Street food festivals are a great way to bring a lot of people together around a common interest in food and drink. In recent years, people’s growing desire for novel, tasty and decent cuisine presented in unusual urban settings has fueled street food events.
Street food festivals are a great way to bring a lot of people together around a common interest in food and drink. People’s growing desire for novel, tasty and decent cuisine presented in unusual urban settings has fueled street food events in recent years.
To organize a street food festival, you start by planning all the logistics (including road closures), budgeting, finding vendors, marketing, and making sure you have all the necessary paperwork in order.
So what makes a food festival different from a street food festival? Although in theory they are the same, it is a matter of geography and type of cuisine. Street cuisine is usually served on a street (although not necessarily), and the food is more artisanal and take away.
Since the nature of the event is usually held outdoors in public spaces such as walkways and pedestrian walkways, there are several peculiarities in the planning, management and organization of a street food festival to ensure that it can be held safely.
Another post I wrote about organizing a food festival can be found here. This will be more generic if you are planning a food fair in a more traditional setting.
While I’ve covered marketing, finance, and general organizational ideas in this article, the other will provide more detail. This blog post will focus on the fundamental practicalities of organizing a street food festival on routes generally used by cars and pedestrians on a daily basis.
Planning and logistics of a street food festival
Street food festivals are usually held in public venues/spaces and in some situations on public roads. Although they are unique and usually have many people passing through, the organization becomes a bit more complicated.
Locate yourself.
I’ve seen some amazing street food festivals on quieter streets (where traffic is usually sparse) or even in pedestrianized downtown areas.
These are places with a large influx of people that, in addition, give your establishment a unique advantage: it is not an ordinary establishment.
- If you are on a major commuter route,
- If it is already being used as a diversion due to other activities or jobs,
- If you prevent the access of emergency services to stations, depots, main roads or local businesses.
