A private restaurant tour provides a fun and tasty backdrop to a corporate team building outing. However, if you want to optimize the experience, there are a few tips you should keep in mind. Check out these ideas:

1. Use the event as an entrée to a new location.

In addition to the team building work you do during the event, you should also consider using the experience as a fun way to introduce your employees to a city. This approach works for a number of different scenarios. For example, if you are adding transfers from another town to your team, a restaurant tour introduces them both to the rest of the team and to your city.

Similarly, restaurant tours work well for introducing your sales staff to a new city that you are servicing, showing your marketing team another side of the city you currently live in, and similar situations.

2. Try new things.

When you are setting up the private restaurant tour, tell the tour operator that you want to try new things. Tasting exotic fruits, exploring interesting food-wine pairings, or delving into fusion concepts helps to add excitement to the event, and it also encourages engagement between your team and the tour.

However, be sure to ask your team about allergies or diet considerations. Then, notify the tour operator about those needs so they can accommodate them accordingly.

3. Use the tour itself as an icebreaker.

When you use a private food tour as a team building event, you don't have to plan icebreakers to get everyone talking. Rather, let the tour itself act as an icebreaker. As your team notices the atmosphere of the restaurants, explores new flavors, hears music and experiences new parts of the city, they instantly have something to talk about.

Planned icebreakers work well in some situations, but on a restaurant tour where there is already a lot of sensory input, they can be superfluous.

4. Let it be fun.

The ultimate objective of any team building event is to bring the team closer together. This helps them understand each other and opens the door to more effective communication strategies.

To foster closeness in a group, it helps to simply have fun together. You don't want the restaurant tour to feel like just another work obligation. You want it to be something your employees look forward to.

For more tips on planning a corporate team building event during a restaurant tour, contact a tour operator in your area.