Waitrose Food & Drink Festival Returns to Tobacco Docks with Brand New ‘Waitrose Christmas Room’

The Waitrose Winter Food and Drink Festival is returning between 24 and 26 November 2022, with an even bigger festival that, for the second year running, takes place at London’s Tobacco Dock.

Featuring many new experiences, the festival has evolved by placing a greater emphasis on Waitrose’s own-brand festive food, while expanding to host hundreds of products from 180 suppliers.

Hot on the heels of being crowned Good Housekeeping ‘Taste Test Winners 2023’, Waitrose has charged its experience agency – We Are Collider – with dialling up the festival’s festive offering by introducing a new ‘Waitrose Christmas Room’. Here, attendees can sample Waitrose’s award-winning Christmas product lines including party food, buffet dishes, bakes, confectionery and festival tipples.

The ‘Waitrose Christmas Room’ will feature drinks experiences; wreathmaking workshops; tablescaping and tree decorating workshops; and the Waitrose Cookery School which will be running masterclasses including a ‘Master the Macaron’ session. The room will also house a gift shop and a Christmas hamper display, plus a Waitrose kitchen and living room where guests can mingle and chill.

Outside the ’Waitrose Christmas Room’, new experiences include a dedicated cheese room sponsored by Leffe; a ‘Sip & Putt’ crazy golf experience sponsored by Absolut; a food court offering hot meals using Waitrose stocked products; Masterclass and Meet the Experts theatres, with the latter theatre featuring a live instalment of the Waitrose podcast DISH.

For 2023, We Are Collider has re-themed suppliers so that guests can visit rooms according to product choice: Beer & Cider Halls, Wine Vaults, Spirits Lounge, Cheese Room and Cosy Corner (hot drinks, puddings and sweet treats).

The latest Waitrose Winter Food and Drink Festival is the third event that We Are Collider has designed and delivered for Waitrose. The agency was responsible for securing the venue, all creative development and spatial planning as well as production and co-ordination of all 180 supplier exhibitors, each with their own branded stands.

Emeli Waldron, Waitrose’s Events & Experiences Lead said: “After such a successful festival last year, we were in no doubt that We Are Collider should deliver this year’s event. They are truly an extension to the events team and share our ambitions and vision for the festival. I’m sure our customers are going to love the new additions this year, especially the Waitrose Christmas Room.”

Tracy Sorgiovanni, We Are Collider’s Managing Director, added: “We were really pleased to be able to bring this key event to life again this year and look forward to building on visitor feedback from last year’s successful festival, while bringing in new Waitrose experiences to align with marketing priorities.”