A Piece of the Festival Catering Market

by Dan
(Uk)

I’m 25 and I am a regular festival goer. When at festivals I love all the interesting and different types of caterers, from the little tents with straw matting on the floor, where you sit on cushions drinking green tea, to the outlets selling various international cuisines.

For a few years I have been planning to set up/buy a coffee shop and am very passionate about good coffee, teas, and food. But I am now contemplating that festival catering may be a better way to express this passion since it’s a much lower set-up cost than a coffee shop and you are not tied down to a lease for x years.

My question is, is it possible for an independent caterer to get to trade at big music festivals (Glastonbury, v, Isle of Wight, Lattitude)? Do these festivals employ big catering organisations to run the ship such as www.caterfest.co.uk or does it tend to be all individual businesses?

Do festival organisers get a whole influx of caterers wanting to trade at their event? What’s the chance of being a selected one? Is the market already full?

Thanks

Dan

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Feb 11, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		Caterfest promotes streetfood
by: www.caterfest.co.uk

Please visit the NEW www.caterfest.co.uk it is now designed to give local streetfood, artisan, individual catering operators the chance to trade at such festivals as Download, T in the Park, Wireless Festivals, Creamfields, Electric daisy Carnival etc.
We are working hard to find the best balance to suit each festival. Have a read n let us know. Cheers
Jul 16, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		Italy! Lucky You
by: David

Hi,

Maybe you should look into importing them and starting a new business.There is a lot of demand in the U.K for this kind of equipment. :-)

Enjoy Italy
-David

Quote: Over here you could pick up an ape for free more or less (all be it without the coffee machine in the back.
Jul 14, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		thanks
by: Anonymous

Thanks alot for the comments chap, I am currently in Italy on a voluntary project, so the catering project is on hold, although while I have been here I have leant to make the perfect espresso :-)

have you seen these piaggio ape's converted with the coffee machine in the back, they are quite quirky and fun. But after researching a little it seems alot of people are jumping on the band wagon. There is a company in Hull converting them, but they are charging over 10 grand for one, whichh is way too much I think. Over here you could pick up an ape for free more or less (all be it without the coffee machine in the back.
May 15, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		Festival Catering
by: Anonymous

Why not go for smaller festivals ? I help organise a festival that attracts about 400 people and one of my biggest problems is getting an outside caterer, the venue is a Theatre and grounds and they have their own cafe inside but it only opens 10am - 6pm and a lot of festival goers want to eat outside of these hours.

As has been said the large festivals charge huge pitch fees whereas the smaller fests either don't charge or charge less.

Search the web for festivals (all kinds not just music) and try dropping them a mail, you may be suprised at the response you get.
Aug 10, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Contact The Event Organisers
by: Anonymous


Hi Dan,

Why don’t you contact the events organisers and find out if they have any spots available. It won’t be cheap mind but they will be the best people to let you know. I did speak with some people a while back and they told me it a was a expensive. You will have to be geared up for quantity cooking to make your money back but they did well out of it.

Bear in mind that there only a few big festival a year –will it be enough for you to survive the rest of the year on these events alone. Most of these caterers I’m sure have a regular pitch and then cater for these festivals in the summer months to earn an extra income.

Let us know what you find out.

Best of luck

David

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