HARPENDEN TOWN COUNCIL

NON CONFIDENTIAL

COMMITTEE:POLICY AND FINANCE

DATE:5 MARCH 2014

REPORT BY:TOWN CLERK

SUBJECT:FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL

  1. Summary

1.1The District Council are refocusing on the Food and Drink Festival which has taken place in the district over the last 5 years. Last year, because of changes that were included in the award system a number of establishments withdrew from the Festival. In order to address this issue and in an effort to make the Festival more inclusive a workshop meeting was arranged inviting all key stakeholders and at the same time inviting new members onto the Steering Group. The draft minutes of the meeting held on the 11 February 2014 and the Awards Categories are attached to this report.

1.2One of the primary decisions taken by the Steering Group at its meeting following the workshop was to agree that the Food and Drink Festival included all establishments in the district.

1.3As a means of achieving this objective it is proposed to launch the Food Festival at Harpenden Farmers Market on Sunday 28 September 2014.

  1. Recommendations

2.1It is recommended that:

2.1.1the Farmers Market on the 28 September 2014 be used to launch the Food Festival and celebrate the St Albans District Food and Drink Festival.

2.1.2funding of £3,000 be allocated from the 2014/15 new initiatives earmarked reserves in order to promote and support activities associated with the launch of the Festival.

  1. Background

3.1The Food and Drink Festival organised by St Albans District Council has been running for 5 years. In order to refresh and rejuvenate local interest in the Festival the Steering Group held a workshop in St Albans to discuss initiatives and promotional ideas.

3.2One of the concerns expressed at the workshop was whether the event was focused too intently on the City, rather than the District. It is interesting to note that the winner of last year’s event was `That Little Place’ in Station Road, Harpenden. However, the greater focus of events associated with the Festival primarily took place in the City. This included a charity gourmet night and a Festival Street Event. At the recent Steering Group meeting it was agreed that ways in which other parts of the district could be engaged should be explored. It was suggested that the Farmers Market in Harpenden, which coincided with the Festival week, could be used to launch the Food element of the Festival, the drink element being launched at the St Albans Beer Festival on the previous Thursday.

3.3It is suggested that this is an opportunity for local food businesses to promote themselves, raise awareness of their business and highlight the diversity of establishments in and around the town.

3.4By hosting the launch of the Food Festival at the Harpenden Farmers Market there is the opportunity to raise the profile of the market, add innovation and enterprise to the occasion and seek to make the market more interesting. It may require additional road closures and stalls being brought in for the event. Staging may be necessary in order to provide a focus for the some of the activities that might be organised. The launch has the potential for Harpenden to open its doors for business.

4Financial implications

4.1No budget has been provided for enhancing the Farmers Market for an event associated with the Food and Drink Festival. St Albans District Council has a modest budget for the promotion and advertising of the Festival and it is anticipated that a small amount of this funding might be directed to Harpenden Town Council to assist with the organisation of this event. There may also be the opportunity to attract some sponsorship.

4.2At this time Officers do not have a clear idea on the potential cost of promoting, publicising and expanding the market for this occasion. It is therefore suggested that Members consider allocating a sum of £3,000 from the new initiatives earmarked reserve to help cover some of the potential costs associated with the promotion and generating interest in the Farmers Market and Food and Drink Festival launch.

Draft Minutes

Food and Drink Festival Steering Group
Tuesday 11 February 2014
St Michael’s Manor
Attendees:
Jo Howlett (JH) – St AlbansCity and District Council
Councillor Julian Daly (JD) – St AlbansCity and District Council
Becky Alexander (BA) – Food Writer, Herts Advertiser
Matt Adams (MA) – Editor, Herts Advertiser
Richard Marrett (RM) – St Michael’s Manor
Oliver Zissmann (OZ) – Dixie’s Cupcakery
John Bagshaw (JB) – Harpenden Town Council
Julia Jenkins (JJ) – Flagship Wines
Iain Loe (IL) – CAMRA
Apologies:
Carl Cheevers (CC) – St AlbansCity and District Council (Chair)
Philip Kenchington (PK) – allaboutstalbans.com
MINUTES / WHO?
1 / Festival Format 2014
Dates:
24 – 27 September Beer Festival
28 September Harpenden Farmers Market/Food Festival
29 September Charity Gourmet Night at Poggenpohl
29 September – 5 October Fringe Events taking place in venues
5 October Festival Finale/Street Event
6 October Food and Drink Awards Night
Harpenden Farmers Market/Food Festival
This date is already in the diary for the Farmers Market and Harpenden could develop something to link in with this to launch the district’s Food and Drink Festival 2014. JB to investigate what could happen. Information needs to be sent to businesses in Harpenden that specifically targets them and encourages them to be involved. JB can support with this engagement.
Charity Gourmet Night at Poggenpohl
To take place on the Monday 29 September the weekend as this traditionally is the best day for the restaurants to come out and cook. In the past the restaurants have been picked as those that have appeared within the Good Food Guide. Action - discuss who will be involved this year at a future meeting.
Fringe events in venues
All businesses will be contacted in advance and asked to submit any activities/events that are planning to host during the overall festival period (28 September – 5 October). This will allow businesses to attract local people in during the week with small events.
Finale/Street Event
Explore closing George Street and extending the finale event down to accommodate more people to attend. Investigate the feasibility of using the Christmas Market chalets in Vintry Gardens/the Abbey for the Festival Finale event. Again this would support the event being larger and encouraging more people to come. Need to think about stall allocation and where stalls are positioned during the event. With the inclusion of George Street and possibly the Vintry the location of stalls is increased. Need to think about a sliding scale of costs for pitches/stalls. This needs to be thought about at a future meeting.
Look to engage with the Abbey and see if Abbott’s kitchen can be involved. JH to speak to Lesli Good about an upcoming meeting with the Abbey.
Information to go out to businesses informing them of what they could get involved with and how. This would include a mission statement for the Food and Drink Festival.
Mission statement to be produced for the Festival to be use in brochure and for business engagement. MA to develop mission statement. / JB
JH
JH
MA
2 / Awards
Awards dinner to take place on Monday 6 October at St Michael’s. RM has confirmed the date and put event in the diary.
Categories decided for 2014:
Best Bar
Best Independent Food/Drink Shop NEW!
Best Local Café
Best Newcomer NEW!
Best Local Producer
Best Pub
Best Local Restaurant
Best Takeaway NEW!
Most Family Friendly Venue
Food and Drink Champion NEW!
Kate D’Arcy
Categories that have been dropped from previous years:
Local Gem
Best Street Food
JH to circulate current award categories and descriptions.
PK was going to contact Ruth from Darcy’s to see if she was still willing to judge the award or if she wanted to nominate anyone else to judge this specific award.
Sponsorship for each award was discussed. Businesses could be provided with the opportunity to sponsor an award. They would be able to judge the winner with a representative from the steering group and present the award at the Awards Evening in October. Businesses may be charged £200 to sponsor an award.
JH to look at any businesses that have sponsored the event in the past and any information about pricing, etc.
Discussion about how nominations, shortlists and winners are to be decided.
Thoughts for 2014 are that there will be nominations open to all during May. Once a business has been nominated they will be sent a questionnaire to sell themselves. The steering group will look at all those nominated and their info provided. They will then decide the shortlist for each category.
Beginning of July will see a launch of the Festival and voting opens for public to vote for the short listed businesses.
The public vote will decide the top 3 for each category. Then a member of the steering group paired up with a representative from the company/business sponsoring the award will look at criteria for their specific category and decide which of the top 3 the deserved winner is. Potentially the judges will visit the venues and interview the owner/manager to make an informed decision. / JH
PK
JH
3 / Marketing/Publicity and Branding
Need to think about the events that we can jump on to promote the Food and Drink Festival from June onwards; Half Marathon, Alban Weekend, Flower Festival at the Abbey.
All venues participating in the Food and Drink Festival will be provided with posters and the logo to include in their own marketing for events they are delivering.
If the new St Albans brand logo is developed in time it would be good to use this as part of the Festival branding.
Getting volunteers or people to be in town handing out brochures to passers by. Use event staff at events leading up to the Festival to distribute brochures.
Investigate putting a banner up across St Peter’s Street. OZ to speak to sign company and see if this is something they could support with/sponsor.
Investigate using lamp posts to display banners and advertise the Food and Drink Festival. JH to investigate possibility.
Information about getting to St Albans, including parking, to be included in the brochure.
Proposed timescale for Awards:
1May – 31 May – Nomination period open
15 June – Cut off for businesses to sell themselves
W/B 16 June – Steering group to meet and look at nominations
1 July – launch of voting for public and food and drink Festival
7 September – voting period ends for public
W/B 8 September – steering group and judges to meet to look at top 3 and plan what next
15 – 28 September – visits to be made to venues (if necessary)
30 September - winners determined / OZ
JH
5 / Any Other Business
Sponsorship
This was touched on briefly and will be discussed further at the next meeting.
All to go away and think about the type of businesses that could be engaged with to sponsor different awards, the awards generally, the finale, etc. All to bring ideas to the next meeting.
Celebrity Chefs/Book Signings
Waterstone’s often do book signings for celebrity chefs and maybe discussions could be had to see if something could be planned for during the Food and Drink Festival period
JH to speak to MA about any discussions had already in terms of literary festival and if he could start discussions for something like this.
JH to speak to Ron at Brasserie Blanc and find out if there is a possibility of Raymond coming along to something or doing an event of some sort as part of the Food and Drink Festival. / ALL
JH
JH
6 / Date of next meetings and proposed items for discussion
18 March – 10am
Sponsorship
Accessibility
Marketing and Publicity
Awards categories descriptions finalised
29 April – 10am
Look at what businesses have submitted events
Gourmet Night and Finale – who to involve
20 May – 10am
Look at what nominations have already been received
17 June – 10am
Look at nominations and information to decide shortlist for awards
1 July – 12noon
Launch of the Food and Drink Festival voting period and promo
19 August – 10am
Update on how Gourmet Night and Finale event looking
Update on how voting is going
30 September – 10am
Winners to be determined and informed to all

The Award Categories

Best Bar

This Award celebrates the variety of local bars that the District holds. Bars for the Food and Drink Awards are described as venues that serve lagers from around the world (i.e. Peroni, San Miguel, etc) cocktails, wines and champagnes.

Best Local Cafe

This Award celebrates the variety of local cafes that the District holds. Cafés for the Food and Drink Awards are venues that serve breakfast, lunch and/or afternoon tea. They serve soft drinks and hot beverages. They are generally open during the daytime and at weekends only.

Best Local Producer

The Award celebrates those businesses that produce raw ingredients such as meat and dairy or other products made that include raw ingredients. Examples of produce are cheese, bread, meat products as well as locally brewed beer.

Best Local Restaurant

This Award celebrates the variety of local restaurants that the District holds. Restaurants for the Food and Drink Awards are venues that serve good food at lunchtime and into the evening. That provides alcoholic beverages and offers a more formal dining experience.

Best Pub

This Award celebrates the variety of local pubs that the District holds. Pubs for the Food and Drink Awards are described as venues that serve traditional ales and are recognised by CAMRA. They may also be well known for their menu and food that they offer, boasting locally sourced food and comforting pub grub!

Local Gem – not included for 2014

The Award celebrates those businesses that are unique to the District. A local gem for the Food and Drink Awards are described as businesses that are passionate about food and/or drink. These businesses include shops, home run businesses, mobile businesses, etc. This should be a business rather than a venue so any restaurants, pubs, cafes, bars or producers will be removed from this category and placed in one of those outlined above.

Most Family Friendly Venue

The Award celebrates the venue that is most family friendly venue in the District and creates an experience for all generations in your family. The Most Family Friendly venue for the Food and Drink Awards is described as a venue that goes that extra mile for children making the experience more enjoyable for the whole family. They will demonstrate a varied, healthy children’s menu along with child friendly beverages. They will make the experience easier for parents and carers by ensuring there is plenty for the children to do and the environment/facilities are well catered for little people!

Best Street Food – not included for 2014

This Award celebrates venues and businesses that trade out on the streets of the District throughout the year. Street Food for the Food and Drink Awards includes venues that have a mobile unit or pitch out on the streets to cater as a takeaway venue for passers by. This category also includes market traders that have a regular pitch within the weekly market or Farmer’s Markets across the District.

Kate D’Arcy Award

This Award is a special award in memory of Kate D’Arcy, a much loved restaurateur who died in June 2010. This Award is for a person who has exceeded normal expectation by providing outstanding service and delivering a faultless experience.