The rising pop-up food industry

There been more events being hosted across the food and beverage industry than ever before, with the Eventbrite finding that the number of food and drinks events being hosted on it platforms has increased, year by year.

Eventbrite has analysed over 40,000 of the events and has also found that the pop-up dining experience was the fastest growing trend – recording 82% growth.

One of the UK’s leading LPG supplier Flogas discusses how the food industry has come away from the brick and mortar establishments…

Why has the pop-up food become popular
Eventbrite conducted a survey to over 2,000 people who have attended a pop-up dining experience, to shed light on why the events have proven so attractive to the public.

It revealed that 75 per cent of pop-up event attendees believe that it’s worth paying more money in order to experience a unique way of dining. Around 50% of respondents also said that they would be happy to pay more for a meal from the exact same menu at a pop up event where the chef interaction is involved as opposed to one served in restaurant.

So the question is, what is important to those that attend pop-up event? 84% of the survey, said it was the unique menu and theme. This was also followed by events held at memorable location 76% , and the occasion being a one of kind experience 74%.

Chef Melissa King, who is the creator of Co+Lab the pop-up, believes that creating unique event works both ways when I comes to the pop-up industry. Melissa explained: “There are so many chefs out there — they have their restaurants, their day jobs, but they’re looking for something more. That’s what the pop-up culture offers them. They are able to take over someone’s space for only a few hours and convert it into their own identity. It’s not just about the food, it’s about creating a memorable experience for the guests.”

The increasing popularity of street food.
It isn’t just the pop-up food events that have been rising in popularity – street food has also enjoyed golden period too. Statistics from UN-FOA claim that street food is now eaten by an estimate of 2.5 billion people worldwide and Streetfood.org.uk gained 2,800 members with over 7,000 units serving food across the UK as of 2015.

A new industry to the scene in the UK, street food has proven to be popular as the produced availabilities are usually inexpensive, provides a nutritious source that is based on traditional knowledge and often follows the seasonality of farm production.

Setting up a store doesn’t need a big budget either, with general guidelines suggested by The Hub detailing that a small second hand catering trailer or market stall could be acquired for under £5,000. The Nationwide Association produced a report that stated that fully equipped market stall can be bought for around £3,000 and a food truck for an estimate £10,000.

Charlies Morse himself was a street vendor and was keen to point out to Produce Business UK: “Street food as a trend is certainly growing, although it’s still not at the same level as in New York. I think it will die off a little as a trend and then become a normal, everyday offer. A lot of office workers go to street food stalls to buy their lunch and eat something healthy, cheap and different. There are so many trends within food but it works when you consider that people are money conscious and like variety.”