic campfire cooking skills together. Hire a chef to teach your team how to cook simple but delicious menus over an open fire. Celebrate with s’mores afterwards. Incorporate a few team challenges into the experience with a professional team facilitator.
Wine walk with a gourmet tasting apéro
Enjoy your city with a cultural tour and a certified sommelier. Blend the best of history with culture, wine and food. OR get out of the city and into the vineyards. Explore the vines by foot, eBike or electric tuk-tuk. Meet the vintners and learn about local varietals. There are a dozen wine varietals indigenous to Switzerland and a dozen more that were made-in-Switzerland. Talk to a local wine guide about discovering the best in your area. Even better, hire a local caterer to create a colourful seasonal tasting menu you can prepare together.
Micro brewery tours, tastings & paired menus
Switzerland boasts more than 1000 craft breweries. Find a local interesting local brewery and create an immersive experience. Deep dive into their brewing process, get up close to the equipment, then enjoy a guided food-and-beer pairing session featuring local craft beers, gourmet cheeses, meat, fruit, chocolate, and coffee.
Cocktail making class
Learn to make a few healthy and artisanal cocktails for the coming holiday season. Get ready to mix and muddle with a masterclass in mixology. Or maybe just two classic or trendy recipes. Book a local mixologist and a great setting with panoramic views to host your team bonding experience.
Artisan chocolate tour and tastings
Take an afternoon to learn about Swiss chocolate history of small artisan chocolatiers. Discover exceptional specialties at each one and taste lots of treats! Take a guided tour where you can learn about the process of chocolate making and how to taste chocolate. Ask for a chocolate-making workshop and create your own unique corporate treat.
Cook together
Take a cooking class with a theme of your choice with a local chef. Learn how to prepare easy, tasty side dishes or how to create an apéro board. Maybe even organize a team challenge cook off. Encourage learning about different cultures in your workplace by preparing different cuisines from different cultural backgrounds of your employees. Or plan and prepare a multicourse meal to improve coordination and communication across participants.
Be crafty together
Spend an afternoon or evening and create a crafty project together at a local craft atelier. Make candles, build a tool box (or advent calendar). Restore a piece of furniture together then donate it to a deserving charity. Enjoy a fabulous apéro or coffee between coats of paint and conversation.
Host a unique dining experience for your department or company
Gather your team together in a creative space for one moment to share the most universal human conversation: a meal. We specialize in finding unique locations (historical sites, vineyards, hidden castles and more) for exceptional dining adventures. We always make it stylish and sustainable. We use vintage plates & cloth napkins, real cups, glasses, and cutlery, and washable table clothes. We also source local ingredients for the menus and work with small artisan business to promote their quality products. (Check out our Harvest Dinner Party on 29 Oct).
If you and your team want to create any of the above exceptional team experiences (large or small), contact me.
About the author: Jen Burke
Travel & experience designer, editor, foodie, digital professional
Mother of two boys, #SEOnerd, foodie, traveller. Fun fact: I grew up at Mile 906.8 Alaska Highway, Yukon, Canada.
I love food & wine & being outdoors. Edible Switzerland is my passion project. Here I want to connect food lovers (locals and tourists) to the best resources we can find anywhere in Switzerland.
When I’m not working on Edible Switzerland or moderating the Foodies in Switzerland group or the #SwisswineLovers group, I have a digital concierge agency with a few clients all over the world.