Food fest (Industrie- Catering)
Tracking
the summer festival season can be a consuming task so imagine the
consumption that shapes the catering operation. Vintage caterer Eat To
The Beat (ETTB) knows better than most. Abigail Parkin (15 Sept'09)
Bestival
on the Isle of Wight marked the twilight of the festival season and the
event was a debut for ETTB which catered for the production team and
artists at Bestival. DJ Rob da Bank started Bestival six years ago from
2,000 people on
site to a capacity audience of 45,000.
“The
Isle of Wight is a great place to source local ingredients, from meat,
the world champion Isle of Wight Blue cheese, to sweetcorn straight
from the farm adjacent to the festival," said Anne Crawford, ETTB’s team leader (left). Fresh ingredients make for tastier food and a reduced carbon footprint for the catering operation.
“There
has been a great atmosphere on site at Bestival and this is a beautiful
island to work on. The beauty comes with the price that precise
planning and logistics are needed to get our kitchen equipment and 11
staff on to the island, which is where the company’s vast experience
providing event catering on this scale was invaluable.
Loudsound was responsible for the production management undertaken and festival director Jim King commented: “Having ETTB join our team for the first time has been very popular with everyone; they have done a great job.”
ETTB
celebrated its 25th anniversary this year and the company catered for
12 festivals, providing 284 crew on sites for 199 days, serving a
massive 91,733 meals.
The season started on 2nd June at Download
moving onto Latitude, Love Box, Madstock, Rewind, Big Chill, Hyde Park,
Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading and for the first time V-Festival in
Chelmsford, finishing with Bestival.
ETTB has also been busy
across the pond with an in-house catering residency at the Merriweather
Post Pavilion and providing its services at All Points West and Virgin
Freefest.
“We really enjoyed doing Bestival and are proud to
support the community by purchasing as much as possible from local
sources, including supporting a charity by using the Wight Crystal
mineral water,” said ETTB operations director Mary Shelley-Smith.
“Now
that the festival season is over we are far from having a relaxing
winter. We still have a huge amount of other tours on the go with
music, TV and comedy shows doing the rounds, not to mention a 50-week
Cirque Du Soleil tour around Europe.”
Related screening
Flying Saucers profile
RK
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