Sunday, June 28, 2015
This year the show offered an Opening Night Party, billed as
“Picnic on the Hudson,” which was held at the Javits Center’s River Pavilion,
immediately after the first day of food show.
It was a wonderful idea, but I do have a few suggestions.
Crowd control was nil, and there should have been staff to instruct the crowd
that there were multiple stations located throughout the room to order drinks.
I waited for over half an hour on a long line with very rude people
continuously cutting, not knowing that I could have just stood in the milling
crowd and found a waitstaff person who were working the room with plates of
hors d’oeuvres along with offerings of the specialty drinks (one of which was an
Arrowhead Farms mojito).
However, perhaps the waitstaff were told by a manager to
offer the drinks because the drink lines were astoundingly crowded and
disorderly.
Upon entering the event your attention was immediately drawn
to two women standing on a platform in dresses made of chocolate.
Sadly, when the sponsors of the event were speaking and providing details regarding the event most in the audience were unable to hear the comments. Not sure if the audio was working properly or whether the speech was drowned out due to the other multiple ongoing private conversations that were being had in the crowded room.
Sadly, when the sponsors of the event were speaking and providing details regarding the event most in the audience were unable to hear the comments. Not sure if the audio was working properly or whether the speech was drowned out due to the other multiple ongoing private conversations that were being had in the crowded room.
The organizers of the event also gave out a very generous
Specialty Food-branded gift bag (containing: a selfie stick(?!?), a bottle of
branded still water, NYC guide book and map, Savannah Bee honey body wash and a
Savannah Bee peach lip balm, a bottle of De Nigris Balsamic Vinegar of Modena,
a bottle of Spitfire’s margarita mix, two tins of Salem Baking’s Pumpkin Spice
Moravian Cookies, coupons for Oasis Day Spa, and two gift cards for Uber car
rides). The gift bags were to be picked up as you exited the event, except that
I noticed some attendees taking multiple bags. Might have been helpful to have
staff actually hand out the gift bag to exiting guests to ensure that each
attendee only left with one (1) bag.
As it was the first year of the event, I do hope that
they’ll hold the event next year. It is a great way to celebrate “opening night” of the show and by then it’ll allow the sponsors the opportunity to work out the kinks.
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