Food-obsessed crowds turned out in droves for the sixth annual New York City Wine & Food Festival, held October 17 to 20. While some of the festival's late-night parties and intimate dinners remained scattered across the city, many of the marquee events—including the Burger Bash and the Grand Tasting—were concentrated around an easy-to-navigate "culinary campus" set up at Piers 92 and 94 in Midtown, or at the festival's official headquarters hotel, the Hudson Hotel.
This year the organizers introduced a handful of new events, including a walk-around sampling of top chefs' takes on game-day cuisine dubbed Jets & Chefs: the Ultimate Tailgate hosted by Joe Namath and Mario Batali. And of course, stars from title sponsor Food Network were on hand to host popular signature events, including Bobby Flay for the festival's Mexican-theme outing, Tacos & Tequila, and Robert Irvine at Thrillist's meat-centric Barbecue & the Blues bash. (Notably absent was Paula Deen, who cancelled her scheduled Classic Comfort Brunch after the TV network dropped her earlier this year amid allegations of racist behavior.)
As always, big-name brands played a key part in extending the offerings of the eating and drinking festivities, with more than 100 sponsors and partners working with the festival's sponsorship team on customized activations and integration throughout the weekend's events. Here's a look at how brands including Delta, MasterCard, Illy, and Ronzoni caught the attention of the festival's more than 50,000 attendees.
To promote its new Guy Fieri-hosted show Guy's Grocery Games, the Food Network booked the Shopper Chopper, a nine-foot-tall drivable shopping cart. In addition to touring around Manhattan, the on-brand cart made a pit stop inside the Grand Tasting.
Three of the festival's largest events were held on the top level of an open-air parking structure at Pier 92, adjacent to the West Side Highway, including the signature Burger Bash on Friday night. As part of its Community Created Art program, Burger Bash title sponsor Blue Moon had a professional artist on hand to help guests paint a pre-outlined mural of a giant beer bottle nestled among the New York City skyline.
Some sponsorships were baked right into the food: Inside the Betty Crocker tent at the Burger Bash, staffers served Blue Moon-flavored cupcakes.
Delta flight attendants pushed carts around the party, offering guests mini pretzels and other snacks. The staffers, real attendants for the airline, also passed out tickets that automatically entered guests to win two round-trip tickets to anywhere in the continental United States.
Throughout the weekend, Groupon hosted a tote-making station atop the Pier 92 parking structure. Guests were given an object to find on a giant photo mural, such as a cocktail or a car. Once they located the item, staffers handed them a token that could be redeemed for a screen-printed tote bag.
Hosted by Restaurant: Impossible star Robert Irvine, Thrillist's Barbecue & the Blues event took place on Friday at Good Units inside the Hudson Hotel. Guests could pick up containers with logos holding toothpicks and breath mints—must-haves for any food tasting event.
On the upstairs mezzanine at Thrillist's Barbecue & the Blues event, sponsor Samuel Adams had a portable cooler set up to serve draft beer.
Held on the terrace at the Hudson Hotel and hosted by Food Network's Sandwich King star Jeff Mauro, Saturday's Soup'er Sandwich tasting saw 15 local chefs offering their best sandwich-and-soup combos. Title sponsor Hidden Valley presented its own farm-theme display of sandwiches, each featuring one of four new Hidden Valley Sandwich Spreads.
Soup'er Sandwich sponsor Martin's Famous Potato Rolls handed out squeezable stress balls shaped like packages of the brand's bread rolls.
One of the new events the festival debuted this year was Jets & Chefs: the Ultimate Tailgate, which took place on Saturday afternoon at Pier 92. In addition to more than 20 game-day cuisine samplings, guests could partake in activities like ladder toss, a game set up in presenting sponsor Pepsi's activation area. The space was marked off by low walls made from empty Diet Pepsi cans.
As part of Glad's Save It Sunday campaign promotion—which encourages people to avoid food waste by properly storing produce—guests helped color in a giant mural of an apple.
Coors Light created a football-theme photo op display at the family-friendly tailgate-theme event.
Hosted by Bobby Flay and sponsored by Olmeca Altos Tequila, Saturday night's Tacos & Tequila event filled an indoor space on the second floor at Pier 92. As guests entered the room, they saw a giant tiered display of televisions playing news clips from supporting sponsor NY1.
The DJ booth at Tacos & Tequila was set in front of a giant screen that projected guests' Instagram photos and sponsor logos arranged inside a Mondrian-inspired configuration of squares.
Guests lined up at the event's MasterCard-sponsored bars to receive margaritas served in glowing glasses.
On Saturday night, chef Todd English hosted a late-night walk-around tasting at the Plaza Food Hall. Food Network Star winner Justin Warner was on hand to promote General Mills's "Hello, Cereal Lovers" campaign. In addition to pop-art installations made with Trix and waitresses wearing mod dresses covered in images of Cheerios, Warner served cereal-inspired cocktails to guests.
The inaugural La Sagra Sunday Slices event closed out the festival. The pizza-centric affair showcasing 15 of New York’s best-known pizzaioli (pizza chefs) was held on the roof of Pier 92. Presenting sponsor Ronzoni placed vases filled with pasta and hydrangeas on rustic wood tables throughout the event space.
On Sunday, the Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmern and Pat LaFrieda Meats hosted an Oktoberfest-theme affair at Long Island City beer hall, the Garden at Studio Square. Sponsor Samuel Adams handed out on-brand beer steins and felt hats to attendees.
Pier 94 was packed with brand activations, food sampling stands, and drink stations on Saturday and Sunday for the festival's Grand Tasting. Coffee brand Illy brought its Push Button House, an enormous shipping crate that opens up into a mobile café space at the push of a button. The "house" hosted book signings and chef tastings, and guests could tag selfies taken inside with #IllyCoffee and #NYCWFF for the chance to win prizes, like a coffee maker.
Tables in the Illy Push Button House displayed centerpieces of fresh red roses arranged among coffee beans.
At the Celebrity Cruises booth, produced by Grand Central Marketing, attendees could pose for photos while sitting in an oversize deck chair.
MasterCard set up a candy-shop-theme counter, where attendees who signed up to receive more information on the brand's Priceless New York experiences could help themselves to a sweet.
The Do AC campaign brought its two-story pop-up experience, designed by BMF Media, to the Grand Tasting floor. Each cubicle emphasized a different interactive experience themed around Atlantic City's offerings, including a gambling table and free mini massages.
The Do AC activation also included a Twitter-activated vending machine. Eventgoers tweeted using a specific hashtag to receive a free T-shirt and a chance to win a free trip to Atlantic City.
At the Cooking Channel's booth, staffers served freshly made savory pizza-, miso-caramel-, and black-and-white-cookie-flavored popcorn. Guests could also pose in a nearby photo booth, using props displayed in vases filled with popcorn kernels.
Pier 94 also hosted a series of KitchenAid-sponsored culinary demonstrations by Food Network personalities throughout the weekend. The audience was able to easily see what the chefs were doing thanks to a reflective mirror placed above the cooking area.
The Cupcake Vineyards truck, which is currently making its way to more than 25 states across the country, made a stop at the Grand Tasting. Guests could climb into a cozy lounge in the back of the truck and sample different varietals.
At The New York Times booth, attendees used iPads to make Word Cloud portraits—staffers captured images of guests, which were then recreated by a computer program that searched for food-related words within the Times’s article database.
Inside the Grand Tasting, guests could relax at Delta's Sky Club lounge, choosing to sample sommelier-selected wines served in-flight or chow down on pulled pork sandwiches from barbecue restaurant Blue Smoke. Outside, Delta offered guests free pedicab rides to and from the far-flung piers and Columbus Circle.
Featuring a rustic farm aesthetic dotted with freshly picked floral arrangements, Buick's setup was dubbed the Honey Garden. Attendees could sign up via iPad to win a car, plus sample cocktails made with honey-flavored syrup.
