... High hopes for next year - Organisers of the Jamaica Epicurean Escape are pleased with first staging

Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter

The Jamaica Epicurean Escape's first staging of a two-day food festival was a success from the organisers' perspective.

"The biggest surprise was that most people were not expecting that level of the presentation," said Maxine McDonnough, manager communications, of the festival which was held at Richmond Estate in St Ann. "Our vision was actually more ambitious, but the rains early in the week caused us to lose several days, so we had to rush the setup in the end," McDonnough continued in an email interview.

"We were very pleased that, despite what we saw as shortcomings, the patrons were all happy and impressed by the level of the presentation," she said, adding: "It certainly lived up to our expectations although, we were so busy on the back end, we didn't get a chance to fully enjoy it ourselves, so we are determined to actually attend the event next year."

In what McDonnough hopes to be a yearly event, she anticipates it will only get better by staying true to their concept and tweaking some areas.

"We will keep everything we did and include some of the elements we had hoped to do but did not get a chance to do. For example, we wanted more interactive chef demos and not just on the main stage. We also wanted to do some cook-offs and other competitions, so we will definitely be implementing those next year," she said, further explaining that they will consider making the entertainment not just complement the food, but allow persons to view the entertainment alone, if they choose. "We see where it has a great deal of potential and will market also as an event that patrons can attend without having to attend the food aspect of it," she said.

No complaints

"There were no complaints. In fact, most people were very taken by the beauty of the location and next year we will place some elements of the festival closer to the sea," she said.

Financially, they did not break even, but McDonnough is optimistic.

"We did not recover our investment, but we don't regard it as a loss. Few first-time events, if any, are able to make a profit or even break even, so we don't view it as a loss so much as an investment to be recouped over several stagings. However, the response to this one makes us hopeful that we might just accomplish that next year."

The Jamaica Epicurean Escape was a food festival which featured premier Jamaican and international celebrity chefs, restaurants, caterers, speciality shopping, fine wines, beers, complemented by entertainment, seminars and competitions. The festival also has a charity aspect where some of the proceeds from the event will go towards a fund to help feed hungry Jamaican children and facilitate the training of chefs.

sacha.walters@gleanerjm.com