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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS HERALD |
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THE LAST MONMOUTH COUNTY GREAT FOOD FESTIVAL The Jazz and Blues festival this past weekend certainly did not lack great bands, musicians and staging, it only lacked good weather and a better food fare. For the third time in its five year history rain wiped out most of the weekend. The hardest hit by these crowd erasing rains are the food and retail venders that pay dearly for the space to sell their wares. Retail ventures pay eight hundred dollars for twelve by twelve spaces the food venders pay a lot more. The cost for a twenty by twenty square foot space at most of the events costs $2000. Put on top of that the cost of food and labor and you can have $5000 invested before you sell your first food item. It is also a tremendous amount of work lugging all the cooking equipment, propane tanks, food, soda, water and ice, etc., etc. After the event you have to lug it all out again and get ready for the next festival. I spoke to two food venders who each grossed only about $500 for the first two days. For 20 years Riverfest, started and ran by Red Bank restaurateurs and the Chamber of commerce, was the Grand Daddy of all festivals in NJ. It had a great following of families that came year after year to hear great music and dine at the restaurants that sold food there as well as listen to the great music provided by the Jazz and Blues organization. Riverfest came to an end five years ago when the Jazz and Blues organization took over the festival. Their strength is in the music and like many people taking over an existing business concentrated on their strengths and failed to realize the importance of promoting both aspects of this great festival. Twenty seven local restaurants left and were replace by fast/junk food venders. If you are a Jazz and Blues fan this is a perfect venue for you. The music is great and so is the staging. The last great food festival is the Belmar Food Festival. It has kept the same great food restaurants coming back year after year. The price for space in the festival has been held over the years. This has allowed the restaurants to charge a fair price to the thousands of people coming back year after year to eat great seafood at over 50 restaurants. We serve more food in two eight hour days then we had been doing at the other 3 day events that lasted up to 24 hours. It is the only festival I still do; it is well worth the visit for the entire family.
For those of you in business for yourselves I would like to send you this invitation. I have been a member of LeTip for over 8 years. It has helped me to network and promote my restaurant and catering business in a manner I could have not done for myself. If you would like to attend you can reach me as follows: You Are Invited To A You are cordially invited as our guest to attend a Joint Business Networking Meeting being held by three local LeTip* chapters. We currently have an opening for a professional in your business category in at least one of the local LeTip chapters. When you become part of a LeTip chapter you own your category exclusively. There are no conflicts of interest. By joining LeTip, you put a hard-working sales force of professionals on the job for you, without having to pay a salary or commission. You’ll meet members from LeTip of Monmouth (serving the Greater Middletown area), LeTip of Ocean Township and LeTip of Two Rivers (serving the Greater Red Bank area). Each chapter has openings for various categories and you have been invited because you work in one of these open categories. Collectively, we have over 50 members. Along with expected guests, over 80 people will be attending, so bring enough business cards to network with them all. A continental breakfast is included with coffee, tea, and juice. *LeTip is a professional organization of men and women dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips. Members will, at all times, maintain the highest professional integrity. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. This is by invitation only so please RSVP directly to Danny Murphy, Jr. C/O AHHerald.com or Call 732 241 1401 Red Bank Community Website
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