Iuzzini, of Restaurant Jean Georges, New York, will be creating original dessert recipes and pairing them with prestige fragrances sold in-store, hoping to 'explore the relationship between perfumery, science and the senses', inspired by the fragrance's notes.
The in-store presentations will see Iuzzini, assisted by New York chef Bill Yosses, introduce the select notes that are featured within the fragrance and also the corresponding dessert, through smell and visual senses, with the final element being the tasting of the dessert and the exposure of the fragrance.
Macy's and Iuzzini are hoping that the multiple sensory elements to the presentation will allow for a memorable connection to the fragrances, thus resulting in increased fragrance sales.
Katie O'Reilly, merchandise manager for Women's and Men's fragrances at Macy's said 'This event is an interactive and creative way for our customers to smell, taste and visually experience a fragrance'.
The program is using four different fragrances, Miss Dior Cherie, Vera Wang Princess, Angel by Thierry Mugler and Juicy Couture, at four different locations, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Miami.
O'Reilly said 'Chef Iuzzini has really taken culinary art to a new level by extending his talent to a non-traditional format and experimenting with the intrinsic connection between the senses. It's going to be a truly memorable way to experience our fragrance products.'
Although there is a charge of $25, the store is offering consumers the opportunity to redeem this on fragrance sales after the event. Macy's, who have stores in over 800 locations and in 45 states, are targeting the fragrance consumer at an essential retail sales period, the holiday season.
Leading consumer and retail information company, NPD Group, recently released the 2006 annual holiday survey, which showed a 2 per cent increase in intended fragrance sales for 2006, as traditional gifts come back into fashion.
The holiday period sees the highest rate of fragrance sales throughout the year, with The National Retail Federation predicting a 5 per cent increase in sales to $457.4 billion during November and December. This figure is down on last year's increase, which had increased 6.1 per cent from the previous year to $435.6 billion.
The merging of the food and cosmetics industry is a fast growing market with cosmetic leaders L'Oreal has teaming up with food giants, Nestle, in order to create the Inneov 'inner beauty' range.
Western manufacturers are also rediscovering the cosmetic virtues of Cocoa, with Gabriel Jacquet of Zelda Gavison, a company which creates "Chocolatherapie" treatments, stated that 'Chocolate in skin treatments follows on from a phenomenon that we called tasty treatments,' 'There was a kind of effervescence at the beginning of the millennium which came from London and which consisted of mixing all sorts of fresh fruits and applying them to the face'.