Event Co-creation. Case: Restaurant Day at Porvoo Campus

Abstract

This thesis is a written report that describes and analyses Restaurant Day at Porvoo Campus event, organised on 17th November 2012. The main focus of the thesis is on co-creation as a new method of service design. Co-creation means that service providers and customers co-create value by cooperation, collaboration, sharing ideas and experiences. The objective of the report is to provide guidelines for next Restaurant Day events at Porvoo Campus. The thesis also aims to analyse what was successful, what could be improved, and to come up with suggestions for further development.

Observation, event diary, feedback from customers, restaurant owners and the team of organizers were used as the main materials. Interviews were arranged with customers of different age groups and students with experiences in various projects.

The thesis also includes a study of the conflict between traditional event management theory and new approaches of the service design and event management. The study indicates why traditional theory is not applicable for Restaurant Day case. The study was focused on the analysis of the concept of co-creation and its effectiveness in event management field. The thesis also explains how co-creation approach was used in Restaurant Day at Porvoo Campus.

The findings confirm that the role of a customer has changed. The new customer wants to be involved in the service design process. The results explain why it is very important to move from value creation to value co-creation. The findings also give an idea how to utilize co-creation in Restaurant Day at Porvoo Campus even more fully. For this purpose it is essential to familiarize all participants with the concept of co-creation in the beginning of the project and involve them even more into organisational and marketing activities.

The main conclusion was that Restaurant Day at Porvoo Campus event had a great success because it was based on co-creation approach.