Tag: Food Festivals

The Power of One Pepper

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Real Estate PR, , , , ,

What started with one lowly tobago pepper has heated up to be the largest food festival of its kind in the Southeast! The Annual Pepper Festival, hosted by Abundance NC and Clairemont client Briar Chapel, now tops the charts as a spicy celebration of North Carolina cooking, music, fashion and culture — and all to support sustainable food and fuels.

But few hot events come out of the gate with 2,200 attendees, 50 competing chefs and an award-winning roster of bluegrass bands. As we approach the 10th Annual Pepper Festival this fall, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the fun milestones along the way.

2008: One Pepper, One Dream

Enter 40 friends who gathered at the Piedmont BioFarm (part of nonprofit Abundance NC) to engage in a little spicy sampling. Farmer Doug had long been dreaming up a seed-saving program to cultivate vegetables suited specifically for the North Carolina climate. Doug began growing, breeding and testing his favorite food —  peppers, but he needed palates to taste and assess his new produce. Hence, the first Pepper Fest was born! Angelina brought food (to wash down the peppers, she says!), and the sustainably minded, spice-loving friends noshed their way through almost 50 varieties of Farmer Doug’s peppers.

2009: The Second Amazing Pittsboro Pepper Festival

The Pepper Festival coined its first official name, Habanero Beer from Triangle Brewing Company made its debut, bands hit the scene, and a dozen chefs joined the fray to craft pepper-themed dishes. Briar Chapel began partnering with Abundance NC to support the festival and promote the organizations’ common goals of sustainability.

2010: Royalty Takes the Stage

This year witnessed the coronation of the first Pepper King and Pepper Queen, a tradition that still stands today. The Pepper popularity spread like wildfire with 500 attendees at the festival!

2011: A New Location!

Briar Chapel hosted the Pepper Festival first time at Boulder Park in Briar Chapel. As the largest green community in the Triangle, the partnership between Briar Chapel and Abundance NC to further sustainable lifestyles just made sense! Attendance hit quadruple digits, and more than a dozen community organizations joined forces with Briar Chapel and Abundance to take part in the Festival.

 

2012: Spice for the Whole Family

Pepper Fest added a bevy of family activities (like a vegetable circus, face painting and hula hooping). For a little extra fun, they added red-clad, pepper-themed acrobats! A record of 35 chefs and artisans fired up the culinary contest.

2013: Now We’re Winning Awards

This year, The News & Observer named the Fest as one of the “Must-Do Food Events of 2013.” Attendance skyrocketed to 1,500 festivalgoers with a record $20,000 proceeds raised.

2014: A New Location (Again!)

The Pepper Fest outgrew Boulder Park and made its debut at the all-new Linear Park at Briar Chapel. This year featured a judging panel of food and beverage experts along with a new array of dishes — from pepper chocolate to North Carolina’s inaugural batch of pepper jelly beer. And the scales reported that the chefs used a whoppin’ 800 pounds of peppers!

 2015: One of the Largest in the State

The Pepper Fest claimed the spot as one of the largest chef competitions in the state with 45 chefs and artisans. In addition, the Pepper fest debuted Pepperpalooza, kid-friendly activities to provide hands-on education about local agriculture with creative workshops like “Food Fonts” and “The Insane Science of Fairyland.”

2016: Kid Chefs, Fashion Shows and Pepper Personality Quizzes

Briar Chapel added zest and zip with the inaugural Kid Chef Competition and “Hot Glam” Pepper Fashion Show. Festival fans could find out how spicy their personalities were with the Pepper Fest Personality Quiz. In addition to a record 2,200 attendees and 50 chefs and brewers, the Pepper Fest celebrated raising approximately $100,000 over nine years to support more than 200 farmers who wouldn’t otherwise be in business.

 

 2017: It’s the Big 10! 

What do you think we’ll cook up this year? Tune in on September 24, 2017, the spiciest day of the year (and the date of the 10th Annual Pepper Festival). Who knows — we might even break a Guinness World Record!

 

 

Images courtesy of Briar Chapel.

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Fancy Food and Fun

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , ,

180,000 products, 45,000 food professionals, 2,550 brands, 55 countries … and one sensational experience. Last week, New York City was awash with the sights, sounds and smells of the Summer Fancy Food Show, America’s largest specialty food and beverage festival.

Artisanship abounds in every nook and cranny. The best talent from across the globe showcases the industry’s latest and greatest tasty tidbits, like this Sin in a Tin Chocolate Pate, 100% Fairtrade Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil or CaberneyZyn wine fruit snack. Food and beverage professionals can pack their tummies with treats and their brains with industry expertise through a series of business education workshops.

But of course, our hearts were captured by this fun snapshot of Videri Chocolate (Clairemont client) rocking out in such an inviting booth. Vibrant, charming and just plain fun, these artists serve as such an inspiration for entrepreneurs, visionaries and culinary experts alike. Their bean-to-bar philosophy yields a distinct, hand-crafted chocolate that is both certainly “fancy” yet profoundly simple.

Thanks for Tyler Levitetz for capturing the personality of the Videri Chocolate team and brand at the Summer Fancy Food Show and sharing it on Instagram.

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Photo of the Week: Fried Florals

Cherith AndesBlog, Photo of the Week, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , ,

We all love a fresh bouquet of blooms, cheery decor to brighten a room or to celebrate a special occasion. But what about flowers … as a dinner appetizer?

In early June, we joined Clairemont client Il Palio at the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival where Chef Teddy Diggs dished up surprising regional Italian delicacies. His deep-fried squash blossoms piped with ricotta stole the hearts of the guests — as evidenced by the long lines to his booth! After a long (but fun) day in the sun at the Tasting Tent, we snapped this shot of Chef Teddy Diggs and Anthony Carey, general manager, The Siena Hotel, enjoying the last lone blossom.

Check out some of our other culinary festival adventures here!

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Atlanta Food & Wine: Meet the Meats

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , , , , ,

This month’s sojourns beckoned me down to the Peach State for the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. During a fusion of traditional southern cuisine and fresh modern gastronomy, I had the privilege to visit several seminars prior to the grand Tasting Tent. My palate enjoyed veggies from stalwarts like Ashley Christensen who debuted a Mexican wood-grilled corn salsa, and I sampled pimiento-stuffed okra during a session of “Southern Farmers Spill It.” But I was surprised — and admittedly giddy — by the plethora of mighty meats in the spotlight.

We certainly can’t claim that vegetables are a new trend — or a trend at all for Charcuteriethat matter. The farm-to-fork movement has stolen America’s culinary limelight for some time, and part of that trajectory has created space for veggies. Chef Teddy Digg’s sweet corn gelato, Our State’s series on summer tomatoes and even this spring’s frenzy for ramps all cherish the earth’s harvest. So Atlanta’s spotlight on charcuterie began to cultivate a well-deserved appreciation for beef farmers, butchers and the like.

After a breakfast of headcheese, a brunch of pulled pork and an afternoon tea of seared tuna BBQ, I fell prey to the meat sweats. (Alright, it very well might have been the volcanic Atlanta temperatures, but it sounds more dramatic this way.) We explored farm fresh fish and “comeback sauce” with Mississippi’s Cole Ellis of Delta Meat Market. Chris Chamberlain unveiled the exacting skills required from charcuterie butchers, like David Bancroft of Alabama’s Acre. Where the general public sees bacon, these artisans see a culinary voyage — days, months, years of slicing, salting, smoking, salivating and serving!

Keep eating your veggies, folks, but clear your plate for hand-cut and cured proteins, from pork pate to tuna tartare. It’s time to meet the meats!

Check out our other edible adventure at the Charleston Wine and Food Festival!

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Food Festivals: Worth Your Time?

Cherith AndesBlog, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , , ,

From Melbourne to Maine, nearly every corner of the globe explores and expresses local culture through food. Culinary festivals provide a fertile arena to celebrate specific ingredients, showcase new talent or develop fresh dishes through creative chef competitions. Despite the social importance of these events, ongoing debate continues to question the marketing ROI of live events and food festivals.

Food Event Marketing: Trending or Dying?

Marketing expert Michael Reynolds, for example, argues that the trade show model belongs in a graveyard, a dinosaur in lead generation and customer cultivation. It’s easy to get lost in rows of booths hawking wares and flashing shiny tchotchkes. But festivals offer one component that most other marketing methods don’t: personal interaction. And some research suggests that live events leave a stronger imprint on the consumer psyche than social media and promotional campaigns combined.

If food festivals are such a goldmine, then why do so many brands walk away with little to show for their investments? The key lies in the master plan, the year-long prep to ensure that your restaurant gets the most bang for your buck at a culinary event.

Paint the Bigger Picture

Your annual marketing and PR plan should encompass a clear calendar of messages, themes and content, including everything from in-house events to product launches and partnerships. The food festival isn’t an isolated afterthought; it should serve as a seamless part of the overarching plan, an opportunity to aggregate messages to a specific audience at a given point in time.

You may want to introduce a new seasonal menu or recipe, but to maximize this launch, communicate with audiences prior to the event with social media teasers, e-newsletters and in-restaurant promos. Identify any influencers or media and extend a special invitation (with a creative media kit!) to visit your corner of the festival. Consider offering a special tasty treat to those that actually meet you.

Roll Out the Red Carpet

Millennials constitute a growing segment of food festival attendees, and experiences—especially elite, exclusive ones—are a valuable commodity to this demographic. Ditch the corporate talking points, step out from behind your booth and offer creative, engaging interaction. Fortunately, food is already experiential by nature. But don’t be afraid to go the extra step to debut a new flavor, provide a special interview, create a foodie photo booth, offer keepsake dishware or even solicit input for the recipe itself.

Chef Teddy Diggs, executive chef at Il Palio
Chef Teddy Diggs of Il Palio serving his famous Italian chestnut soup at the 2015 TerraVita Food Festival.

The lure may be as simple as an unexpected food. At the annual 2015 TerraVita Festival, Il Palio–a regional Italian restaurant in Chapel Hill and Clairemont client–served up something that few others did: a simple seasonal soup that stood out among other complex dishes. Simple yet delicious, the dish garnered Il Palio and Chef Teddy Diggs fame as “the chestnut soup” guy and attracted eager tasters from across the event.

Follow Beyond the Festival

A whoppin’ 95 percent of festivalgoers say they are highly likely to visit a brick-and-mortar shop after tasting a favored dish at an event. Don’t be a one-hit wonder and squander this ready-made fan base. If you’ve devised a way to collect information (or even tweets), invite your new foodie friends to attend a special dinner, enjoy a festival-only promotion or provide feedback from the tasting. Retweet, re-share, re-post and respond. You’ve wowed these foodies with your flavors; now engage them to visit you again.

Clairemont Communications is a full-service, strategic public relations and marketing communications firm that focuses on blending traditional communications, content marketing and social media. Send us an email to learn how we can help your restaurant increase visibility and grow a stronger customer base.

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