For the past few years it seems that music festivals have been putting more and more emphasis on their food vendors and absolutely no one seems to be complaining about it. While browsing through a few different blogs, it seems that no one can agree to which festival curates the best food lineup which points out the fact that festivals are stepping up their game.
Throughout the country, most festivals do their best to cater their event with local vendors and have options for everyone (regardless of restriction) and “food lineups” are slowly becoming almost as important as the music. For instance, High Water Fest in Charleston, SC actually posted a “food lineup” to their Instagram and Outside Lands in San Francisco, CA sometimes waits to release the list of food vendors like a separate lineup. The incorporation of local vendors is no doubt a draw to music festivals, but also huge publicity for the restaurants/food trucks and general establishments themselves.
For many of the vendors that agree to work at the festival, their name and logo are shown on the festival website, written about on different foodie publications and their products are distributed throughout the weekend.
The Vendors Perspective
In an article published by Inc, Jill Krasny interviewed multiple vendors from Coachella, Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits and the overall response from vendors was positive. Although the days are long and most of the patrons are impatient, serving at a festival is great marketing for up and coming businesses. Salt and Straw for instance, a Portland based ice cream shop, worked the Coachella Festival in 2014 right before opening their LA location. Although the two weeks were a little tough on employees, the company has since opened more shops in the Bay Area and beyond.
From what I can tell, the festival game is definitely a little more challenging for vendors who aren’t prepared for the mobile aspect of the festival. Most businesses that were already food trucks were aware of all the setbacks that come with being mobile and had a leg up on the competition. Also, for anyone restaurants serving a festival that hosts two back-to-back weekends, improvement was key. Most venders said that they had time to work out the kinks by the second weekend of any of the events they were serving at. So if you’re highly motived by food, attending weekend two might be the move.
A Patron’s Perspective
As a festival goer myself, I am always intrigued by the food being served at the festival I am attending. Festivals also allow for many attendees to try food they might not know about or have ever tried before and because there are less options, why not try something new. There are even specific foods I wait for at Outside Lands like the pulled pork arepas, spicy tots or chocolate dipped s’mores. No matter the festival, it seems like food is being put at the forefront of the events priority list and adds an interesting aspect to marketing the festivals each year.
Within Earshot 