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MarketTimesDecember2016

Stratford-upon-Avon Food Festival serves up a treat By NICOLA GOULD 19 Market Times • December 2016 REPORT WITH nearly 100 stalls selling every type of fine food and drink, from exotic, international fare to local produce and treats from just down the road, this year’s Stratfordupon Avon Food Festival had it all. Attractions at the three-day festival also included cookery demonstrations, a master class from award-winning celebrity chef Jean- Christophe Novelli, hands-on workshops for all the family, and food and real ale trails offering the chance to sample local treats. Several of the main shopping streets in this tourist hot spot were closed to traffic to host this year’s event and the stalls were thronged on all three days. The late September sunshine helped, but this food festival is without doubt a runaway success, with the organisers taking bookings for next year’s festival, which is likely to be bigger and better, they say, taking over even more of the historic town centre. Yet this was only the second year of the festival. So how do you create a successful food festival from scratch? What are the pitfalls and what are the secrets of success? Stratford Food Festival was organised by Geraud Markets (UK), in partnership with Stratforward, the Stratford Business Improvement District (BID). It helped that parent company Groupe Geraud has an established track record in running successful international festivals and markets in the UK and Scandinavia. The operator, which runs Stratford’s Rother Street charter market, the farmers’ crafts and antiques market, and Sunday’s Upmarket on Waterside, has a “family” of international food traders who are signed up to stand the various international markets. Even so, Matt Steele, national operations manager for Geraud, says launching a food festival is no picnic. It takes a lot of hard work and co-operation by the various stakeholders to make a go of it, he says. “Our partnership with Stratforward has been key to the success of this festival,” he said. “Last year’s festival was a great success and we are now able to build on this.” John McInnes, Geraud’s business development manager, said the professional, international traders


MarketTimesDecember2016
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