Gourmet Events: More Guests at the Table

There's hunger and thirst out there, and consumer shows and festivals are springing up to quench them.

These days, upscale markets and trendy restaurants aren't the only places foodies, yuppies, oenophiles and other assorted aficionados can sample, observe and purchase gourmet food and wine — they're flocking to consumer food and wine shows too. Organizers said much of the current growth is being fed by the proliferation of celebrity chefs, TV cooking shows and the ubiquitous Food Network.

Many consumer food and wine shows have seen remarkable growth and longevity. The Boston Wine Expo is in its 16th year; the Toronto Wine and Cheese Show, a consumer-trade hybrid, is in its 24th. Newer, popular consumer shows include the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, which in six years has gone from a one-day event attracting several thousand attendees to a three-day fest that 20,000 people turn out for in Miami Beach.

The San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival, held in Embarcadero Park, has also experienced significant growth since its inception three years ago, said producer and owner Ken Loyst.

"We tripled attendance, income and sponsorships from our first year to our second, and will probably quadruple our numbers between year two and year three," he said.

Attendance at the San Diego festival has grown from about 800 the first year to an expected 4,500 for the upcoming Nov. 9–12 show. The number of participating restaurants has increased from 20 the first year to 50 this year. Loyst said his worst problem — and a good one to have — is that the event is maxing out its space and he is turning exhibitors away. In fact, he's considering adding another edition and making it a semiannual event.

Loyst said that a general interest among the public in good food and wine, along with the chefs that promote it on TV, are factors that have made the difference. Yet he's still managed to be successful without many big-name chefs. He'd like to have them, but figures their typical $50,000 to $100,000 appearance fees would translate into a mere 10-percent increase in attendance. In other words: not worth it.

"The number of attendees we'd gain wouldn't offset those chefs' fees," he said.

This year, Loyst partnered with Reed Exhibitions on the Los Angeles Wine and Food Festival at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In his estimation it was a success, but not enough of one to keep Reed interested in trying a second year. He said it takes a couple of years to get this type of event off the ground and to identify which wineries and which exhibitors people want to see at the show.

Reed Exhibitions' Lawrence Settembrini, who organized the L.A. show with Loyst, agreed. "There's lots of potential and there's significant room for growth in consumer wine and food shows," he said. "I think the segment is a good one for smaller operators, but for us, with very defined objectives, it wasn't."

One such "smaller operator" is Denise Medved, president of The Tiny Kitchen, whose Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show debuts at the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center Nov. 3–5. Medved, who previously managed business-to-government tradeshows for Natl. Trade Productions, IDG World Expo and Reed Exhibitions, thought she saw a need in the marketplace, did her research and determined that the universe of attendees and potential exhibitors was big enough.

Medved also attributed the interest in these shows largely to the celebrity chef phenomenon, and to the increase in TV cooking shows and in cooking and lifestyle magazines. Their impact is enormous, she said, and she doesn't expect that to change.

Medved said her show is being launched in part to promote her "Tiny Kitchen" cookbook series, and partly because the upscale entertainment elements of the show differentiate it from other food shows. Besides food and wine, exhibits will include flowers, tableware, invitations, music, appliances and cutlery. She expects about 10,000 attendees and 150 exhibitors in nearly 20,000 net square feet. And even before the first show is in the bag, she's looking to expand — possibly to Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Toronto Wine and Cheese Show manager Marti Milks said she expects a 10-percent jump in attendance to about 30,000 in 2007. The show, previously in a steady decline, is now on a much steeper growth curve. Why?

The celebrity chefs and TV cooking shows are responsible to a degree, she said, but there are other reasons. The show has expanded its offerings from wines, spirits and beers to include more culinary items. And it's attracting both what she called newbies — affluent, educated 20- and 30-something couples interested in home entertaining — and baby boomers, many of whom are retiring early and spending their disposable income on travel, fine wine and dining.

There's even at least one facility getting into the act. Cleveland's Intl. Exposition Center is launching its own Fabulous Food Show Nov. 10–12, said Eric German, I-X Center vice president. The show is a successor to dmg world media's Great Big Food Show, which was held in the facility in 2004. That show failed, explained German, but perhaps for good reason.

"Dmg wanted to do that show in 30 or 40 markets, but chefs didn't want to travel to all those shows," he said. "However, there was a lot of public interest in the show here, and dmg didn't mind if we used the concept."

German, who oversees all of I-X's shows, noted that the facility is one of the few in North America to own and run its own events, which include both trade and consumer shows.

"Consumer food shows are really growing in general," he said, and it's the same story in Cleveland as elsewhere: The celebrity chefs and cooking shows on the Food Network, TBS and elsewhere are driving sales.

He expects the Fabulous Food Show to draw about 175 to 200 exhibitors and around 25,000 attendees.