123 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Last year far too many restaurants closed up their booths prematurely. If the event continues until 5 the booths should be open until 430 at the earliest, not closing by 330 as some of them were. Come 4-ish you literally couldn't sample any more dishes.

One solution might me to stagger the booth openings? I dunno. In the first year the booths stayed open literally to the very end.

[Matt R.]

In the first year many vendors ran out of food before it was all said and done. We were one of the few with food left till the end.

Bringing the required amount of portions to these sorts of grazing events can be tough as you never really know what's going to hit.

One year at feast of fields with our item and location we went through 1100 portions in the first 90 minutes. We (always) over prepped so it wasn't a problem, but if you are asked to bring, for example, 800 portions and your dish is better this average you can easily run short.

Matt.

[Mike K.]

That's right, it was you guys and several others that were still keeping it real in the first year right to the end.

Considering what you've said staggering openings seems like the way to do it.

Etch out the openings of booths on the wooden food tray everyone receives and you're golden.

[LJ]

^The only problem with that is you just have a real "movable feast", the crowd would just move from one opening to the next overwhelming each one in a short period of time. Better to have them all available and spread out the rush.

[Matt R.]

Half way through the first year 90% of the guests were too bloated to possibly consume anymore meat anyways.

Staggered openings would lead to people complaining that the vendor they wanted to visit the most wasn't open, and when they opened the line was too long wah wah wah... Sometimes you can't win.

Vendors really need to make sure they are bringing enough to feed everyone. Nobody likes waste, but running out is even worse.

Matt.

[Mike K.]

I guess having 10 to start, then opening one new one every 10 minutes would work? I dunno. But regardless, for those who don't want to stuff themselves in the first 2 hours the vendors should really have reserves.

Matt, how does the compensation work? Do these restaurants provide their services at cost or?

[Matt R.]

Agreed, the vendors in this or any other case should have enough product to meet demand. Running out of product is just bad for business.

The cost of being a vendor at the event in year one was the sole responsibility of the vendor themselves. There was a small credit from Two Rivers meats, a couple hundred I think if you bought product from them. A drop in the bucket. Our meat cost alone was over $1400 not to mention the labour and sundry costs. This was a particularly expensive event given that it's meat centric. We were in for a few grand.

That's typical of all the local grazing events. Vendors pay the full ride, sometimes are even charged a fee for the table they use, etc. The different events have different approaches to reimbursement but generally speaking there is virtually no fee for services. Vendors pay full pop, easily $1500-2000 once you factor in wage burden.

Expensive marketing but a buttload of fun.

Matt.

[Mike K.]

Holy smokes. So what is the justification for a near doubling of the ticket price if the vendors are not being compensated in some form?

I'm going to guess capacity is 400? 400 x $68 = $27,200.

[Matt R.]

Capacity there is more like 800 I think. I've seen musical events there that were in that range, it might be a little lower because of all the vendor tables and tents.

Overhead must be massive, money goes to charity plus people gotta get paid! No idea what the last year was like in terms of vendor payments but Scott was always awesome to work with and his events were generally the only ones to provide any sort of kickback. He certainly enjoys some huge respect in the industry.

Raise in ticket prices? Might just be supply and demand. The first year was far, far too cheap for the quality of event. I guess if tickets are selling out in minutes there might be room for a little more.

There are worse problems to have when producing an event like this. Kudos to Scott and the gang for producing such a hot ticket event. Chefs and restaurants are lining up to be vendors too.

Matt

[VicHockeyFan]

Vancouver took one week to sell out, and it looks like he's working on a Calgary event too.

[Mike K.]

In the second year capacity increased when Phillips bought an adjacent lot, or am imagining that?

[sdwright.vic]

Nope it was all the same size... just laid out differently.

Once again, me and my three other friends that went year one and two will not be going this year. Highly unimpressed with last year. Not going to risk three same four twice as much money this year.

Edited by sdwright.vic, 16 May 2014 - 06:27 AM.

[tedward]

Half way through the first year 90% of the guests were too bloated to possibly consume anymore meat anyways.

 

Yeah, my wife and I practically exploded so we left early the first year. We could not have finished even a wafer-thin mint and walking home was the best decision as it aided digestion.
Missed last year but it looks like I have tickets for this year. Hope they will have worked out the kinks.

[Mike K.]

Nope it was all the same size... just laid out differently.

Ohhh...

[ZGsta]

Nope it was all the same size... just laid out differently.

Once again, me and my three other friends that went year one and two will not be going this year. Highly unimpressed with last year. Not going to risk three same four twice as much money this year.

 

Yeah, me and my friends are in the same boat. Loved the first year and let down by the second year. Skipping this one, especially with the price increase.

[Mike K.]

I'll be live on scene in a little while. I'll have a full report later on.

 

Who's going this year?

[Gary H]

And the full report is... 

[Mike K.]

Epic. They've ironed out the kinks and the event was a massive success, at least IMO.

 

Great weather, everyone was in good spirits, and the whole event just ran like clockwork. Hats off the organizers.

[Sparky]

 Hats off the organizers.

 

Is that another Freudian slip?

[tedward]

It was good. Weather was beautiful. Only one booth I encountered ran out of food. Lines were not bad.

My only complaint was too much confit and tortilla/toast/bun on some servings. I want meat on a stick or with a bone to hold onto not carbs.

Favourites: lamb rib and elk lollipop.

 

Disappointing: The maple bacon doughnut was OK but served cold. I would have preferred it warm.  I was also hoping for more from the Irish Times corn dog, it just didn't work.