Sponsoring a local food event in your community can not only show your commitment to local farmers and food producers, but it can also be a cost-effective way to bring the public together and provide much-needed publicity for your business, charity, or municipality. Now that summer is turning to fall, there are plenty of opportunities for event planning, like harvest dinners, farmers markets, and late-summer festivals. Seasonal events like these offer many ideas for marketing local foods.

A well-planned local food event has 3 key elements to success:

1. Know your event theme and stick to it!
2. Fully promote your event
3. Stay within your budget

Know your event theme and stick to it!

A coherent presentation of the theme of your event is the key to success. Your theme should be represented by the food served, the decor, the music, and the atmosphere. For example, a Fall Harvest celebration might display local pumpkins, pears, and apples in traditional pies and butters. Remember that your purpose is to sell local foods, locally grown potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and onions should be featured as key ingredients in traditional fall harvest dinners. Having the recipes on hand for customers will encourage them to buy the ingredients and prepare the dishes at home. Visually entice your customers with traditional harvest-themed decor featuring cornstalks, pumpkins, and gourds. Upbeat music will complete the event and provide a fun and lively atmosphere.

While this example may seem straightforward, I’ve been to several events where the presentation was inconsistent and lost the topic. For example, a hoedown event should not feature music from the local church choir. While the chorus may be excellent and the lead singer may be his wife, the tone set by the music is inconsistent with the theme. Your message will get lost in the contradictory presentation and customers may lose interest. By comparison, a well-themed event will get your customers talking positively! Word will spread about your event and your local food retail business.

Fully promote your event

A well-attended event is a properly promoted event. While a local food event is focused on your community, a properly promoted local food event can attract new customers from neighboring communities. You need to promote your event early and promote it often!

The first promotional decisions to make are the name of your local food event, the date, and the theme. Once you’ve made these decisions, stick with them and don’t look back! Use this information in every piece of printed promotional literature, on your website, and in your press releases. Also consider selling event merchandise, such as T-shirts and bags, and contact your vendor.

Four to six weeks before the event, start your in-store promotions. Have attractive banners or posters made and display them prominently in key locations in your neighborhood, business district, and community centers. If you own a retail business, printing flyers can be an inexpensive promotional tool that you can slip into each customer’s shopping bag. Clearly state your event information on your flyers or invitations! Here are some avoidable pitfalls that can be fixed with good planning and review:

• Your invitation should represent the event. If it’s a party, make sure your invitation or flyer is fun, inviting, and eye-catching. An invitation to an event was sent to over 200 potential guests in a business envelope. Our guess is that to many, it seemed like just another spam and was ignored. Only more than 30 people attended.

• Make it easy for guests to locate your event! An attractive flyer announcing your event is great, but ineffective if it doesn’t include the address where your event will be held. Including a map on the front of the flyer is an added bonus for your guests. An event they recently attended had below average attendance because although the many sponsors were noted on the event flyer, the host location was not!

• If you are sponsoring a charity event, please clearly state the charity or recipient organization in your promotional materials. Even unintentionally misleading your guests can lead to bad press and a bad reputation in your community. At a harvest dinner hosted by an organic farm, a banner clearly read: “Support your local farmers in [this dinner]“However, the proceeds actually went to an international food movement.

• If you’re going to be selling merchandise at your event, make sure the information is included in promotional flyers and press releases, too! Some harvest dinners have a hefty admission price just to attend. Not realizing that there would be merchandise to purchase, many guests did not bring extra money or credit cards, and sales were lost.

Ask neighboring local businesses to put up signs advertising your event. Remember that the businesses your event brings to the community also benefit them! They will be happy to accommodate your request.

Two to three weeks before the event, send a press release to your local newspaper and to surrounding communities. Ask the newspaper to run this ad two weeks and one week before the event date. Newspapers often have a special section for Thursdays that highlights the upcoming events of the weekend. This is the best tool for reaching out to those people who may never have been to your retail store or community!

Stay within your budget

Always remember that the purpose of sponsoring a local food event is to earn money and promote your business or organization. While the side benefits of fostering goodwill and encouraging community spirit definitely exist, those elements alone don’t keep your doors open!

Costs: The first financial decision to make is your budget. Your budget should be as detailed as possible, considering the cost of food, entertainment, decor, promotional materials, and municipal licenses. Brainstorm with your coworkers to capture all the possible costs associated with your event, then commit to them in writing.

Sales: Next, determine the immediate sales resulting from your event. Will you charge a fee for the entertainment? Do you sell prepared food? Will t-shirts, tote bags or note cards be sold? Count the expected sales for each resale item and compare them to your costs. Be realistic with your projections: An easy way to forecast sales is to calculate the number of hours the event will take place multiplied by an average number of products you expect to sell in an hour. For example, a four hour event x one t-shirt sold every 10 minutes = 24 t-shirts sold. If your gross margin (sale price minus the cost of the T-shirt) is $4.00 per T-shirt, you will earn $96.00 from T-shirt sales to cover other event expenses.

Are your sales covering your costs? If not, don’t start cutting out essentials from your event. Get creative and consider financing options. Reach out to other local businesses and offer them promotional space at your event in exchange for helping them supplement entertainment costs. Ask your local print shop for free event flyers in exchange for a free ad in your store’s newsletter. Promote a local restaurant in exchange for a free demo from the on-site chef. Cross-selling is a great way to stay within your budget and still deliver a well-sponsored, fully themed event.

Managing these three elements will provide a proven and successful framework for planning your event. Once the day comes, have fun and enjoy your own local foodie event. You worked hard for it!