Title sponsor sees Colonial connection as springboard into Texas market

Bayani Lauraya, global president of Dean & DeLuca, considers his organization’s agreement to serve as title sponsor of Fort Worth’s annual PGA Tour stop for the next six years a “perfect fit” for an organization looking to expand heavily into the Texas market.

Lauraya said corporate executives consider Dallas-Fort Worth a “top three” market for their U.S. expansion plans and hope to have their first of multiple retail outlets operating in the Metroplex within a year.

The company, headquartered in Wichita, Kan., operates full markets as well as cafe setups in 12 U.S. locations but will be introducing itself to multiple Texans for the first time this week at Colonial Country Club as title sponsor of the Dean & DeLuca Invitational.

The company has no current Texas retail outlet, but it will set up a storefront display to market and sell its wares along Colonial’s Prince Street exhibits area during tournament week. The idea, said Colonial tournament director Michael Tothe, is to recreate a D&D retail outlet “as much as it can be” within the framework of a golf tournament.

“In essence, they want to take a store and integrate it into the Colonial experience,” Tothe said.

Eventually, Lauraya said, golf fans should become familiar with their brand as the six-year agreement to sponsor the Colonial tournament unfolds. The deal runs through the 2021 event.

“We believe Fort Worth would be a very good place for us,” Lauraya said. “Texas is a very important state for us and Dallas-Fort Worth is an important metropolitan area for us.”

Lauraya weighed in on several topics during a recent visit to Colonial, where the tournament will celebrate its 70th anniversary:

On what led the company to sponsor a golf tournament: Golf is very much an everyday experience for a lot of people. The PGA Tour is well-known, not just in the U.S. but internationally. We feel that being associated with the PGA Tour would be a very good place for us.

On what drew the company to this tournament: Colonial has a very rich history. It’s been around since 1936. The tournament’s been hosted since 1946. It’s one of the most beautiful golf courses that players love to play. It’s a challenging course, so we want to be associated with a course like that. It’s all about golf. We feel there’s synergy there and some heritage. Colonial’s all about golf and we’re all about food.

On removing the word ‘Colonial’ from the official tournament name: It’s really more in terms of what resonates. Having a very long name like Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial was too long of a name. Having the Dean & DeLuca Invitational at Colonial was too long of a name. So we felt more in terms of how it would be carried out in a broadcast that it was important to shorten it and it would be easier to remember.

On the value of the Colonial name: Of course, being here, it attracts us. It’s a very prestigious country club. Having a tournament here is important. What’s important here is that we continue the heritage of being part of the tournament and continue to be true to the heritage that Colonial still holds an invitational that will celebrate its 70th and 75th and 80th and 100th (anniversaries). We want to be part of that. That’s very important to the members of Colonial Country Club, to the residents of Fort Worth, to the residents of the country and to the state residents. I think it’s very important that we carry out that legacy in terms of the richness of this golf tournament and what it’s brought to the residents over the years.

On fresh tournament wrinkles to anticipate under the D&D flag: We don’t want high expectations for the first year that there will be a lot of changes. There will be a lot of cool things going on and the experience will be exceptional. But this is our first year and we understand in terms of what’s required to participate. What is far more important is the fact we ensure that the sponsorship continues. And, secondly, what’s important is that the event continues on. We don’t want to tell the fans to expect a lot of changes in the first year. Let’s make sure.

On what he envisions for a golf fan’s tournament experience: We provide specialty food. We can provide a very good experience here at the tournament, allowing us to basically associate to a high-end golf tournament. We can do a number of things … There are some experiences we want to bring into the tournament, to bring excitement and bring a lot of fans to the tournament and get people excited about the tournament from here on. If anything, we’d sort of like to bring some good experience for the Colonial to the fans. We’re here to be a real partner and to provide a real contribution.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 9:20 PM with the headline "Title sponsor sees Colonial connection as springboard into Texas market."