How TheFork helps innovative restaurant group Gaucho delight diners old and new

A premium Argentinian steakhouse with locations across London and the UK, Gaucho uses TheFork to engage new diners, reward existing loyal customers, and increase awareness of new additions to its much-loved classic menu, getting its vegetarian and plant-based options in front of over one million diners across TheFork platforms.

Gaucho is one of the UK’s most-loved steakhouses, bringing an iconic and Argentinian-inspired menu to diners across the country.

For over a decade, it has partnered with TheFork to offer exclusive experiences to its customers and build brand visibility. In that time, Gaucho has grown significantly, with 20 restaurants now open across the UK, and continues to be a leading innovator in the UK restaurant industry.

“We use TheFork as a booking system to help drive new diners and give extra exposure to our restaurants,” said Shadow Jackson, Reservations Manager at Gaucho. “Working with TheFork has been really rewarding. We've seen a real increase in the number of covers coming through the platform.”

Rewarding loyal customers

As well as getting more customers through the door, Gaucho needed a way to thank its existing regulars for their loyalty. To do this, the brand took advantage of TheFork’s ‘Yums’ loyalty programme to keep its biggest fans coming back again and again.

“The Yums loyalty programme allows guests to accrue points, which turn into rewards they can use when dining at Gaucho restaurants,” said Shadow. “It means they are rewarded for their loyalty, both for using TheFork and for visiting our restaurants.”

“The collaboration with TheFork is key to our success. It’s really important that we drive new diners, bringing extra exposure to any new menus and special events that we have at Gaucho. TheFork is a great platform to give us extra exposure." 

Shadow Jackson, Reservations Manager at Gaucho

Introducing diners to the menu of the future

To help bring in those new diners and demonstrate its commitment to evolving with the times, Gaucho is taking action to stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly eco-conscious restaurant industry, with the key goal of becoming net zero by 2040. Alyson Parkes, Sustainability Operations Manager, looks after this strategy and works on new sustainability initiatives across the business.

“We're working a lot with our chefs at the moment to increase their knowledge about sustainability,” she explained. “How can we design food waste out of our menus and our kitchens?”

To get chefs thinking about how they can do their bit to improve sustainability in the kitchen, Gaucho and TheFork came together in 2023 to launch “The Future of Gaucho”, a nationwide initiative that asked Gaucho chefs to create a new menu focused on sustainable dishes.

“The competition we threw out to the chefs was to create a menu with two starters, two mains, and two desserts,” explained Dominic Ashworth, Recruitment and Development Manager at Gaucho. Originally intending to select just one winner, the judges were so blown away by the standard of the chefs competing that they decided to expand and award several winners across the UK, including chefs in Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmingham.

The best dishes from the winning chefs were put together as a special set menu offered exclusively to TheFork diners, giving Gaucho fans a chance to try something new while demonstrating the brand’s forward-thinking outlook to new customers. 

“From speaking to the chefs, the pride they feel seeing their dish on a menu really means a lot to them,” said Dominic. “It shows our values and is a real opportunity to represent what our people mean to us.”

The Future of Gaucho was a powerful way to show off the talents of the restaurants’ chefs, and it also proved to be a resounding commercial success. While the initiative was going on, Gaucho achieved a record-breaking month of bookings on TheFork, with a remarkable 109% increase since the start of the year.

Evolving Gaucho’s reputation and appealing to new demographics

As well as bringing unique new dishes to its menus to showcase talented chefs, Gaucho worked with TheFork to showcase its expanding range of meat-free options for diners. Alyson says: “Gaucho has been known as a steak restaurant group for a very long time, but we're looking to broaden our offering and widen our menu choices to accommodate different dietary requirements and preferences. This has seen us introduce several vegetarian and vegan dishes.”

Through its partnership with TheFork, Gaucho is boosting its appeal to a wider range of diners, as well as showing long-time fans that they can still enjoy the same top-quality Argentinian cuisine they know and love while cutting down on their meat intake.

By promoting its new vegetarian and vegan offerings extensively across TheFork platforms, including social media, web banners, the app, and CRM, Gaucho has reached over one million diners since partnering with TheFork. Check out the full video interview on our blog here.

Together, TheFork and Gaucho are bringing new diners to the tables of one of the country’s most-loved restaurant groups by offering exclusive new experiences and promoting its expanding menu. Meanwhile, regular diners continue to enjoy the fine dining and exceptional service Gaucho has offered since opening its doors in 1994 — with the tasty bonus of being rewarded for their loyalty.  Ready to find out how your restaurant (group) can do the same? Get in touch!