Member Article

Festival food - a lucrative business pitch

Festival season is in full swing and that means hungry revellers are flocking to food trucks and pop up pubs in muddy fields across the country.

But gone are the days where your festival diet consisted of warm beer and cereal bars (and if you were lucky a polystyrene box of cheesy chips).

In recent years festival food has become sophisticated, engaging with both the street food phenomenon and pop-up culture.

Until a few years ago, street food in the UK was more commonly associated with burger vans in car parks and kerbside kebabs.

The street-food story started across the pond on the West Coast of America in around 2004, when catering vans from the LA film sets took to the streets, according to Charles Banks co-founder of ‘thefoodpeople’.

The British soon adopted the trend, fuelled by pop-ups and street markets starting in East London, they have now become an integral part of city life, special events and festivals.

According to research from the Association of Independent Music Festivals (AIF) their member festivals ‘injected over £1 billion into the economy’ in the years from 2010 – 2014’ and ‘over £80 million’ during those 4 years was ‘spent along the supply chain of local businesses’.

Marketing opportunities

Dubbed by many as the queen of festivals, Glastonbury alone has over 500 traders and more than 100 licensed premises.

According to AIF’s general manager Paul Reed ‘these small businesses have a captive audience’ and ‘each visitor spent more than £466 on average at independent music festivals in 2014’.

Festivals are a great marketing tactic and a great place to launch your business: Reed told the Guardian that they provide ‘a place to start for small businesses…getting their name out there, building brand awareness, and accessing a new audience and meet customers on a face to face basis’.

One of the best examples of success from the pop-up movement is MEATliquor which started in 2009 when Yianni Papoutis spent £3000 on a burger van.

With no brick and mortar base, website or even a logo, business was generated from twitter under the hashtag ‘Meateasy’.

Now a chain with a cult status and a £12 million turnover, Papoutis told Management today ‘I think we just hit the zeitgeist,’ stating that he had never heard of a pop up when they first started out.

‘Nowadays there are so many street food wagons and so many alleged pop-ups. There are corporates doing pop-ups, everyone’s trying to make it work. But the wagon popping up - that was a very, very rare beast.’

Restaurants popping up

Many restaurants are now adopting the takeaway option to maximise sales alongside their original business hub.

With healthy, tasty food at the heart of their mission, Bristol based Biblos on the Hill are just one of the many restaurants embracing this phenomenon.

Established in 2010 by Ariel Czackers and William Clarke, Biblos have branched out from their restaurant base, now offering events catering for all kinds of occasions, from weddings and parties to corporate occasions and festivals.

Mixing the Middle Eastern with Caribbean cuisine and making everything from scratch (from their signature sauces to their bread), their gourmet wraps and flatbreads are known as ‘the best in the west’.

BusinessesForSale.com spoke to Ariel about how pop ups and takeaways can be beneficial to restaurant owners. He told us: ‘We chose to open pop ups alongside our static business as we had spare capacity’.

He also spoke about the marketing benefits of popping up. He believes that ‘pop up events, if chosen right can offer access to large crowds looking for great food’, enabling restaurants to access a new demographic.

His advice to other restaurants thinking about doing the same is to be certain, do your research and commit to it:

‘I would only recommend it to businesses if they do their homework. Not every event is worthwhile and not every product will sell like hotcakes. So make sure that you tailor your product to the event’.

Things to consider

Think ahead: The whole process of applying to trade starts months in advance, usually the previous autumn with applications generally closing in the spring, allowing around a month to complete the relevant documentation.

Licences / Permits: If you haven’t already, you will have to register with your local authority and attain a food hygiene rating from environmental health and a food hygiene certificate.

Apply: Festivals often value the aesthetic of your business as much as the product you are proposing to sell and the online application process often involves photos.

Competition: Competition for the festival giants is fierce and with over 3000 other enterprises to contend with Glastonbury tops the list – so make sur you stand out.

Pitch up fee: The pitch up fee can be hefty, festivals tend to take between 25% and 30% of a business’s profit as a one off fee, but there is also potential for huge takings.

According to the Guardian, Chunky Chips and Wicked Dips made £19,000 in sales, despite the £10,000 pitching fee at the Latitude festival in Suffolk. The larger the festival the more it will cost for a pitch, but starting small – can still be just as lucrative.

Stock: Make sure that you have just the right amount, do some research and estimate your sales. You don’t want to run out but at the same time storage may be difficult.

Insurance: Insurance is one of the most integral parts of trading at a festival. Employer’s liability insurance is a legal requirement, and public liability insurance is a must for festivals as your risks are increased substantially.

Some festivals will require you to submit your risk assessment and supporting documents as part of the application process.

Paul Reed (AIF) says:

“It’s important for organisers to have all of their licensing requirements, insurance and health and safety procedures in place.”

For food trucks the (NCASS) has recently launched an online hub demonstrating due diligence measures, documentation requirements and general advice for events.

Food for a Fiver initiative

A common complaint from festival goers has always been the price with famished festival goers paying an arm and a leg for good grub.

This year Glastonbury introduced their ‘Food for a Fiver’ deal making it easier on the pockets, purses and bum bags of the festival goers with over 300 traders taking part.

All just a trend?

As the market grows, it looks like the pop-up trend isn’t as temporary as its name suggests. Becoming the domain of small and independent businesses across the country, more and more businesses are jumping on the bandwagon.

Charles Banks told Huffington Post that: ‘The street food revolution will continue to roll, changing the face of food on the high street, in public places, transport hubs, at festivals, concerts and markets.’

‘In 2015 street food will continue to create a unique food experience that is affordable, real, all about the food and a credible alternative to conventional food channels.’

By Melanie Luff, staff writer for BusinessesForSale.com, the market-leading directory of business opportunities from Dynamis. Melanie writes for all titles in the Dynamis Stable including PropertySales.com and FranchiseSales.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by BusinessesForSale .