Venue Case Studies

Trust Wedgewood Events To Help Your Venue Prosper

Are you a venue owner?

Explore how our team at Wedgewood Events can transform your venue operations and increase profits. The secret to our success is listening to the market, understanding what clients want, operating at scale, and centering all our efforts on satisfaction: our landlords, our clients, and our team members!

Day-to-day venue operations can feel neverending. That's why venue owners across America ask for our help. They want to streamline their activity, and they trust us to manage operations to the highest level of excellence. When you choose to work with Wedgewood Events, you get a relationship that is:

Professional

LUCRATIVE

HASSLE-Free

Experienced

The facts speak for themselves and we're happy to introduce you to any of the venue owners we work with. Take a look at these six case study examples which demonstrate how we made a big difference quickly and continue to sustain success for the long haul.

At Wedgewood Events, We help Your Venue Shine!

Bookings doubled within 90 days

Rio Hondo, Los Angeles County

The City of Downey had a long-standing concessionaire for all Food & Beverage and events at Rio Hondo Golf Club. Over the years, they felt golfer services and events fell below expectations. In 2019, they conducted a vigorous RFP for a new operator who would bring the facility operations up to standard, attract new event clients, and make the venue profitable for the City.

With decades of experience partnering with municipalities and understanding the venue’s potential for greater event occupancy, we decided to put forward a proposal. At Wedgewood Events, our initial success came from servicing golfers with clear-cut hospitality, all guided by golfer needs. Our subsequent familiarity with event operations on municipal courses made our RFP response a good fit for the City of Downey’s needs. By choosing Wedgewood Events by unanimous vote, the City is now working with a proven, professional operator and receiving sustainable and competitive rent payments.

We immediately cleaned up the building and invested capital in designing and building an expanded outdoor patio space and a new dedicated ceremony site to enhance the guest experience. Within the first three months of operations, our team instituted operational changes to serve both golfers and banquet guests better. We pared down the restaurant menu to provide better service and improve stock rotation, reviewed prices for friendly competition with nearby golf courses, began to market event availability, and introduced a new team to work with members of the existing crew. These changes and more transformed the venue's productivity.

The City of Downey now has a financially stable partner committed to improving the facility and services at the high-volume golf course. We are focused on maximizing the use of the event and banquet center while streamlining all other hospitality activities. As a result, bookings doubled within the first three months with projections to host over 200 community and wedding events a year.

One Hundred Events in First Three Months

San Clemente Shore, Orange County, California

The city council and golf commission in San Clemente, California, chose Wedgewood Events through a selective RFP process to operate and lease their F&B operations. We immediately invested substantial capital to renovate the pub and grill, the banquet room, and for the design and buildout of a beautiful garden ceremony site.

Our operational changes to better serve the golfers by expanding the hours for the walk-up snack bar and paring down the restaurant menu to ensure fast, friendly service at a reasonable price. In addition, we developed a specific golfer banquet menu to ensure that local golf clubs and tournaments receive a consistent menu at the value-based price point they desire.

The city of San Clemente now has a financially stable partner that is committed to improving the facility and services at the high-volume golf course. We’ve maximized use of the restaurant space by booking over 1,300 within the first few years of activity following the transition of operations in 2012.

Now, we host over 100 weddings and 80 community events per year. The city has been delighted with the partnership, and they continue to support our growth.

1,200% Sales Growth within five months

Aliso Viejo, Orange County, California by Wedgewood Events

Aliso Viejo Center, Orange County, California

The City of Aliso Viejo opened and operated its conference center in 2009 but revenue projections were beyond reach. After the initial contract term, the city conducted a new Request for Proposal to find a new “partner that embodies high-quality standards, emphasizes excellent customer service, and has the ability to maintain consistently high standards while managing and operating the Conference Center.”

We were chosen based on our proven financial track record, strong brand in weddings and events, professionalism, and sales results.

Since taking over operations in August 2016, we took sales from 100K to 1.3MM by the end of the year. The Aliso Viejo Center now generates positive cash flow for the city and is self-sustainable, allowing the city to focus and fund other community projects.

Public/Private Partnership Success

University Club in Irvine, California

The ‘Regents of the University of California’ own the University Club within the UCI campus. When first built, this non-profit was a popular meeting spot with daily dining services and hosted social and fundraising events for the Chancellor, staff, and students. Before long, the Regents decided running a daily restaurant and event venue themselves did not maximize potential and they decided to outsource.

With support from a hospitality consultant, the UCI Regents posted an RFQ in 2016 to find a long-term tenant. Our management team was already familiar with the venue and submitted an operational plan alongside a detailed renovation proposal. We met the Regent’s ongoing vision and provided a path to relieve the financial and operational burdens while yielding the highest return in rent. UCI awarded us the contract to manage the entire design and construction process of the new building and operate the venue as a daily bistro and call upon our expertise to sell and host every type of occasion.

Together with UCI, we invested over $3,000,000 with a local design and build firm to completely remake the University Club from the ground up and restore its place as ‘jewel of the campus’ ready to host university, community, and private events.

Today, we have built a beautiful new building with modern landscaping that exceeded everyone’s expectations. The University has a vested and financially stable partner with expertise and focus on always improving the services and guest experience.

Within the first full year of operations, we sold and hosted over 175 weddings and social events at the University Club. Our on-site team now maximizes occupancy and have found their stride.

Stakeholder Expertise Can Shine

Redwood Canyon, Castro Valley, California

In 2017, we formed a new partnership with both the East Bay Regional Park District and Touchstone Golf Management. The partnership lets each of the stakeholders solely focus on their key interests; the Park District can focus on their 73 parks including 3 State Parks along with community and recreation programming and Touchstone can prioritize golf operations and maximizing greens fee revenue. Prior to our partnership in 2017, the facility set-up could not fully realize its potential revenue through events and F&B services. The East Bay Parks District and Touchstone can rely on Wedgewood Weddings & Events for regular rental income and we manage day-to-day operations.

Redwood Canyon is an 18-hole championship municipal golf course owned by the East Bay Regional Park District and managed by Touchstone Golf Management, a full-service golf operations company. The venue building was under-utilized and closed most evenings.

When approached, Wedgewood Events remodeled and reconfigured the existing restaurant and banquet room to provide a new golfer’s pub and grill that is their dedicated space. This provides separation from golfer services and event/banquet guests. The building now comprises a clear-cut golfer bistro, plus two independent banquet spaces. Our team also designed and built a dedicated outdoor ceremony site that feels private and intimate while not interfering with the golf operations or golfer experience.

This move into the weddings and banquet business and faith in our brand, and sales and marketing tools meant the unused building space was home to over 180 large-scale events in 2019.

Today, Touchstone and Wedgewood Events continue to work in harmony while giving focus to our respective specialties. The partnership provides a best in class experience, full utilization of the premises, and the best ROI and highest rental payments for the East Bay Parks District.

Collaboration Breeds Sucess

Galway Downs, Riverside County, California

In 2010, the renowned Galway Downs estate was purchased by the Smith family, well respected multi-business owners in the Temecula Valley. Ken Smith developed a business plan to encompass the equestrian training center and athletic fields with a dedicated event venue.

The Smiths created the event space for their son’s sumptuous wedding celebration and the local community attended in force. Soon after, Ken was inundated with event requests for the location. To support the demand, the village evolved to include a permanent 10,000sq. ft carriage house with a catering kitchen. The area includes an outdoor patio space, bridal cottage, gentleman’s cottage, and an outdoor amphitheater, all surrounded by beautifully landscaped parkland with mature shade trees, ponds, and natural walkways.

Having personally managed the event fulfillment process, the Smith family soon decided to outsource so they could give more of their attention to other parts of their businesses. We created a long-term lease framework with profit sharing, which supplies ROI on the buildout of the Village. Within the first year, our team took sales from $600,000 to $2,000,000. Today, the property owner is making long-term sustainable rent and desired ROI.

The property is 242 acres with three different concessionaires who work closely together to share their respective premises and maximize profitability while prioritizing client satisfaction. Each operator is independent, and we do not share revenue but do work together to create positive visibility and generate long-term benefits through word of mouth and market reach.

The partnerships allow each of the operators to fully focus on their expertise while relieving the owner of the day-to-day and financial obligations so that he can focus on overall business growth and development beyond his interest in this venue.

Interested in learning more?

If you have an underutilized event venue, want to refocus your energy, or are planning to retire – we can provide a simple and clear path. We’ve worked with venue owners and municipalities from coast to coast. We’d love to chat about your ideas and how we can continue to grow.

ALL-INCLUSIVE OPERATION

Your property will be operated by our all-inclusive, full-service, professional hospitality company that specializes in the sales, volume, and execution of weddings and special events

LUCRATIVE INVESTMENT

The rent you receive will be pure profit, we pay for all costs associated with your operation

Unlock Your Profits

When you increase activity and booking, you can increase revenue

ZERO HASSLE

Our team will operate every aspect of hospitality activity, so you have time and space to focus

EXPERTS IN THE BUSINESS

Founded in 1986, we’ve hosted tens of thousands of events and have millions of satisfied guests

Established Brand

Recognized and respected company with huge brand prestige and customer awareness, coupled with extraordinary customer satisfaction levels