Postino WineCafe Launches Inaugural Battle of the Bruschetta

Get ready for a food fight! Not the old-school cafeteria kind but a bracket-style competition between Postino WineCafe’s limited-time bruschetta recipes.

Eight bruschetta flavors crafted by Postino executive chefs will go head-to-head – or bread-to-bread – in the three-month-long Battle of the Bruschetta.

There will be seven two-week battles starting on Thursday, June 1 and ending on Wednesday, September 6. Guests can order two competing bruschetta dishes at any of Postino’s nine Valley locations and vote for their favorite. The victorious bruschetta will receive a permanent spot on Postino’s fall menu.

Postino WineCafe is a local staple that got its start in the Valley 22 years ago. From renovating the historical Arcadia Post Office building for its first location to having 25 unique restaurants nationwide, Postino’s emphasis on community has been a consistent force in its success.

Danelle Sarvas – the chief marketing officer of Upward Projects, the restaurant group behind Postino and other fundamental Phoenix restaurant concepts like Windsor, Joyride and Federal Pizza – says events like Battle of the Bruschetta help connect the restaurants to their communities.

“This campaign is really grounded in our mission to bring people together, literally ‘break bread’ and create memories with us where there is no shortage of good vibes, great food and wine,” Sarvas says.

According to Sarvas, the campaign was loosely inspired by the NCAA March Madness tournament.

“As we started riffing on how to bring this type of one-to-one guest engagement campaign to life and fresh off the NCAA March Madness tournament, we were inspired to create our own bracket-style competition with a fun Postino spin,” she says. “Our hope is that guests create their own micro-communities with friends, family and co-workers ‘sparring’ for their bracket positions and connecting with one another while tasting all the contenders, whether that’s coming into their favorite Postino or ordering to go.”

The wine cafe wants to keep including guests in the menu decision-making process and expand campaigns like Battle of the Bruschetta to more dishes and drinks. Sarvas says the marketing team chose bruschetta for the first battle because, “Bruschetta is our cult classic favorite, it’s what we are known and loved for.”

The versatility of the dish also allowed Postino’s chefs to get creative and come up with a unique assortment that will put guests’ tastebuds to the test.

The first bruschetta brawl will be between Mexican Street Corn and Italiano. The second battle will be The Devilest Egg versus The Mediterranean. Battle number three will be Chicken Curry against Spicy Brussels Sprouts, followed by a struggle between sweet flavors with Strawberry Cheesecake going toe-to-toe with Sweet Potato Pie. Brackets five and six will feature the winners of the previous battles and the final battle will determine the winner, which will be announced via social media on Thursday, September 7.

Guests can participate by ordering the competing flavors and voting by texting “BATTLE” to 602-637-1510. Participants can vote once per round and will automatically be entered to win a $50 gift card at the end of each battle. Brackets will be available to download on Postino’s website where Bruschetta lovers can also stay updated on the competition.

May the best bruschetta win!