7 Lessons From Small Food Festivals

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better for food events looking to draw a local crowd.

Texas Monthly's TMBBQ Fest in Austin, Texas, has steadily grown since it launched in 2010.
Texas Monthly's TMBBQ Fest in Austin, Texas, has steadily grown since it launched in 2010.
Photo: Kenny Braun

Not every food event has the budget or aspirations of a mega festival like the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Yet there are several smaller food events executing on a high level. BizBash spoke with Scott Hobbs, deputy director of the Union Square Partnership, whose Harvest in the Square in New York is celebrating its 20th anniversary tonight; Jennifer Garcia, vice president of sales and marketing at Texas Monthly, whose TMBBQ Fest on November 1 in Austin, Texas, is hitting its stride in its sixth year; and Evan Berman, managing director for Pop Up New York, whose Chelsea Eats debuts on September 26. Here are tips from their experiences.

1. Stay true to your mission.
By design, the participating restaurants in Harvest in the Square all come from the Union Square neighborhood, but that doesn’t stop restaurants from outside the neighborhood from trying to get in. “Last year we heard from someone from Times Square,” Hobbs says. “We have to politely decline. But they are welcome to open a location down here.” The restaurants also shop at the Union Square Greenmarket for their menus in a partnership with GrowNYC, and after the event uneaten food is donated to the City Harvest. “It’s very much a local event in every sense of the word,” Hobbs says.

2. But don’t be afraid to mix it up.
“We constantly have to find ways to make our fest interesting,” Garcia says. “We want to give value to people who attend, and we don’t want it to grow stale.” This year will feature the fest’s first dessert offerings, with treats from some of Austin’s best-loved sweets vendors as well as cupcakes from sponsor Crown Royal.

Harvest in the Square also has experimented with its format. “The biggest lesson we’ve learned is that people are there for the food,” Hobbs says. “We are lucky to have some of the best restaurants like Union Square Café participate, and people want the food. Several years ago there was a speaking program, and people just wanted to get to the food. The main purpose is to showcase the restaurants and not get too far away from that.”

3. Discover new talent.
Big-name food festivals deliver big-name culinary stars. Smaller festivals that can’t compete with that can serve a different niche by highlighting rising stars. Chelsea Eats worked with food incubators Entrepreneur Space and Hot Bread Kitchen Incubates to discover new talent. “They can’t afford to jump into the established food festivals because they’re too cost prohibitive,” Berman says. “[Chelsea Eats] is a wonderful concept for young entrepreneurs to test their concepts and make a living in an environment where rent is preventative.” Another bonus is that attendees—and Berman expects about 15,000 people at his event—feel like they get access something new, too.

The barbecue vendors who participate in the TMBBQ Fest are limited exclusively to the restaurants chosen for Texas Monthly’s “The 50 Best BBQ Joints in the World” list, which comes out every five years. To introduce some variation, the fest invites one newcomer every year selected by barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn. “We don’t want to discount the fact that there are fantastic restaurants coming out since we’ve published,” Garcia says. This year, it’s Freedmen’s in Austin.

4. Grow within your limits.
Attendance at TMBBQ Fest has ballooned from about 1,000 in the first year to 4,500 today. The event now uses more of its host venue, the Long Center for the Performing Arts downtown, but there’s a limit to how big the fest can grow. “Our pit masters are the superstars. We want to work with them every year to make sure we’re not getting too big,” Garcia says. “We have a lot of mom-and-pop places that participate. They don’t want to alter that experience. We can’t get too big because it wouldn’t be the festival that we’ve built.”

Harvest in the Square started with 20 restaurants and about 800 guests; today more than 50 restaurants and 1,200 guests come to the fund-raiser. “We get calls about the event months before the event happens,” Hobbs says. “The tent has gotten bigger as we’ve gotten more restaurants, but it’s never been unmanageable.” As the event has grown in quantity, it’s also focused on quality. This year it will feature floral displays from Starbright Floral Design and will offer special perks during a V.I.P. hour.

5. Carefully think out sponsor activations.
The best sponsor efforts tie into the event’s purpose. At the barbecue fest, sponsor Texas A&M University staffs a barbecue “genius bar” with experts from its Meat Science Section. “We’re always bringing new sponsors to create new activations,” Garcia says.

6. Keep the conversation going throughout the year.
Texas Monthly reinforces its status as an authority on the state’s barbecue with a number of smaller events throughout the year. They include TMBBQ road trips in which Vaughn leads an eight-hour bus tour of barbecue joints throughout the state; a series of intimate “Behind the Pit” dinners focusing on a single restaurant that may feature unique dishes like smoked prime rib or barbecue lamb chops, and a new event called “Fire and Smoke” that pairs high-end chefs with pit masters for a four- or five-course dinner for as many as 80 guests.

7. Get feedback.
After producing another food event, Meatpacking Market, in August, Berman says he learned a lesson about the setup of street festivals: each block should have a different cuisine. At Chelsea Eats, consumers will find a “culinary journey” with blocks devoted to international food, barbecue, desserts, artisanal foods, and a food truck alley. “We need to make sure our vendors are doing well and are happy with their sales on the day,” Berman says. “If they’re not profitable the whole system would break down.”

TMBBQ surveys its guests on specific aspects of the event. “Was there enough seating? Were there enough varying flavors? Were the lines okay? Was it too hot?” Garcia says. "Those are the things we’re looking at to make their experience better."

Correction: The attendance of Chelsea Eats has been updated.

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