Trio of businesses link learning, sales

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kat Hurtubise, Bob Twogood and Jill and Brendan Barry run separate businesses that have discovered a simple formula: Customers come in to learn something, then often end up buying something.

Chef George Mavrothalassitis of Chef Mavro Restaurant is among the executive chefs offering lessons through Gourmet Cooking Hawaii, owned by Kat Hurtubise. The business offers cooking classes at O'ahu's top restaurants. Photo courtesy Aloha Convention and Event Services

Customers who are turned off by a hard sell often are happy to sign up for a free or inexpensive class in which they can learn about the product with no obligation.

"What we're doing is called 'experiential marketing,' " said Hurtubise, the owner of Gourmet Cooking Hawaii.

Hurtubise began drawing customers to an Asian import furniture business by organizing feng shui classes at the store, called Island Lifestyle.

Then Hurtubise, an event planner by trade, got Indigo restaurant to offer cooking classes at the furniture store, which led to her current business: cooking classes at O'ahu's top restaurants.

Hurtubise makes money off the $95 tuition. The chefs donate their time and space, knowing that most of the students will come back as customers.

Jill and Brendan Barry teach almost daily classes at their two Bead It stores in Kaimuki and Kailua.

Asked how many of the students in the basic bead classes become regulars, Justine Jones, the manager of the Kaimuki Bead It store said "mostly all of them."

Like other businesses that offer instruction, Bead It's most popular classes focus on beginners. The stores' basic jewelry or wire classes cost $25, last a minimum of two hours and include materials and all kinds of hands-on experience.

And as other businesses have found, stores get a lot of repeat business by including a coupon good for 20 percent off.

"If they're coming in for the first time, our main purpose is to educate people," Jones said. "But the beginning classes do get them interested" in coming back.

Twogood, who owns Twogood Kayaks and Canoes Hawai'i in Kailua, started offering instruction in 1985 out of necessity.

Back then, Twogood's first boats were surf skis, which can be relatively tippy for novice paddlers.

So Twogood and his staff willingly took potential customers down to Kailua Beach for a test ride and free lesson.

"People won't buy them if they can't paddle them," Twogood said. "Once they could paddle them, they discovered they were a lot of fun and a sale naturally followed. If they were successful, they normally bought a boat. Our bread and butter depended on our ability to teach them to paddle."

Twogood now offers programs in a handful of private schools, as well as night and weekend classes for adults at the University of Hawai'i Outreach Program.

Twogood's beginning class is by far the most popular and generates the most sales. About 15 percent of the students in the entry-level class buy a boat within 30 days, Twogood said. The number jumps to about 30 percent within a year after the class. He offers a discount on boats to his students.

But Twogood doesn't think too much about the connection between lessons and sales.

"I haven't really focused a lot on converting our students into long-term customers, which is probably a mistake from a business perspective," Twogood said. "A lot of studies have shown that where people receive their education they tend to place their loyalty. ... When you develop a relationship like that, the long-term association normally follows naturally."

Hurtubise certainly hopes that her 2-month-old Gourmet Cooking Hawai'i business develops into a long-term association between the restaurants and the students who come to their cooking demonstrations.

The three-hour classes cost $95, which includes instructions from the restaurants' executive chefs and sample sizes of the chefs' entree, dessert, companion wines, and a gift bag that includes the recipes and items such as wine openers.

Many of the students have never been to the restaurants before, Hurtubise said. To bring them back, the students' fees also includes a $20 gift certificate.

Hurtubise has organized four demonstration classes for each of nine restaurants.

The idea began last year when Hurtubise organized the Island Lifestyle feng shui classes, which filled up immediately and spilled over into a second class.

The furniture store offered 10 percent discounts to the students, and during breaks they instantly became customers. Following the tips from the feng shui class, the students bought $300 worth of colored cloths, vases and even a small coffee table.

When Hurtubise brought in the chefs from Indigo, students bought linen napkins, teak chop sticks and ceramic plates worth about $1,000.

"Be it feng shui or painting classes or gourmet cooking classes, they're actually connecting the store with an experience," Hurtubise said. "That is what's so powerful."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.