Ep. 136 - Where Tennis and Culinary Meet with Penny and Judi Lerner, Founders of AYS Sports Marketing

What do Tennis and Culinary have in common?

Judi and Penny Lerner are a mother-daughter duo that leads AYS Sports Marketing, which kicks off an event called Taste of Tennis, an event that brings Tennis professionals and culinary professionals in a super fun event to showcase the best food in the city.

How did this start? Funny story. Judi kept on getting asked by professional tennis players about good places to eat and that gave her an idea to bring the chefs to them. Now bringing amazing chefs such as Masaharu Morimoto under the same roof as Venus and Serena Williams, this event has gotten widely popular and is a way to showcase amazing food and food trends to the best in the tennis industry.

We go over the trials and tribulations when it comes to planning an event like this. We also talk in depth on how to find the most talented and unique people in the city for your event, and go really in depth on the hottest food trends going on right now.

At the end of the episode, I found out that Tennis and Cooking share the same passionate people, and no matter what profession you’re in, it’s always a blast to meet passionate people.

 

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Shownotes

What do you do?: We introduce tennis players to professional chefs How did this start?: I was having a bad time at my previous job and my mom noticed this niche and asked if she wanted to start something with me. AYS Sports Marketing Judi, how did you start this niche?: When I was doing these events, I saw that these tennis people wanted somewhere to eat and I thought this was a great opportunity. Taste of Tennis: When we first started, we had around 12 chefs. The tennis players didn’t know any We went from 200 people to 700 people. The chefs go from twelve to twenty five. When we started this twenty years ago, chefs were not chefs. Now chefs have a bigger meaning. Notable Chefs: Masaharu Morimoto Chef Shorne Kerry Heffernan Chef John Mooney Do other sports do this?: Yes, but we do it differently. We have the tennis people really get involve dwith the chefs. The tennis players even serve the food. What kind of experience do you want your guests to feel?: It depends on the city, but in general, we want it to b engaging. We have photo walls and have chefs and tennis players do cooking shows, DJ’ing. We like to give the people “Wow moments” or when a celebrity tennis player will do something unique Notable Tennis Players: Venus and Serena Williams Nick Kyrigois

What is the stressful thing about setting up an event?: Hoping to have everyone show up on time. There are so many factors that can cause someone not to show up. For the tennis, for instance, tennis players don’t know when they play until the day of. We also worry if they don’t get injured. One time, we had a city-wide blackout right before the event and the chefs ran out of food. What kind of tools or services have helped your business?: We have a  global network of people and we communicate very regularly. Our biggest resources are talking and eating. On eating: Sometimes I’ll be in New York and have 3 lunches What do you look for when you look for talent?: We have our network give us experience. Hotel bellman actually provides a ton of information. We then take the information and find the recommended talent and go from there. I am looking for new ideas and exceptional people Feedback Sessions: We send out surveys for the chefs and ticket buyers and talk with sponsors. We’ll always have a group brunch where we talked about what went good and what went bad. City taste of tennis after dark: We did an event focusing on desserts. Desserts are now the thing to focus on. We took 5 instragrammable desserts and showcased them. For example Wowffules Ice NY Food trends and technologies: We live in the world where we can use all of these ethnic spices Where do you find a great restaurant in New York?: Mainly word of mouth, or ask friends in our community What is specifically your brand?: We lift these people up in the sports community and turn them into lifestyle brands What is one thing you’d like to know more about in the food industry?: How chefs can go from one event to the next. They balance so much going through events Southern Fork – Stephanie Burt Who inspired you to get into tennis?: Judi – I actually just got involved in tennis and someone asked me to help out and I stayed ever since Tennis players now have a lot of dietary guidelines What are the trends for a tennis player’s diet?: Eating gluten-free (they get more energy). Never put out raw shellfish. They eat plain food before a match. They’ll eat pasta before the match. However, they love food and they eat it all. Tennis is an all or nothing game. You have to win aaroundto get paid. What’s your favorite food?: In a Philedelphia’s restaurant called Franzino. We had this delicious fish. Bidwell Union Square Market. John Mooney. What is your advice for event planning?: For culinary events, read the autobiographies of the chefs. Read books about their lives. Markus Sameulson Anthony Bordain Danny Meyer Markus Samuelson – Yes Chef! Next event just passed: New York - August 23rd September 20th in Chicago Girl and Goat Burrata

 

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