Sydney Barbecue Festival Organisers Respond To Criticism Of Maiden Event

Monday 1 February 2016

The organisers of the Sydney Barbecue Festival are aware that a number of attendees of Saturday’s event have expressed via social media that they were dissatisfied with their experience on the day. We are extremely disappointed to hear this and have taken serious note of all feedback – both positive and negative – provided both directly and via social media in order to ensure we continue to refine and improve the event and overall experience in the future.

The organisers would however like to respond to several inaccuracies that have been reported in the media and perpetuated on social media during the last 24 hours.

Barbecue Food

Barbecue food was available for purchase for the duration of the event. At no stage was the festival sold out of barbecue food. The festival showcased a range of different barbecue styles. Low and slow barbecue was cooked in off-set smokers that are typically ready in batches, after up to 14 hours of cooking. At different times, different vendors had a delay between selling out the previous batch and the next batch being ready for service. The barbecue food vendors were not synchronised when they sold out, so different barbecue food options, as well as ancillary sides, and other food options were always available. We acknowledge that some patrons were frustrated by those occasions when they could not get the specific items they were after.

Vendors and the weather

All our vendors were contracted for the event, inducted with NSW Health and advised on expected numbers. A key barbecue food vendor who was to occupy the equivalent of three stall frontages was unable to attend at no notice, due to hydraulic issues with their truck the night before the event. Their absence put a considerable amount of pressure on the other traders. Rain and thunderstorms during the week prevented many traders from bumping in on-time, and affected the efficiency of vendors’ equipment in the 24 hours leading up to the event. Also, the thunderstorms that were forecast for Saturday afternoon meant that the majority of patrons arrived in the morning, which compounded issues with vendor capacity further.

All elements of the event were delivered as advertised, despite severe thunderstorms. The event was also clearly advertised as proceeding in all weather. We provided continuous social media updates on weather conditions and via security/staff throughout the day. Patrons were permitted to exit and re-enter the site when it was safe to do so.

Mothership Events and Above the Harbour

MMJ Events are the organisers and promoters of the event. The Sydney Barbecue Festival engaged Mothership Events solely as an independent contractor for the purpose of site management, infrastructure hire and installation and event staffing and had no role in the event concept, content or its execution.

Ticketing

Ticket prices varied from $20-$35 and less than 5% of attendees paid $35 to enter. We offered on social media and via our security passouts to patrons when the weather hit the site.

The festival had several important elements, in addition to the offering of purchasing barbecue: a successful barbecue cook-off sanctioned by the KCBS involving overnight onsite cooking and on-day competition with a cash and prize pool exceeding $20,000; a barbecue expo; a range of free cooking/barbecue and butchery demonstrations from local and international barbecue experts; live entertainment and DJs; and children’s amusements, all elements were delivered.

Event

There were three areas within the event site with large sections of tables, chairs and umbrellas. Free sunscreen was available at the event’s first aid station, and handed out to patrons by event staff at several times during the day. Free water was also available at all bars and other points throughout the site, and handed out to patrons by event staff during the day.