Food & Beverage News: F&B Specials - The Food Festival Trend

The food festivals organised across hotels and retaurants in the nation take the popularity of the cuisines one step further. Such festivals provide a golden opportunity to the gourmets to treat their taste buds with exotic, native as well as international dishes. Moreover, one can lay his hand on an array of dishes under the same roof. In contemporary India fusion food is in vogue. Whether it is at the eating outlets or in-houses, an innovative approach is adopted as far as food is concerned. The food festivals reflect this tradition as well. Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, and Goa and several others host food festivals for the food lovers. In most of these places food festivals comprise the regional dishes, for instance, Goa is famous for its sea food. Hence, the highlight of the Goan food festival would be an assortment of seafoods.

The ambience is always set in tune with the variety of the fests. Including ghazal recitals during the Lucknowi or Hyderabadi festival. A food festival is about authenticity. From importing right food ingredients to the professional skills of a master chef, to creating an ambience that is in keeping with the theme; everything plays a vital role.

There are several options available today. Guests are on the look-out for different food experiences and events. These festivals are a great way to meet that demand without revamping the entire system. They are also a great exercise to gauge customer reactions and preferences.

If the food and beverage promotion is well thought out and is in sync with or an extension of that particular outlet's image and cuisine etc, then definitely food and beverage promotions can enhance the overall image of a food outlet. But done wrongly it can actually have a negative impact because it confuses the hotel's customer base.

For the purpose of marketing of the Food Festival, The Resort has a very simple positioning statement, as it believes it is the first of its kind 5 star resort with suave dining experience at low frills and lower costs among an array of budget hotels. Ideal option for those who seek a 5 star experience at 1 star price.

The Resort segments its target market on the basis of “Behaviour Pattern” i.e. product usage, loyalty status, user type, occasion & buyer readiness.

Creating a festival is a huge amount of hard work, often by a small dedicated team of volunteers who may also have other full time jobs. Hence it is important that the work put in by this team doesn’t go to waste, that the festival is a success, that visitors come in numbers and have an enjoyable day out. To ensure this happens hotels put marketing at the core of its plans.

To begin with, hotels initiate on the following: Brand Image, Logo, Look & Marketing Message. Extensive use of website is done to create awareness. Website is the major source for disseminating information; therefore, it is an important part of the brand and reflects the festival’s ethos. It is made sure that it is informative and contains all the essential information a visitor will need; what’s on, timetable, tickets, location, parking, enquiries & contact information.

In addition to website, hotels create e-mail newsletters. Hotels also use the social networking sites for the purpose of marketing, updated on a weekly basis, this is a lesser formal method of providing information, but creates a real sense of excitement about the event. The best part about using this medium is that this is a quick, easy and cheap way of disseminating new information, with the group doing most of the work for you.

At the end of the day it’s the print media/ press which is always used for the promotion purpose. For the purpose of a food festival The Resort divides the printed press into four broad categories; local, regional, national and food. Though the national and foodie press are glamorous and potentially the biggest supporters, the ones hotels need to spend the most time on are, local and possibly regional papers.

Hotels target mostly the loyal guests whom they know are the foodies. Historical data says that festivals always get an increased business of 20 per cent. Hotels ensure that during food festivals it brings in innovative cuisine from across the world for food connoisseurs. A food festival menu is usually priced between 10 and 15 per cent higher than the regular menu. Pricing is dependent upon the kind of concept or promotion, upon the cost of imported ingredients used during the festival, the décor and ambience created and the entire experience of it.

As far as the revenue generated from each festival is concerned, it depends on the food cost and marketing costs incurred. The whole objective of a food promotion is to attract high volumes based on extremely competitive pricing. "This means not 'what you can charge the customer' but 'what he would readily pay, and then slightly lower than that'. These high volumes, in turn, positively impact the revenue.

Definitely, cash is one compelling reason for holding promotions because they promise more than additional income. It is brand reinforcement, which acts as a primary motive for this exercise.

One thing is certain, food and beverage promotions do increase revenue of an outlet to an extent. However, for sustained increase in revenue and enhancing the brand image of a food and beverage outlet well-planned, regular promotions are essential.

The Resort is organising the 7 Wonder’s Food Festival. The hotel organises around eight food festivals in a year with each festival running into approximately 8 days each. This is besides the events that the hotel organises during festivals like the New Year and Christmas.

F&B manager, Sandip Chatterjee, The Resort, says that, “Incremental revenue is not what is driving the food festival business. It is all about customer loyalty”. In ordinary circumstances, hotels tend to modify the menus only after a year and experience. So food festivals help ensure variety and innovation.

Besides helping the hotels pamper its customers with new cuisine it also promotes the in-house research work of the chefs. Guests learn not only of food but also cultures. It is not just a showcase of cuisine, it promotes the culture, living habits, art and handicraft, music and dance, language and dialect, history of the country and state.

So happy feasting!

-The author is the GM of The Resort