We built and opened a pop up restaurant in Stockholm. The British, two starred Guide Michelin Chef, Michael Wignall and his team was in charge of the cooking. The restaurant, named DILL (an anagram of LIDL), was an immediate success. Celebrities and foodies crowded it.

What nobody knew was that ALL food that was used in the restaurant was bought at the discount food store Lidl, down to the smallest grain of salt.

A simple press release, announcing the star chefs arrival to Stockholm, sent out a few weeks before the opening was the start of a the massive media attention that later came. The restaurant generated press even before the opening.

An equally simple press release was sent out when the restaurant had only 5 opening days left, explaining that Lidl was behind the restaurant and that it was done as an eye opener for the quality level of their products to the people of Sweden. All media then exploded.

Dill was opened 3 weeks in September/October 2013. It served more than one thousand people a nine course tasting menu. Dill was fully booked from its first day to its last, and had more than 500 people on a waiting list to get a table.

By hiding the fact that all food used in the restaurant was bought at Lidl, we gave the products the possibility to be judged without prejudice. Immediately, the blogosphere became full of messages praising the great food.

A text message was sent to food critics, food bloggers and celebrities inviting them to a sneak preview of Dill. 120 messages was sent and the event became instantly fully booked. A discount e-mail was sent after closing to all guest that visited Dill offering them discount of the food that been used in the restaurant, in their closest Lidl store.

Dill sparked a national debate about food quality and low prices. When we revealed that Lidl was behind the restaurant foodies choked on their gourmet grub and all media exploded. National news papers, blogs, even national television talked about this. Dill became twitter subject of the day twice. Consideration tripled from 10% before the campaign to 33% after. Media reach was 24 million after 2 weeks, in a country with 9 million people. The following 4 months was the most profitable since Lidls establishment in Sweden 10 years ago. 2013 ended the first profitable year for Lidl in Sweden ever.