Savour Festival 2023

Background

The Fair is widely known for producing some of UK’s most cutting-edge music festivals, bringing the likes of Boiler Room, NTS, GALA and El Dorado to life, to name a few.

Our team, however, is versatile, and 2023 marked our entrance into the world of luxury outdoor dining events, starting with Savour Festival.

This festival, a self-proclaimed ‘Food Wonderland’, brought Michelin star chefs, luxury cookware brands, excellent confectionaries and treats, the freshest oysters, slammin’ Bloody Marys and fabulous mezcal to one of London’s most beautiful hidden locations, the Ranelagh Gardens at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

The venue is the backyard of the Chelsea Pensioners, features beautiful trees planted by the late Queen Elizabeth II, and architectural features draughted by none other than Sir Christopher Wren. A central aim of the delivery of Savour was therefore to protect the venue, but also to maintain its country garden ambiance for the benefit of the festival’s attendees.

The Fair was tasked with bringing the event to life for over 10,000 guests to enjoy across the weekend, and while the build was not without its challenges, we are proud to say it was a complete success (and that’s just not coming from us…)

Challenge

Producing our first ever food festival, on a site which had only hosted a festival once in its 114-year history
Enabling 8 full scale restaurants to function on site, some of whom had never worked outdoors before, with power requirements each akin to a large-scale stage at a music event
Managing a total of 120 traders, restaurants and bars on site
Protecting the Ranelagh Gardens while keeping with the country garden feel
Identifying and connecting with stakeholders a site which had not hosted an event of this kind
Doing all of the above with just three days to safely and smoothly build the festival on site

8 days on site
Health & safety management and consulting
Event liaison team chairing
Safety Advisory Group attendance
Event Safety Management Plan & other safety documentation delivered
Premises Licence application and the licence was granted
Event Liaison Team Chair & management

Results

Delivery

Successful delivery of one of London’s fastest-growing food festivals
Full event production package including Budget Management, Procurement, Scheduling, Auto-CAD Site Design
Successful delivery of a festival at an unfamiliar, unique and highly sensitive site.
Health & Safety, Operational Management and Licensing services.
Management of and liaison with 120 traders, restaurants and bars.
Crowd Management

Results

Exceptional feedback from the client (check it out below), who said they “can’t wait” to produce the event with The Fair again next year
Festival received “phenomenal” reviews, and coined the best food festival in London in hundreds of social media posts
The Ranelagh Gardens were left exactly as The Fair found them, with beautifully swept paths and pristine trees ready for the Chelsea Pensioners to stroll amongst

“Working with The Fair has been an absolute privilege. Their team, characterized by resilience, honesty, fearlessness, and an unwavering commitment to hard work, has been a joy to collaborate with.

“The stress of delivering a festival is unparalleled. The fear, complications, weather, and the sheer scale of delivering for so many people make it a backbreaking task. Yet, walking into a site office and being greeted by a team working around the clock with smiles on their faces was nothing short of refreshing.

“The team, including Robbie, Rob, Milly, Angus, Nick, Felicity, Libby, and others, were exceptional from start to finish. The overwhelming sentiment when working with The Fair is that they are a team that will get the job done. They are unflappable, a team of doers, not takers. In short, they are an incredible team.”