Edinburgh Foodies Festival 2011 "Wellies Essential"

Little Pepper Helps Out

Edinburgh Foodies Festival is upon us.

If you want to have a chat, taste some lovely cakes, buy some lovely pure cakes, or even Order some lovely pure cakes, then COME ON DOWN.

We've just completed our first day at the Festival and I must say, it was a bit of a disaster.

Talk about rioting in London? The stallholders were about to pick up pitchforks!  And not in a helpful way!

The problem was the Foodies Festival was billed to start at 12:00.
That was the organiser's plan anyway.  Until they arrived and saw the furrows of mud, knee deep, all over Holyrood Park.

Mud and Queues

It had been raining in Edinburgh, persistently and relentlessly for 4 days (I know because my washing is still out there ...)

Folk were queueing up and waiting patiently before being told to come back at 2pm because of health and safety.

At 2pm they came back and were told 3pm is the new time when the Festival will open!  I'm sure loads of people didn't bother coming after that.  Even then, it didn't open till 3:20pm

Hay Days!

A number of stallholders grumbled about packing up at that point.  They figured that not a lot of people would want to pay £10 for a 4-hour day (it was scheduled to close at 7pm).

At 3pm the organisers had laid down enough bark and hay to keep loads of delighted and very dirty children as happy as pigs in the proverbial.

We were all busy texting and phoning our friends and family "Wellies essential"!

Flip Flops Bad, Wellies Good

Luckily, I'd come tastefully shod in flip flops which worked an absolute treat - NOT!

The mud was splashed all over my feet, up my legs and all over my skirt.  I had to keep dousing myself in water from a nearby tap to maintain my dignity, he he.

Thankfully, I had loads of support from Mum, my wee boy Ayrton, sister, Fin and good mate, Nagina Shah.

My Niece Zazou Helps Out

The Big Challenge
Actually, I have a big question you may be able to help me with.

During the course of the day, we were handing out tonnes of samples but weren't making the requisite sales.

Cupcake Heaven

1. So, assuming the cakes are properly brilliant, should we continue to hand out samples?  
2. Is the nature of Festivals that raising your profile is more important than making sales? 
3. Some stands had no freebies and you could almost see the tumbleweed, is that ok?
4. Are food-festival-goers only there for the freebies? That's not a problem per se, I'm just trying to understand.
5. What should the proportion of sales / giveaways be?

I must add though that we sold a lot of cakes, we also gave away a lot of cake and we ate a lot of cake (soz, can't resist it)

What do you think? Care to share? Pop a Comment in the Comment Box to show you passed by and I'll love you forever.

Love Cakes Love,

Lorna x

Related Articles

• STV Local covered the opening of the Foodies Festival here with a video description
• The Edinburgh Sketcher whips up a fabulous sketch of mud and tractors here.