Waitrose Food and Drink Festival returns with even more to experience
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The Waitrose Winter Food and Drink Festival is returning between 22 and 24 November 2024, taking place at London’s Tobacco Dock. Boasting more food and drink suppliers than ever before, star attractions include sessions with Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett and broadcaster Nick Grimshaw, plus expert chefs including Richard Corrigan, Paul Ainsworth and Ruby Bhogal. For the third consecutive year, Waitrose has teamed up with experience agency We Are Collider to deliver the festival.
The 2024 festival is a sell-out event with over 250 exhibitors, with sessions and attractions for 2024 tripling. With such growth, the festival has expanded from solely the ground floor of Tobacco Dock to both the ground floor and now also the vaults. The theme has also expanded beyond Christmas to encompass non-festive Waitrose sub brands including their No.1 range and Leckford Estate products.
In line with the event’s increasing popularity – tickets sold out six-weeks ahead of its opening – We Are Collider has introduced and built a new festival app to help enhance the consumer journey. The agency was additionally responsible for securing the venue, all creative development and spatial planning as well as production and coordination of around 250 supplier exhibitors, each with their own branded stands.
In this year’s iteration of the festival, what was last year’s ‘Waitrose Christmas Room’ has broadened out into the all new ‘Waitrose Experience Room’ to showcase a selection of Waitrose sub-brands, not only festive lines. The new room features an activation that will bring-to-life the Waitrose Christmas advert; a ‘From Our Kitchen Stage’ with drop-in sessions from experts including the brand’s innovation chefs and product developers; a horticultural area running pre-bookable wreath making workshops; a gift shop selling sampled Waitrose products; and a Waitrose No.1 bar where customers can sample canapes made with products from the No.1 range.
The ‘Waitrose Experience Room’ additionally showcases the brand’s CSR initiatives, for example: an area promoting products from Waitrose’s own farm, Leckford, including its new loaf made using regenerative farming techniques; a floral Instagram wall promoting the Floral Foundation – Waitrose’s charity supporting Kenyan flower-growing communities; and a chocolate stand promoting the brand’s partnership with Tony’s Chocolonely and Open Chain Sourcing.
Additional activities beyond the Experience Room include table-scaping, William Morris screen printing and tree decorating in the John Lewis Room, a dedicated cheese room, an entire Masterclass Village with different rooms offering masterclasses such as the Waitrose Cookery School and a food court offering hot meals using Waitrose stocked products.
Hannah Barker, Waitrose’s Events & Experiences Senior Manager, said: “This festival just keeps growing which is brilliant to see. This year sees a stronger spotlight on Waitrose own brand products in the Waitrose Experience Room across festive lines, our No. 1 and Leckford as well as CSR initiatives like the Floral Foundation and an Open Chain Sourcing partnership. Plus, we are bringing customers closer to our innovation chefs and product developers on the ‘From Our Kitchen’ stage. On top of this, we have a whopping 250 suppliers sampling, as well as returning favourites like the Cheese Room and the Meet The Experts stage.”
Tracy Sorgiovanni, We Are Collider’s Managing Director, added: “Word has got out to customers and suppliers alike that the Waitrose Winter Food & Drink Festival has become the place to go. This year we had unprecedented interest from suppliers wanting to showcase their products; and it was the hottest ticket in town, selling out six-weeks before the event. Expanding into a second floor means we can create a real destination space for Waitrose.”
