Strategy

You shouldn't send out all letters to potential vendors and exhibitors at once because you may not have space for every business or organization on your list. The site layout you create (see Section 9) will help you decide how many booths you can have at the fair. Some businesses and organizations will be more appropriate to the fair than others, and you should approach them first. Since the main focus of the fair is vegetarian food, restaurants, stores, and food-related booths will be best suited. If you have chosen an environmental or animal rights focus as well, organizations or businesses related to these areas (for example, local chapters of environmental groups, recycling centers, or animal shelters) should also receive first invitations. As slots fill up (or fail to fill up), you can send out more letters and invite additional participants.

Important: If your sponsors have elected to have a booth at the food fair in exchange for their support, be sure to account for them before determining the total number of booths available and sending out letters.

As with sponsorship letters, letters to vendors and exhibitors should be printed on your organization's letterhead or on special letterhead created for the event. You should introduce yourself and your group and describe the event you are planning. Explain the opportunity available to the business or organization and describe why you believe they would be a good addition to the fair. You may need to customize each letter you send, and for restaurants, you should include clear information about what kinds of foods and ingredients are appropriate for the fair so they can weigh that in their decision about participation. Remind vendors that they need to collect sales tax as well.

You should decide ahead of time whether you are going to charge vendors and exhibitors to participate in the food fair. Depending on the focus of your fair, you may be inviting other nonprofit groups that represent a central theme of the fair-for example, environmental groups or animal rights organizations. Because they are nonprofit, these organizations will be attending the fair to disseminate information, recruit new members, and perhaps sell a small amount of merchandise. Therefore, you may wish to waive any fees or ask for a suggested donation. For vendors of food or other items, you may wish to charge a small fee for the booth space at the fair. This fee will help offset some of the permit and other fees your organization may have to pay when organizing the food fair. You might waive an initial fee but ask for a small percentage of the profits vendors make at the fair.     TOP

Vendor and exhibitor permits

It's probably best not to ask vendors and exhibitors to obtain their own permits for the event, which may discourage them from participating. You should be able to cover them under the permits you obtain from the health department and the commissioner of revenue. The latter may have several options from which to choose, and you should select the permit you apply for with the goal of streamlining the process for vendors as much as possible. If additional fees must be paid for vendors, you should include this amount in the fee vendors must pay for booth space at the fair, or charge this fee alone if you're not charging a booth fee. If vendor fees include charges for multiple permits, you should itemize the total fee so the charges for these permits is clear.

Provide a form that vendors and exhibitors can return to indicate their level of interest and describing any special needs they have. Be sure to include contact information that includes a telephone number, and prompt the vendor or exhibitor to do the same. If payment is required, provide information about when the payment is due and to whom to make out a check. It might be wise to request payment at the time they return the form as a kind of confirmation.     TOP

Confirmation and instructions

Once a vendor or exhibitor has committed to attending the fair and submits payment, you will need to send them an information packet detailing directions to the site, parking, set-up and teardown, dimensions of the booth, availability of electricity and water, and, for food vendors, compliance with health codes. Be sure to include directions and details for the rain location as well. If your site is set up for a rain-or-shine event, you should let vendors know ahead of time so they can prepare and bring appropriate rain gear for their equipment and their staff. The information packet should also contain posters, flyers, or other promotional material that you can encourage the vendor to display.

It is probably best not to give vendors and exhibitors the exact location of their booth. Electrical complications or other circumstances may require that you relocate them the day of the fair. Many vendors and exhibitors may want to choose their own booths, but this can create conflicts, and you should make it clear that you reserve the right to assign booths and place participants. This policy should be a firm one that you also follow for future fairs. As vendors and exhibitors become regulars at your annual food fair, they may ask for the same booth that they have had in previous years. Repeating booth assignments pleases participants, but for a regular fair attendee, duplicating the arrangement may seem repetitive. Compare the current year's arrangement with that of previous years, and try to avoid sacrificing variety for vendor and exhibitor satisfaction. You need interested attendees as well as satisfied vendors and exhibitors you can count on year after year; you'll need to be diplomatic to achieve both.

You should let vendors and exhibitors know ahead of time whether there will be volunteers available to help them set up and tear down. They may prefer to bring their own staff, and if volunteers are in short supply, you should request that they do so. You might also encourage vendors to use environmentally friendly containers for their food if possible (see Section 16).     TOP

Checklist for vendor/exhibitor letters:

____ Use organization or event letterhead
____ Introduce yourself and your organization
____ Describe the fair and its purpose and goals
____ Present options for participation (vendor or exhibitor, display of poster/flyer at establishment, mention in newsletter or publication)
____ Define "vegetarian" for restaurant participants
____ Remind vendors about sales tax
____ Provide contact information that includes a
telephone number
____ Include a return form that prompts sponsor for
contact information
____ Include payment details and due date
____ Inform vendors that they should expect to receive additional information soon     TOP