Sixteen years ago, at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, I was introduced to the crawfish bread served by Panorama Foods.
It’s a taste that’s stuck in my palate memory and a driving force for buying Jazz Fest tickets again as soon as I can.
Sure, the music was great that year, as the lineup always is, but that delectable bite… it makes me crave a return.
I’m not the only one. The lines to get this item are enormous, and when Panorama took a break in 2023 from participating at Jazz Fest the articles announcing their absence were plenty.
As were the articles heralding the good news that Panorama was returning with this festival favorite in 2024.
Not many foods inspire this kind of ink. Especially not at a music festival where the menu is up against a lineup featuring names like the Rolling Stones, but some foods do.
The beverage industry has realized that they can do the same thing and use the festival drinks experience to build guest loyalty on property before and after an event.
Long story short, cultivate the right beverage offerings at a festival and attendees are happy. And motivated to spend money in local restaurants and bars.
Jessie Tettemer, Director of Marketing at the W Philadelphia knows the value of encouraging her bartenders to operate off-site at area events and points out, “You can use the cultural calendar moments to kick off cultural experience moments for those guests.
It’s the perfect way to show up around a shared passion and have a call to action and remind them that if you’ve had a good time here in this context come see us back at the hotel, we’re going to be rolling out similar experiences.”
She continues, “You can do that around music, or around a pool for example. It’s an incredible moment to welcome in a community to celebrate, experience f&b and share it with friends and have them want to come back for weekends after.”
Isai Xolalpa, the W Philadelphia’s new Director of Bars and Lounges, leads the beverage team and mixology program, and manages revenue and strategy across the hotel’s B&F outlets – Living Room and WET Bar.
Coming from the Aspen W, where he was executing the events the hotel hosted for Aspen Food & Wine and Gay Ski Week, he sees the value in participating in these kinds of events and sees every kind of marketing as good marketing.
He says, “Every event is an event that can create connections, more revenue, put the brand on people’s minds, be seen as more prestigious and make sure people are aware of what is happening with us. If we have the opportunity to take on more business in the following weeks we should do it. It’s like networking to bring in more business.”
Peter Eastlake, the Food & Wine Magazine Sommelier of the Year who owns three wine shops in Berkeley, helped create Wine Lands at Outside Lands and contributed to pioneering beverage offerings for this festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
Outside Lands has contributed approximately $1 billion to the local economy since its inception and Eastlake is pleased by the industrywide benefit of participating in events like these.
He knows that for restaurants that crush it at Outside Lands there’s great potential to build and strengthen relationships.
He notes, “The Bay area wine world is already a community of food and wine and kitchen folks, so you do see those relationships intersect at Outside Lands especially when someone recalls we got to see Green Day together.”
He continues, “Each winery has sent about 4 wine people, all of whom are out there eating and drinking for three days and it does pollinate that way, the community aspect.”
Not to mention festival ticket holders themselves. Eastland points out, “Our participating wineries, bars and restaurants can see an audience of over 200,000 over the three days. That’s an audience size they can’t get anywhere else. And, it’s not just an audience that is passing by, but one seeking out the experiences within the music festival in majestic Golden Gate Park.”
Xolalpa wants his guests to park themselves at his hotel bar with as much excitement as they did at the festival and he’s precise in managing both personnel and budgets to make it profitable all around.
He comments, “You are successful as much as you are prepared. I like to do investigations and do my research, find out what is the trend, and what is appealing and then you explain this to the team and ask for their input.
Maybe they’ve heard someone else. You never know someone else’s life until you ask. So I can’t emphasize enough that information is key.
The more you’re open the better. Ask every question you can ask – how many people are coming? Do we think we are going to get more or less? What if they ask for water?”
He continues with thoughts about labor and potential increased costs in that arena and the satisfaction of good ROI as he remarks, “You need to add some numbers to it.
For example, we may only have five bartenders, so we need to create a strategy to revolve bartenders through the events and day to day.
At times like this it may require you to add bodies. But, if you get good reviews and the drinks come out on time it reflects well, and you’ve built a good reputation.
Ultimately, when you consider participating in an off-site event it’s not about that singular revenue driving day.
Tettemer concludes, “It’s about the legs and halo effect you get that reverberates that you are set to activate in the future. If you participate you want to think about what you are doing next to bring those people back.”
SIPS TO SAVOR
Chinola Mango Liqueur
Here’s some good news about a new product that your guests are going to love this summer, and all year round…Tropical fave Chinola, the first shelf-stable passion fruit liqueur from the Dominican Republic has expanded its line and Chinola Mango is now available.
Using ecofriendly cultivated locally grown varieties, like the Banilejo, Chinola Mango offers a beautifully balanced combination of sweetness and tanginess with a smooth texture which makes it perfect on its own or mixed into cocktails.
It mixes well with many spirits, including tequila, vodka, sparkling wine, and more, serving as both a perfect addition to classic cocktails and in-house creations.
