Trading with eat:Festivals - here's what you need to know:
Thank you for your interest in our 2023 local food & drink festivals. We have confirmed dates for one-day festivals in;
Chipping Sodbury, Portishead, Clevedon, Bideford, Weston-super-Mare, Burnham-on-Sea, Axminster, Taunton, Bedminster, Wellington, Minehead, Tiverton, Teignmouth, Honiton, Dawlish, Lyme Regis, Yeovil and Castle Cary.
eat:Festivals are run by Bev & Sarah Milner Simonds - we are hands on event managers and it us you will be dealing with throughout your applciation, on-boarding and trading days.
APPLYING TO TRADE.
All applications to trade or take part are made in an online process, using Eventree, which can be found using the quick link buttons. This process is best completed on a desktop or laptop. You will need to uplaod various documents.
Pitch fees reflect the relative risk you undertake by trading; freshly made and short-shelf life produce pitch fees are lower than preserved foods, and higher margin drinks & food-to-go trades at a reasonable rate. Pitch fees are charged per 3x3m outdoor pitch or more for larger pitches on a pro rata basis. Indoor pitch sizes will be 3m frontage with two tables or as specified on application.
Ambient Produce pitch fees range from £70 to £55 + VAT, according to risk.
Hot Food at £125 + VAT plus 10% of gross above £1500.
Hot drinks, frozen desserts and hot desserts at £80
Charity, community or non-food pitches are available between Free of Charge to £250 + VAT, according to your intended activity and alignment with the values of our social enterprise. As a guide, those charity and community groups using the festival to deliver their public benefit will not be charged the pitch fees of those raising funds, selling memberships or subscriptions.
Levies will be charged for use of diesel, or those coming from outside of the local area [30miles]. Full details of all pitch fees are given on the relevant category application form.
This year we have categorised several of our events as Little eat:Festivals - same high production values but lower pitch fees, around 40 producers/pitches and with additional help for very new traders.
The festivals are timed carefully to maximise the opportunity for local retail & hospitality, to extend or diversify regional tourism, and to embody traditional community celebrations. We typically aim to bring together sufficient producers to match expected footfall, with the addition of tractors, livestock, food & farming education, music or family entertainment where possible. We like to produce a glorious celebration of West Country food & drink that is good for visitors, local producers and town-based businesses alike.
Our festivals promote and prioritise local producers, developing long-lasting links with an engaged group of consumers. They have enjoyed large footfalls of visitors who are keen to buy. We never charge them to shop. We make sure they have good reasons to stay all day. We encourage visitors and local retailers & hospitality alike to connect with you and learn about your produce, in the hope that they become regular customers. Links with potential stockists are shared beforehand so that you can do the prep and make the most of your journey. This is a collaborative enterprise and we expect all traders to engage with us, and with visitors, online as well as on the day.
We go the extra mile to promote your local produce so that you don’t have to – our key objective is to develop local markets for your produce. We expect you to work each trading opportunity and to develop your own connection to that town’s businesses & residents. An eat:Festival booking is an opportunity for you to engage with our following and reputation in the town as much as for you to sell volume on the day.
Trading with eat:Festivals offers you access to a supportive network of producers, to training, advice and group promotions. Members of the #eatfestivalsfamily have plenty of opportunities to learn how to develop businesses sustainably and using best practice, with mutual support.
SELECTION
The festivals are open to any business which produces or sells great tasting, sustainably produced food & drink in the area local to the festival. We allocate a small number of pitches to non-food producers, charities and community groups where space and circumstance permit. Previous participation does not guarantee a pitch although we recognise the loyal following that some traders build in our festival towns.
If you’ve ever had an unsuccessful application and have addressed the reason we gave, your application will be favourably received in subsequent years. We will always provide a reason why an application is rejected.
Priority will be given to applicants in the following order:
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Primary Producers who can sell their produce in person. We value highly the opportunity for consumers to be able to ask about all aspects of the food and drink they consume and hear the answer from the person who grows, rears, tends or harvests that produce themselves.
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Proximity to host town: typically within 30 miles or further afield if rare or exceptional. All Traders must be able to document or explain the production and traceability of their product, their charitable objects, social impact or community vision in response to questions either from the Organiser or visitors to the festivals.
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Relating well to festival visitors: this might include helping consumers understand the product, picking accessibly ranged price-points, having a super-cute stall & signage, developing local sales successfully or simply being particularly cheery.
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The produce offered allows us to create a well-balanced event: to avoid product saturation, to enable variety, to reflect current consumer interest and to maintain excellent quality. We particularly value produce that is seasonal, caters to distinct dietary choices or is hard to find.
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Any company supplying outstanding, great tasting, sustainably and ethically produced food and drink, products or services which reflect similar values to our own, as published.
CONTACT DETAILS
Email address hello@eatfestivals.org
For any further enquiries please call Sarah on 0800 246 5200
PROCESS
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You apply to trade with us using the online form. Links are below on this page. This is where you specify which festivals you are requesting. Please make note of your login details for future use.
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You will receive an email confirmation from Eventree when your application has been successfully submitted.
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We review all applications at the start of each month. We accept or reject your pitch requests, giving our reasons. Your offer will come to you by email from Eventree. You have a cooling off period of up to 14 days, after which we have a binding contract, complying with our current Terms & Conditions.
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We then issue an invoice by email, from Intuit/QuickBooks, which will detail your payment terms.
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We send full details of each booked festival, with Logistics, pitch number, timings etc to you by email from hello@eatfestivals.org shortly before the event.
FULL DISCLOSURE
eat:Festivals are driven by clear values and we thank you for wishing to be part of the #eatfestivalsfamily. We take a lot of time choosing the producers we work with. We value your feedback and your customers' feedback too.
The following statements sum up what being part of the #eatfestivalsfamily is about:
Community: producers who help and support each other, from bursary-winning first-time traders to seasoned experts.
Well run events: our reputation is for a good footfall, effective promotion, great communication & excellent procedures.
Shared Responsibility: producers work together on pre-event promo, social media & face to face, ready for a great day's trade.
Collaborative: regular 360* constructive feedback means that we all steer the development of eat:Festivals for mutual benefit.
Sustainable: award-winning sustainability practices across all elements of the festivals - ecology, society, local economy.
Fun: we don't work with tossers.
The Organisers of eat:Festivals were the first ever festival organisers to be granted Quality in Tourism’s Safe, Clean, Legal award. We have live working partnerships with North Somerset Council, NCASS and The Met Office. Our contribution to Eating Better was screened at COP26. We have won 32 regional or national awards to date. This has come about through the collaborative effort of all who have taken part in eat:Festivals, as well as our own work to promote and maintain their great reputation.
We ask a lot of you in our application process because we want to know about the care and attention that goes into your food & drink production or the service, or public benefit, you offer. It’s only fair that we share the same level of detail about us with you. You’ll find more about us and the values of our Social Enterprise in these published documents:
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Sustainability Statement outlines how we work toward better environmental, social and economic sustainability goals and your role in that effort.
Beverley & Sarah Milner Simonds
YOU WILL NEED...
You will need an electronic copy of your public liability insurance, any PAT or gas certs, a link to your FSA rating and a picture of your stall (if you haven't traded with us before) before you begin applying.
The same Eventree application can be used for all our festivals.
Here are our Terms and Conditions for 2023 applications.
Please do subscribe to our producer newsletter to stay up to date on our availability, new dates, opportunities and treats.
Why book with us
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We were the first festival organisers to be awarded Quality in Tourism Safe Clean Legal.
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Excellent relationships with local authorities
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Regular footfall in excess of 15,000 at Weston-super-Mare, Portishead, Burnham-on-Sea and Taunton
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Your business specifically mentioned in our press releases and supporters’ mail shots
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We keep our pitch fees low in order to attract and retain micro and small local producers