MEDIA RELEASE: 1 December 2013

Visitor numbers good & spend up despite the weather

Proudly Sponsored by ANZ

The Kapiti Food Fair 2013 was well and truly on display on Saturday 30 November at the Lindale Centre with 103 vendors that included ready to eat food, value add products & food related goods. Last year there were 67 vendors so this is a fantastic result and a good indicator that the Fair is set to remain in the annual event calendar for Kapiti, says Helene Judge.

The weather remained fine until lunch so good visitor numbers were evident until that time. Showers & wind gusts were not helpful yet overall the Fair estimates 2,500 visitors sampling & buying all sorts of foody treats to consume at the Fair or take home or as gifts for others. Importantly, vendors all indicated good turnover and that they will be back in 2014.

ANZ Paraparaumu reported that $10,100 cash was dished out between 10am & 2pm. Diane Hogg was of the view that there less withdrawals this year however each amount on average was higher with that money being spent at the Fair.

Vendors that were booked to attend included Adrenalin Paintball, Air Castles, Amadinah, ANZ Paraparaumu, Audio Suite, Banana Leaf Malaysian Restaurant, BCE Catering Equipment, Beach FM, Big Mac Slabs Furniture, Candycloud, Carello del Gelato, Celestial Wines, Celtic Winery, Cobara Authentic Foods, Crazy Donkey, Cupcakes Kapiti, Daizy Design Face Painting, Espresso Recovery, Food Xpress, Fritz's Wieners, Genoese Foods, George's Artisan Syrups, Going Dutch, Greek Souvlaki, GrowGoodNZ, Honeymeisters, KapiTea Speciality Tea Shop, Kapiti Artisan Bakehouse, Kapiti Cakes & Bakery, Kapiti Candies & Kapiti Ice Cream, Kapiti Cheeses, Kapiti Coffee Company, Kapiti Heliworx, Kapiti Kitchen, Kapiti Olive Oil, Kiss and Bake Up, Lancaster Citrus, Levin Eel Trading Co, Lindale Art & Craft and Car Boot, Lindale Café, Lindale Farm, Loukoumi Manufacturing, Mainly Kapiti, Mango Madness, Mitre 10 MEGA Kapiti, Mr Chill, Mt Aspiring Wines, New Generation Liquorice Kapiti, Nuttz Gourmet, Ohau Wines, Paella Boys, Paraparaumu College Bake Sale, PartyPerfect, Pete's Natural,

Pheasant Creek Wines, Polynesian Flava's, Prenzel Kapiti, Print Mighty, Pure Bread, Pure Wellbeing, Ruahine Ports, Simply Citrus, Sing Salami, Smoke and Spice, Sone's Sauces & Cuisine, Soprano Limoncello, Soprano Ristorante, Soroptimist International, Stoked Pizza, T & R Gow, Tea Rose Tea House & Yum Char, Te Horo Foods, Te Horo Olives, The Chilli Patch, The Hot Wafel, The Old Busmans Food Bus, Three Little Birds Catering, Tiki Joes, Trade Aid Petone, Tuatara Brewing, Tupperware Kapiti, Waikanae Home Winemakers Club, Wellnest, Whitireia Polytechnic, Yummy Mummy's Cheesecakes and Zaaffran, A Taste of Morocco.

The entertainment provided the right atmosphere with excellent performances throughout the day from Brasso, Mukume Taiko Drumming, Dan & Dani, Hitunes, Fliss, Michelle & Gil Band, Retro Divas & Mat Enright Soloist.

The Fair Committee is confident that Kapiti is an ideal location to host a food related event that attracts vendors from around New Zealand. The Fair has aspirations to do what Martinborough has done for the art & craft industry in New Zealand in being an iconic and enduring destination event that draws vendors and visitors to a memorable event that provides economic and profile benefits to Kapiti.

The Fair will continue to run the day before the popular Thorndon Fair in Wellington. There are a number of vendors that are influenced to attend with this factor in mind as they are registered to be at Thorndon the following day. The Kapiti Food Fair date for 2014 is Sat 6 December so note your calendar now and tell all your friends, family & colleagues to come for a great gastronomic day out.

The Fair is run by an enthusiastic group of local business people who have a passion for the food & beverage industry, including Jeanine van Kradenburg, PartyPerfect Catering, Thomas Thomas, Kapiti Cakes & Bakery, Annemarie Tiffen, Soprano Ristorante and Helene Judge, Kapiti Business Projects.

The Fair Committee would like to thank every visitor, vendor, and entertainer and volunteer for helping to create a wonderful annual event. The Fair also owes a huge gratitude to ANZ Paraparaumu for financially supporting the Fair through their sponsorship. In addition, the following businesses and organisations are acknowledged and thanked for their ongoing support behind the scenes.

ENDS

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