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Barclaycard and Live Nation were on the hunt for small businesses in Suffolk to support. The idea was to identify small businesses that could do with a helping hand and give them a boost by awarding them with a free pitch at Latitude Festival and up to £10,000 towards the cost of infrastructure for trading at the event. We were privately nominated by a local food and drink editor who was contacted by the event organisers. The first time we heard about it was when we received an email from the Head of Food for Live Nation, telling us about our nomination.
To put it into perspective; as a small business we probably receive around 5 emails a day telling us we’ve won awards (all of which you have to pay for). Normally the emails go straight in the junk folder, however this email had a familiar name in the body, so it immediately piqued our interest.
Barclays offered advice and assistance with financing a project such as Latitude. Live Nation also provided a mentor to guide us through the practicalities of trading at such an enormous event.
I’m not going to lie, it felt enormously intimidating at first. I felt like I had “Rookie” stamped across my forehead as I sashayed about trying to work out which plug socket I should be using. Thankfully all of our fellow traders were so helpful and friendly, we soon felt more at ease!
The best part of the festival was the atmosphere and also seeing so many of our customers there. Most of the people we saw had followed us since day one and it was incredible to have them all there to share in the moment.
Due to the weather being pretty awful, we were very busy. Rather than drinking Pimms and Lemonade, people were opting for a hot cuppa and a comforting slice of cake!
We’ve never done anything on this scale at all, but I think for next time, we’d stay true to who we are as a brand and not offer such a wide range. Thankfully we worked this out after the first day, so we didn’t have any wasted stock.
Expect to not sleep- hahaha! Luke was baking pretty much around the clock and we were delivering fresh every day. This leaves very little time for sleep, but you eventually catch it up!
I wouldn’t say we’ve seen a difference as such, however it was wonderful to feel the support from our fabulous customers. We really do have the best customers in the world.
The project has really opened our eyes to a whole new revenue stream that we’ve never really explored. Festival pitches are a huge outlay and sales aren’t guaranteed once you get there. Being awarded a free pitch enabled us to make mistakes on our own timeframe and learn without feeling the financial burden. It also gave us amazing exposure to the event organisers and our mentors.
