Team Chef Mei!

April Trew (far left), Debbie Belles, myself, Nick and Steve

The calm after the storm. It has been a long week planning and preparing for Fayetteville’s First Taste of Fayetteville held at Holiday Inn Bordeaux. The event, first of its kind, was a HUGE success. The organizer, Cumulus Broadcasting Group, was expecting a turn out of about 300-500 people, and we were told to prepare food for that amount of people. Little did we know that the event attracted close to 1000 people on its first year! Needless to say I ran out of food 2 1/2 hours into the event and I think that was my downfall (explain later).

I was informed about the event by my gal pal Pat Talkington of Cumulus Broadcasting in early January. She was instrumental in getting me to participate. However like every first time event, there were a few hiccups along the way that was quite discouraging initially. I brought up the issues to Pat (literally giving the poor woman an earful), and Pat being a professional and great marketer that she is, solved and made the event worked. Kudos goes to Pat. One of the main attraction of the event for the vendors was the prize of $6000 media package with Cumulus Broadcasting, bragging rights, and a trophy. I did not pay much attention to the prize at first as I was more focus on what food to prepare and how best to put the name of my company out to the public.

 April’s work of art–turning everyday fruits and vegetables into a picture canvas.

After much contemplation, I decided to serve Jamaican Jerk Slider Burgers with Citrus Slaw, Polynesian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups and my famous Shiu Mai (shrimp and pork dumplings). I truly wanted to make an impression at the event by also making my table presentation stand out. For that I enlisted the help of another gal pal April Trew who was ever so willing to help me with her great insight and talent. April used to design table top for events, and I knew she would be the perfect person for the job. April’s table top presentation managed to reflect what my business is all about–fresh, vibrant, and inspirational.

At least 22 vendors participated from all over Fayetteville, with a mixture of local and chained restaurants. My food and table presentation got great reviews and I felt I succeeded in doing what I initially set out to do–get publicity for my business. However I only placed 4th in the event. As mentioned earlier, Cumulus anticipated around 300 to 500 people. The event surpassed the amount expected. Cumulus had put out a massive media blitz on all their radio stations for the past week regarding the event and the public came–in throngs. The event started at 11 a.m. with a steady crowd and just kept escalating. By 12 p.m. my crew and I worked in frenzied speed trying to keep up with the crowd demand. My dishes were a hit along with the table display. My food was fast disappearing and I was getting very nervous about not having enough. By 1:30 p.m. I was out of sliders and had only quarter amount of chicken salad and 1/3 third of dumplings left which were steamed on site. We had to stretch whatever we had left by offering only one item at a time. I ran out of everything a little after 2 p.m. but the crowd kept coming! There was another hour before the event ended. As I had no more food left, I lost out on votes for the last hour,hence not being able to place in the top three. Later as I surveyed the scene, I noticed a couple of other vendors had also ran out of food and drinks. I did not feel too bad after that. However majority of the vendors had an advantage over me as they could go back and prepare more food to replenish their empty dishes; whereas I could not do so as I do not own a restaurant nor do I have the manpower to do so.

Making an event, such as this, a success takes time and effort. I know I could not have done it without the help of my wonderful crew of friends and family. Debbie Belles aka Sabihah of Shadows of Fire, an entrepreneur herself stepped up and worked her butt off to help me along with April, my son Nick, and hubby Steve. I cannot thank them enough for making the day a success. I may not have won the top spot; however, I felt we were a winning team putting out awesome dishes to create a buzz for my company.