Food & Beverage Interest Form

Black Arts Fest MKE will take place at Henry Maier Festival Park during the first weekend in August (specific date(s) to be determined).

The festival will begin taking applications for 2019 in March.

PLEASE BE ADVISED, COMPLETING AN APPLICATION DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOU A SPOT.

Our footprint is not as large as other, more established festivals. Therefore, we will not be able to accommodate as many vendors as we would like.

What you should know:
Festival organizers are place a strong emphasis on providing the best experience possible for our fest goers. That includes a high level of customer service during all interactions transactions and anywhere throughout the festival park. This impacts the image of the festival, its funders and sponsors, our vendors and others.

  • If selected, there will be a nonrefundable commitment fee and a commission on all food products. There will be a separate commission on all beverage sales. (Fee and percentages provided to vendors selected for consideration)
  • PEPSI and PEPSI products are exclusive to Henry Maier Festival Park. No other products may be sold. PEPSI will establish accounts directly with each vendor.
  • The only water sold will be bottled and will be purchased by the vendor from the festival. 
  • Prices for all beverages are uniform and set by the festival.
  • Reconciliation: All sales will be reconciled with the festival at the end of the evening. Commissions will be collected at that time.
  • The proper permits will be secured by the vendor. ALL health department standards will be strictly adhered to. Note: the health department has a zero tolerance policy. If you have one violation, you will be shut down immediately. Inspectors will be on site and inspect every food operation. The festival will provided packets of detailed information to each vendor.

Vendors serving plated meals:

  • ALL vendors located in a permanent building and selling plated meals are REQUIRED to use the POS system. VENDORS MUST RENT POS EQUIPMENT FOR AT LEAST FOUR (4) WINDOWS from the festival. NO EXCEPTIONS. ANY CONTRACT NOT IN COMPLIANCE WILL NOT BE SIGNED. Full staffing is required to avoid long lines at the windows as was the case in 2018. THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS.
  • Each POS system is rented from the festival for $160 per unit.
  • Vendors in permanent buildings selling meal-type dishes, are REQUIRED to have at least two (2) windows open to take orders and two (2) pick-up windows open from noon – 5:30pm. From 5:30pm – 11:30pm, vendors mus have four (4) windows open to take orders and three (3) pick-up windows open. Only festival organizers may authorize a reduction in the number of service windows at their discretion.
  • Orders must be turned within 3-5 minutes from the time the customer completes placement of their order to the time the order is delivered to the guest. This will be monitored by unidentified spot checkers (or secret shoppers).

Carts and specialty beverage operators:

  • All vendors of this nature are required to use transaction equipment capable of running receipt tapes of all transactions. Tapes must be presented at reconciliation and these will be used to calculate commissions at the end of the evening. The festival may require the use of POS .

The above is meant as a top line overview of some, but not all, of the requirements and policies. Our intent is to inform any interested vendor of these and assist in your decision as to whether you choose to continue with the completion of the vendor interest form. Should you not be able to meet the outlined information, we hope you will consider revisiting the process and apply in future years.

Thank you

While we would like to contact everyone applying for consideration whether or not we are inviting you to participate. With the short amount of time until the festival we apologize, but we are simply unable to do so this year.
We appreciate your understanding!

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