After being held back by COVID-19 for two years, in-person events are back, including food festivals, much to the delight of foodies and restaurateurs.
Restaurants that participate in food festivals can enjoy much-needed publicity and other marketing opportunities. Being a concessionaire in a food festival will let you engage with your loyal diners and passionate foodies, and introduce your dishes to a new demographic. It also gives your chefs a chance to test out new menu items.
Bars and breweries can also enjoy the limelight, particularly during festivals dedicated to wine, beer, or booze, like the annual Hudson Valley Wine and Food Fest. If you happen to operate in Munich, Oktoberfest will be your best friend.
More than a haven for foodies and music lovers, food festivals are a space for established and emerging restaurants to interact with diners and push the boundaries of their culinary artistry. It’s the best place to test out unique and creative menu items, as the festival itself is a medium for market research and developing new culinary ideas.
What Can You Do at a Food Festival?
Because diners at a food festival come from different demographics, their opinions will be varied, which is important for research. If you’re a new restaurant, serving diners of diverse backgrounds can actually let you identify your target market and perform market segmentation, which helps you break down your target market into different categories.
Catering to different market segments is necessary for a restaurant because not every customer is going to like the same items. There could be a group that enjoys house specials more than the regular items, or only sticks to certain items because of their budget. You can personally pick up on these behaviors and patterns during a food festival as you’re directly interacting with your customers when they choose items and order, unlike what happens in online ordering.
Food festivals can also give you a good grasp on the kind of food people will travel long distances for. This usually applies to locations where certain food is grown. For example, 75% of the United State’s tart cherries are grown in Traverse City, Michigan, so they host the National Cherry Festival every year. It is the best time of the year to get authentic Michigan cherries straight from the farms. If you own a Michigan restaurant or bar, the National Cherry Festival is your chance to get creative with your cherry-based dishes or beverages, showing tourists that their trip has been worth it, and reminding locals why your city’s cherries will always be the best.
Participating in a food festival also allows you to take a peek at what your competitors are doing. However, you don’t have to be in a constant battle with them. You can all come together and talk about your highs and lows. You can approach veteran restaurateurs to gain insight into overcoming challenges, or share success tips with budding restaurant owners. If a restaurant investor is among you, you can catch their attention through your food or concept, possibly snagging yourself a financier if you haven’t officially opened yet or need extra capital to reach a milestone.
What About Cloud Kitchens?
Cloud kitchens are definitely welcome at food festivals. Food festivals can be a platform for displaying your dishes and interacting with diners face-to-face. You can also rub elbows with investors and established restaurateurs, and experience what it’s like to run a physical restaurant.
Many aspiring restaurateurs have turned to cloud kitchens to dodge expensive occupancy costs. But by participating in a food festival, occupancy becomes an advantage instead. It gives you all the perks of having a brick-and-mortar restaurant without the burden of maintaining it.
Sure, your exposure may last only a couple of hours or days, but you can leave a lasting impression if you do your marketing right. If you attend a food festival as an existing cloud kitchen, meeting your regular customers can boost their patronage. On the other hand, if you participate as a cloud kitchen in its final planning phase, you can gauge the market and determine your success potential. If your food truck or pop-up shop does well, an investor may notice it and inquire about your business.
What Types of Food Festivals Should You Attend?
The United States, Singapore, and many other countries hold different types of food festivals each year. However, not all of them are the right fit for a particular restaurant or cloud kitchen.
Before participating in a food festival, it’s important to determine not only its attendance volume but which markets will be present in it. Find out its theme first; themes are not only for aesthetics but for also determining the kind of demographic it’ll attract. A good food festival understands the vision and needs of the participating restaurants and other businesses in the industry. As such, it can give your brand a much-needed boost, targeted promotions, and a physical platform.
Many food festivals are organized by food or beverage companies themselves, so they are usually the ones worth participating in. There can also be cultural food festivals, like the Singapore Food Festival. This festival is solely dedicated to the local cuisine, so if you’re based in Singapore with native dishes to offer, this is your chance to test out new takes on classic favorites like laksa, char kuay teow, and satay. And since Singapore is a melting pot of cultures, fusion dishes are also welcome.
You can also attend a food festival as a guest. It won’t completely be a missed business opportunity because you can observe how the restaurants perform and the market’s behavior, gathering research data from first-hand experience. You can also organize meetups with other restaurateurs and investors, and learn from each other without the pressure of generating income from the event.
Make the Best of Food Festivals
Food festivals aren’t just extra marketing and selling platforms for restaurants. They are also a place for learning more about the industry and asking the questions you might have for experts.
A good food festival empowers budding restaurateurs and provides them with ideas from both fellow newcomers and veterans. Food festivals usually come with different programs, like culinary workshops or seminars. Even established restaurant owners attend these programs, as they’re extremely helpful in updating your knowledge. So whether you’re a new or experienced restaurateur, don’t miss out on the opportunity to attend festival programs. These are oases for new networks and culinary ideas.
Simply put, food festivals aren’t just a way to access new market demographics, but a way to enhance your vision and skills as a restaurant owner. Like a best friend, they have your best interests at heart.