As a decorative artist and someone who not only participates in cultural arts events every year, but also produces events, I am still in wonder at how some promoters come to the decision of placement of vendors at trade shows, art festivals, craft events, etc. Why do they always seem to place the food vendors right next to quality product vendors who do NOT sell food?
I have only to surmise, the reason must be attributed to a “let’s mix it up” mentality and give the attendees a “mouth full” of fun and food they won’t forget, because our money is in the bank already from vendor fees and the rest of success is left up to the vendor to make their “nut!”
Nothing is more frustrating to a vendor at a show (who is not selling food) than another vendor (WHO IS selling food) 2 feet away, offering free samples of their decadent chocolate freshly baked tiramisu cake accompanied by a hot cup of mocha latte with a dollop of whipped cream on top, while distracting your potential customers.The aromatic smell emanating from their booth is enough to send any customer into a trance like state, performed with the intent to lure non suspecting victims into their “den of decadence” and high profits for the purpose of trying one of their tasty treats! “Dang,” those “sweet tooth” vendors!
It is not the fault of the food vendor. They have a product to sell too. And to the product vendor who does NOT sell food, the “quantity” of attendees doesn’t always dictate the success of sales. Fortunately, it is a plethora of many other factors that do………….., including but not limited to; quality of product/s offered, pricing, tasteful display, appropriate product for the event, awesome customer service and so on.
I was recently asked by a promoter of large events, if there was one thing I could change about a past event I had participated, what would that be? You guessed it……..NO FOOD VENDORS next to NON FOOD VENDORS! It is a distraction! I have yet to find that silk scarves and cake compliment one another! I “choke” thinking about it! I won't give in to the belief, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them!“ Never! (no matter how scrumptious those icing coated scones look ) We will continue to stand by the quality of our products, promote our work and creations by maintaining the highest of standards and do what we do best!
We will stand tall above the aroma of decadence from 2 feet away. Plus, we will be offering a "free look” of the hottest fashion accessories in the industry that will last longer than 3 sips of coffee and we can GUARANTEE our products are FAT FREE!
