Food festivals are more popular than ever, but they come at a high cost for the restaurants and chefs they’re supposed to promote.
and will be presented at the 22nd annual Southern Foodways Symposium, Oct. 24-26 at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. For 2019, SFA has explored the labor of food through symposia, journalism, documentary films and other media.Chefs from FIG, a fine-dining restaurant in Charleston, S.C., had worked their share of food events.
A restaurant as successful as FIG can typically absorb the high costs of food-festival participation, but many can’t. Little-known chefs stand to be financially and philosophically crushed by the industry expectation that they cook at food festivals for little or no money. While compensation varies according to the festival and chef, it’s generally understood that most chefs will end up paying upward of $1,000 to distribute their bite-sized food samples under a tent.
Among the best-known festivals are the South Beach Wine & Food Festival ; Charleston Wine + Food Festival ; New York City Wine & Food Festival ; Atlanta Food & Wine Festival and Feast Portland . Nearly every U.S. eater now lives within driving distance of a chef-centric festival. Still, chefs keep saying yes when food festivals come calling. Chefs interviewed for this story say the decision usually depends on two factors: They’re anxious for potential customers, restaurant backers or James Beard Foundation award voters to see them. Or they want to see their food industry friends. Food festivals offer a chance for chefs to get out of their kitchens and kibitz with colleagues.
“Sausage you can stretch a long way,” Wong says, echoing generations of cash-strapped cooks. “A festival-goer might be like, ‘I paid 100 bucks for this ticket, and you guys are serving sausage?’ But on the opposite end of that, it’s all we can afford to serve.” If Currence rents two decent hotel rooms for three nights, he’s looking at another $750. He also has to feed his crew. There’s a benefit to supplementing his employees’ culinary education, so Currence is reluctant to stint on dining: He budgets $400 for meals with colleagues. Plus, he pays their wages, and the wages for the cooks called to fill in back at the restaurant. He figures that’s another $800.
Compounding chefs’ frustration with the current festival model is the windfall money that buzzy festivals reap in sponsorships and ticket sales. Gillian Zettler, director of Charleston Wine + Food, declined to be interviewed for this story, but a festival spokeswoman says the “Today” show bill was covered by funds earmarked for tourism promotion. The director’s salary, she adds, recognizes “nonprofit trends” and Zettler’s work stabilizing the festival’s finances.
According to the report, the festival in 2017 generated just over $9 million in revenue, with the income coming in almost equal measure from sponsors and the festival’s 60,000 attendees. Auditors recommended tighter controls on spending, noting a supplier of cookware, plates and utensils was overpaid by $42,000, a $17,922 bill from Loews Hotel was mistakenly paid twice and a sign company was overpaid by $3,842.
From the small sample of five surveys received, a clear theme emerged: Food festivals like to tout their charitable giving. Asked if chefs are given an ingredient budget, a publicist for Euphoria, a festival in Greenville, S.C., wrote, “Euphoria is a small nonprofit. Chefs who come to our festival agree to donate their food costs and their time.” Asked if chefs receive any kind of stipend, she wrote, “We are a small nonprofit, so we do not pay a stipend for chefs.
“I sent them a financial package, and they were like, ‘No, I don’t think so. We’re a nonprofit,’” Adams says, repeating what fellow chefs say is a constant refrain when they ask for money. “My donations go to women’s causes. That’s my thing. Any sort of women’s cause, I’m down. But I’m a small business. I’m not giving this away.”
Years ago, chefs agree, the promise of drinking with friends and sharing their latest dishes with adoring eaters was reason enough to pony up money for a festival spot that would set them back financially.“It’s the little things,” Currence says. “Chefs want six to eight bottles of water in their room. They need some popcorn and granola bars.” He contrasts that kind of useful gift with the standard swag bag holding a candle and a branded thumb drive.
At Feast Portland, chefs receive two festival passes and invitations to chefs-only gatherings. In addition, the festival strives to keep their schedules sane: Fewer than 20% of participants at this year’s Feast worked more than one event. By contrast, South Beach Wine and Food reports out-of-town chefs are asked to participate in multiple events “so that the travel is fruitful for them.”
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