Attending food festivals and drinks festivals is the nation’s favourite pastime. They take place all year round, with different themes and cuisines, and offer some fantastic dishes. Yet organising a food festival is no easy task. There are legal implications through hygiene and insurance, as well as risk management and managing vendors. For both big and small scale food festivals, insurance is key, but should never be so expensive as to debilitate the organiser’s vision. It’s why Insure Our Event offer the most affordable food festival insurance through our tailored quotes – hoping to facilitate the planning of more festivals.
See here the five steps any organiser will need to undertake in order to deliver a successful food festival.
How to Set up a Food Festival and Drinks Festival
1. Secure the Venue
Decide where you want the food festival to take place. The success of your event will often depend on the location of the venue and how will it’s marketed. Accessibility considerations are key, as disability access and access of emergency vehicles are legally required for large events to go ahead. Check the capacity of the venue and the safety concerns, such as walkways, bottlenecks and fire exits.
A good idea is to review any past events that have been held at the venue, assess how they were run, their success and whether they are similar to your intended festival.
2. Get your licenses sorted
Food festivals that take place in public spaces, such as parks, streets, roads or carparks, will require permission from the local council. Individual permissions will need to be granted for the sale and supply or alcohol, the sale and supply of hot food, the display of entertainment – such as music or sporting events.
The local council should be receptive to your plans, however ensure this is done at least two weeks in advance. Private events should not require licenses, yet keep your council and authorities informed to reduce the likelihood of disturbances.
3. Recruit food vendors
Get the best food vendors for a truly memorable festival. Recruit food sellers by going to local stores that fit the theme of your event and ask if they’d consider exhibiting or putting forward some food to be sold at the occasion. Ensure there is high quality food available, and perhaps a range of options. The required food hygiene rating needs to be upheld by all vendors.
Stay local to promote small businesses. And reach out to popular exhibitors as they will more likely be ready to join your event. Most organisers already have an idea of what food vendors they would like to invite before organising and event. A tip is to pla well in advance to ensure your first choice of vendor is available to book and reduce likelihood of last minute challenges.
All food vendors and stallholders will require stallholders insurance, which can be purchased through Insure Our Event.
4. Purchase Festival Insurance
Festival insurance is legally required for organisers of public food festivals and drinks festivals. Employers liability insurance covering employees or volunteers is mandatory. Public liability insurance covers slips and trips and third party damages. Cancellation insurance covers in case your food festivals see unforeseen circumstances and is cancelled or postponed.
Food Festival insurance and Drinks Festival insurance can be bought at Insure Our Event. Quote your event and see how much cover you require by utilising Insure Our Event’s free instant quote form.
We offer event insurance starting at £25. Depending on the size, scale, location and capacity of your event, your quote price will vary. Find out how much your tailored quote is by filling out our quick and easy form.
5. Promote and advertise your event
It’s crucial you effectively promote your food festival to attract the right guests. Whether its restaurant owners or the general public, utilise digital media to increase your reach. Create a Facebook event, and contact local news agencies over email.
Alternatively, print media still works brilliantly. Print out flyers to give to local shops or post offices – send them to pubs and community centre – even post them through letterboxes. Get your advert in the paper, stick up road signs, and make sure everyone in town knows when and where your event is taking place.
With these five steps, organisers should be able to put on their own fantastic food festival or drinks festival. Whether you are a small community centre or a public events space, consider utilising Insure Our Event’s document suite and risk management services.
