Singapore Food Festival 2012

a)     Grand Hyatt Singapore (GHS)

I will choose GHS as part of the hotel of my choice, as I have work there as a regular banquet staff before and thus having the ‘connections’ to assist me in this assignment. Based on an interview with the current banquet assistant manager, she revealed that GHS have participated in F1 by providing F&B services to VIP for the past 3 years. GHS also play a part as the event host venue for the world gourmet summit where they host the ‘Marco Pierre White Celebrity Chef Dinner’ in their ballroom.

From the 2 events that my manager had mentioned, I can see that GHS like to play the active role of a ‘co-worker’ as an event stakeholder. I have noted that both of these events are F&B related. Thus, I believe that GHS would be interested in further developing their brand through its F&B.

b)    Singapore Food Festival 2012 (SFF)

Established in 1994, the SFF seek to showcase Singapore diverse food offering inspired by our culture & heritage and a platform for STB to attract tourist to Singapore. Each year, a unique theme is identified to showcase our local food culture through enriching and fun programs. (Singapore Food Festival)

With Singapore being known as the food paradise of Asia, it is of no surprised that the SFF2012 had ended off as a success. This hallmark major event of our little red dot has been running for the 19^th year, attracting about 516,000 locals and tourist which surpass the 2011 figure of 450,000 and meet 2012’s target of 500,000. (Singapore Press Holdings, 2012) Running from 13^th July-22^nd July 2012 from 11am-11pm daily, the 19^th edition of SFF, organised by SPOC solutions, is located in Waterfront Promenade at Marina Bay for the very first time.  Similar to previous years, the SFF2012 admission is free but the food is not.

Seafood-The tales of temasek, the theme of SFF 2012, has showcased the unique Singapore food culture and the importance of seafood in our diet. To match this year’s theme, the SFF logo this year is trying to illustrate a crab, freshly out of the water joining the festival itself. The 10 days event had seen more than 50 stalls featuring locals and international seafood cuisine, featuring an official SFF seafood platter at $36.90+ that is exclusively sold in SFF. (Ng, 2012)

Similarly to previous years, the SFF will come up with a wide array of programs in accordance to the theme which enhances the event experience. The picture below shows the different SFF event.

The larger image can be found in SFF2012 booklet at : 

http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/2012/pdf/sffeg2805.pdf

This year’s core event, Behind the Scenes @ Jurong Fishery Port, gave participants a tour around fishery and taught them how to select the freshest seafood by evaluating the texture, colour and smell. To bring a meaningful ending to this experiential learning, the participant will get to learn how to prepare and enjoy a sumptuous seafood breakfast from the chef at his restaurant. The picture below shows the itinerary of the core event.

To create a hyped to SFF2012, the Fish head 2012 program broke the Guinness World record serving the most (2012) fish head in a location. 2012 people were serve with 2012 fish head curry in little India with attractive night performances. This program had certainly created awareness of SFF to both the locals and the tourist.

I feel that providing good authentic Singapore cuisine isn’t the SFF2012 only objective. Base on the core event, fringe event and other culinary demonstration, I feel that SFF would like to provide a holistic sensory experience by appealing to not just the sense of taste of the participant but all their 5 senses. Therefore, With the combination of providing an extensive selection of seafood and well-known local cuisine under one roof, the wide array of programs that engages their audience and Singaporean’s ‘no-nonsense-attitude’ towards their food, it is of no secret why SFF2012 ended off a success.

c)     Marketing mix

As mentioned, the SFF2012 is a major success as it has outshined last year’s visitorship by 15% and it has exceeded its target for visitorship. This shows SFF is an event that has successfully reached out to its target audience by meeting the needs of the people. What did SPOC solutions do to make this event a success? To gain a clearer picture, I shall break down the event marketing mix (8P) that they have used for this event:

1)     Product & Programming

I will put programming under product as I feel that programs are a type of tangible product. SFF being a service product contain 3 types of products:

Core Product: The core product is the intangible benefit that the customer experienced. SFF bring convenience for its customer as it gathers well-known seafood vendors under one roof. Also, it brings about awareness and knowledge of the importance of seafood in our local diet through its wide variety of programs.

Tangible Product: The tangible products are the famous seafood and Singapore cuisine sold & the tables and chairs in the food village to facilitate the sales of food. As mentioned, programs such culinary demonstration and other programs initiated for SFF, as shown in the picture, is part of tangible product as well.

Augmented Product: The augmented product includes the famous chef for their demonstration, the hawker centre atmosphere with its village decoration. The unique SFF platter that is sold exclusive at SFF and the special SFF menu offering at various restaurants are augmented products that SFF stand out from its competitor.

SFF success from its products was contributed by:

The ability of bringing convenience to demand. With Singaporean eating more than 100,000 tonnes of seafood per year, SFF is able to sell the convenience to locals as well as tourist who are able to eat all the famous seafood cuisine under one roof, without having to travel around to find the best food in Singapore.  

Ease of interaction among people on-site. With its hawker-centre atmosphere, there will be an ease of interaction among people on-site as the ‘free-seating’ arrangement encourage interaction with another stranger who share the table.

Unique and engaging activities. With program such as Behind The Scene @ Jurong Fishery Port, it will be an eye opener for locals to learn from the experts and go to places where they usually do not see. This provides a motivation for food enthusiast to learn and immerse SFF through its unique programs. The SFF serve as good ‘family day’ for family as it allow family to bond through food and engage them through various programs in the SFF. With program such culinary demonstration by famous chef, it motivates housewife or food enthusiast to go to SFF as it is a rare opportunity enhances culinary knowledge from the best.

Good scheduling of programs. Most of its events are recurring programs which happen throughout the period of SFF, such as Catch of the Season @ Sentosa Waterfront and Seafood Trails @ Kampong Glam. In addition, culinary demonstrations are done during weekend night where there are crowds, as shown in the picture below. Lastly, those unique programs are schedule based on the availability of the participant. We can see that this allow participant to fully immerse to all the programs of their choice without sacrificing another and allow them to choose whatever event they want, whenever they want. Also, the culinary demonstration is schedule at time on weekends evening where working adults are able immerse to the programs conveniently.

2)     Price

One reason for SFF success of is the cost that it brings to consumer is low. SFF have:

Low monetary cost. The admission is free of charge and the food is charge at reasonable prices where the general public can afford.

Low time cost. This refers to the ability to do other things. As food is part of everyday life, it provides an alternative for their meal places. On top of that, they get to engage themselves through activities while eating, which is not available when they dine at places of the same monetary cost.

Low psychic cost. This refers to the mental effort to engage in social interaction. As the place resemble hawker centre, little mental effort is required to have social interaction as the ‘free seating’ characteristic encourages bonding and interaction among participants. In addition, Singaporean are very much familiar with the hawker centre culture and thus it would not be difficult to encourage social interaction.

Low sensory cost. It refers to unpleasant environment and unnecessary loud noise. As seen from the picture, the place seems to be well ventilated with lots of fans to beat the heat of Singapore. In addition, there were many tables and chairs and the places seem well-lit for the night. Thus, I find that the environment seems pleasant.

However, price is subjective. People have different expectation and definition of the different cost as different people have different income and expectations and thus the cost above may vary from people to people.

3)     Promotion

With the large visitorship, it seems that the adoption of communication mix of both above the line and below the line advertisement by SFF was effective.

Above the line advertisement: It refers to advertisement that is published to mass audience. There was wide media coverage about SFF even before it opened such as news coverage in all MediaCorp TV channels. Thus, it is well-publicized to the locals. In addition, with the international coverage of channel news asia, the news about SFF has also reach out to CNA international audience. An extract of their online publication can be found at:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1209969/1/.html

Beside media, SFF also engage it audience via internet. SFF has its own facebook page, where it promotes SFF to the online world through social media. The SFF facebook page can be found at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore-Food-Festival-2012/249517778484104?fref=ts

To promote itself to tourist, the STB promote SFF on yoursingapore.com to attract tourist to Singapore using SFF.

Below the line advertisement: It refers to advertisement that is more niche focused. Banners and flyers were seen around marina bay. The picture shows an example of banners shown during the event at marina bay area.

4)     Place

Place refers to its physical location and the distributing channels. The SFF2012 is located at Waterfront Promenade at Marina Bay. The picture shows the its physical location. SFF is easily accessible via public transport. It is a 5 minute walk away from ‘Raffles Place’ MRT and ‘Bayfront’ MRT. These 2 MRT stations cover 3 different lines (North-South, East-West and Circle Line). Thus, most people are able to travel without the hassle to switch MRT station. In addition, there are 15 bus services to SFF and people from all over Singapore will be able to travel conveniently.

As it is located at Marina Bay, it also attract tourist as Marina Bay have a cluster of attractions and tourist do not need to travel far to attend SFF. Therefore, SFF can be part of their itinerary without having much disruption to their current itinerary when they visit Singapore. With Marina Bay Sands nearby, it attract tourist who visit MBS to attend SFF.

In addition, I feel that the site itself portray the seafood theme very well as it is located near the coastline of Singapore straits. This may further enhance the atmosphere and thus contributed to the success of SFF.

5)     People & Partnership (Event Stakeholders)

SFF has selected the right people and take care the event stakeholder’s need and thus turning this event into success.

Organiser: SPOC solutions have been the organiser for SFF for the past 5 years, with each year gaining higher and higher visitorship. Also, SPOC solutions is also organiser of various events such as Oktoberfest @ Clark Quay 2012 and Ultimate Hawker Fest 2012. As such, they have led SFF to another success with their extensive event management experience.

Co-workers: The co-worker in SFF are the famous chef and also the food vendors. With culinary demonstration by famous chef such as Chef Eric Teo who appear many times on Mediacorp’s culinary shows, it makes it an attraction for people to go to SFF as he has high ‘entertainment value’ to the audience as compared to other less reputable chef. Also, with many reputable food vendors and seafood stalls, it attracts people to go SFF for the wide variety of high quality food under one roof. In return, the food vendors and hawker stalls gain not just the monetary revenue but also promote their brand in this national hallmark event.

Host Community: The SFF host community is the buildings, business and people who work around that area, as seen on the map above. The negative impact to the host community is low. Although places such as MBS and Marina Bay Link Mall sell food, the SFF is targeting a different market from them. MBS sell international, fine dining cuisine which is aiming at the higher disposable income market and the Link Mall do not sell Singaporean food as they do not have a food court (Mall). Thus, we can see that SFF did not have a negative impact to the host community. In fact, it has benefited the people who work around the area by giving them an alternative dining choice by bringing the heartlander’s food closer to them during the period of SFF. Therefore, we can see that host community has benefited from SFF.

Sponsor: The picture on the left show a list of sponsors. NETS is the major sponsor and they sponsor the most money for SFF. In return, NETS are able to promote and sell their new card, NETS Flashpay, in SFF as it gives 20% sales discount when anyone buy SFF food using NETS flashpay, as shown in the picture showing the operating time above in part (a). NETS has gain the acknowledgement by getting the necessary publicity for their new card and in return SFF get a sum of monetary funds from NETS to run SFF. Thus, it is a win-win situation for both parties. 

Likewise for Carlsberg being the official beer, they have sponsor SFF money while in return SFF fully promote and sell Carlsberg beer by having a sales discount in SFF, as shown in the picture on the right. For Pokka being the official drinks, they are able to promote their brand by having their brand SFF banners. The official SFF guide also features a section for them to do their advertisement.

These sponsors are able to gain publicity benefits as SFF provide them a national platform for them to publicise their brand. Thus they are willing to spend money and efforts to give monetary support as well as giving sales promotions. In return, SFF benefited directly from their monetary support and thus making it a win-win situation for both sponsors as well as SFF. However I feel that ultimately, the participant get the most out of the benefit as these sponsors have make a more holistic experience for participant in terms of sales of drink as well as sales promotions.

6)     Packaging & Distribution

Packaging refers to package events with another attraction that ideally targeting the same market and sell the package at a lower rate to reach out to their target audience via distributing channels. From the SFF website, we can see that they have tied up by having sales discount with other major food outlet in Singapore. It provides an advertisement avenue for these food outlets. Thus, it provides a motivation for participant to go to the SFF website.

Analysis Changes from Previous Year

One of the biggest changes from previous years is the visitorship. The SFF2011 had 450,000 visitors while SFF2012 has 516,000. This is a whopping 15% increase as compared to the previous year. Therefore, we can see that the change made by SFF has made SFF2012 a more successful event. What had SFF2012 did differently that makes it outshine its previous years?

Location: For the past consecutive 3 years, SFF2011 is located at Clark Quay read bridge & along central river promenade, as shown in the picture. SFF2012 has move to Waterfront Promenade at Marina Bay for the very first time. With the change of location, it has made it more accessible for the general public. The SFF 2011 is located at Clark Quay and only have Clark Quay MRT station within walking distance, which cover only North-East Line. This year, the SFF is located between 2 MRT stations which cover 3 lines as mentioned above. Thus, with the increase in accessibility, it has resulted in the drastic increase in visitorship.

Theme: The SFF2011 theme, spice it up, focus on the use of spices in our local cuisine. SFF2012 theme is Seafood-Tales of Temasek, where it focuses on seafood in our local cuisine. We can see that the change in theme may be the reason to the increase of visitorship as people appeal to the seafood theme more than the spices. 

Sponsorship: The picture below shows the list of sponsors for SFF2011. We can see that SFF2011 sponsor is different from SFF2012 sponsors. The change in sponsors could be the reason why SFF2012 have done much better as the sponsors for SFF2012 gave sales promotions to SFF2012 audience. Thus, people who want the product or would like to find a cheaper alternative for their meals will be enticed to go to SFF2012.

Opening time:  For SFF 2011, it is open from 4pm-11pm on weekdays and 12pm-11pm on weekends. However, for SFF2012, it is open from 11am-11pm daily. This may be the reason why there is an increase in visitorship as SFF2011 is only open for dinner on weekdays but SFF2012 is open for brunch, lunch and dinner.

d)    Behind the Dining Room @ Straits Kitchen

GHS can make use its famous outlet, Straits Kitchen, for this event. Straits kitchen is one of Singapore’s well-known restaurants which serve authentic Singapore ethnic cuisine in restaurant buffet setting. It has received great review by influential food critics such as Anthony Bourdain on the show ‘No Reservations’ and famous local food blogger ladyironchef. Below is an extract of Anthony bourdain’s review on the show ‘no reservations’ of straits kitchen, Starting from 6:49: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ShPNvhm8VU&t=6m49s

With such fame and facilities, GHS can do something that is similar to the behind the scene @ jurong port for SFF2012 as a fringe event. GHS can do an open house and participant will get a chance to learn how to prepare all the Singapore ethnic cuisine from the 5 star restaurants chef. To avoid disruption to the business, it should be held from early morning to afternoon on weekday, where there are fewer crowds. Also, they should get enough participants to book down the entire restaurant so to ensure maximum revenue.

Below shows a table of the proposed program schedule:

Behind the Dining Room @ Straits Kitchen
9am-10am	Kitchen Orientation
10am-11am	Group 1 Chinese Food Demonstration	Group 2 Malay Food Demonstration	Group 3 Indian Food Demonstration
11am-12pm	Indian Food Demonstration	Chinese Food Demonstration	Malay Food Demonstration
12pm-1pm	Malay Food Demonstration	Indian Food Demonstration	Chinese Food Demonstration
1pm Onwards	Buffet Lunch at Straits Kitchen

The programme will kick start by doing an introduction about the kitchen itself. By introducing their kitchen, GHS can use this opportunity to boast about their quality standards and their quality control and thus promoting their brand. After understanding the main kitchen, they can breakdown the culinary demonstration into different ethnic for the participant and rotate after each culinary demonstration. By breaking down into groups, it allow the kitchen to accommodate more people and thus able to increase revenue from this event. To end off the session, the participant will enjoy the buffet lunch served in straits kitchen which includes dishes from what they have learn earlier on. The proposed price for this event is $100 per person.

The implications of this fringe event to the stakeholders are:

1)   SFF: From SFF point of view, this fringe event will meet the objective SFF of showcasing Singapore diverse food offering. SFF can reach out to tourists that are staying in GHS from the publicity in GHS. Also, it allows SFF to offer a wider variety of programs for its participants to choose from.

2) GHS: From GHS point, this fringe event allows it to further publicise its brand by showcasing its flagship F&B outlet to SFF participant. They may use this opportunity to build an image to the participant that the GHS brand is related to quality. Also, it allow GHS to gain publicity using SFF for the straits kitchen itself through this national platform. Also, GHS may able to sell its ‘unsold seat’ via this platform and thus reducing perishability.

However, it is important to take note of the opportunity cost of doing such event. Firstly, chefs would need to spend time working and coordinating the program which thus may lower the manpower in the frontline during the planning stage. The closure of the restaurant for this fringe event means that they are losing revenue from the potential sales that they can get from the hotel guest. In addition, it may cause potential unhappiness to guest as guest who want to patronise the straits kitchen may be disappointed that it is close for such fringe event and thus damaging the image of its current customer.

3)     Participants: From participant’s point of view, it provides a great eye opener as it gives them a unique insight of our local cuisine at a fine-dining standard. Also, they are able to learn all the Singaporean cuisine under one roof from hotel chef and thus this may entice them to sign up for this event as they get to learn everything in a hotel. Lastly, it is a rare opportunity for the general public to go ‘behind the house’ and thus this may serve as a great eye opener for those who are curious about the workplace of a hotel chef. However, it is important to take note that participant who wish to join this event would have to pay a premium as compared to other event so to make up for the opportunity cost that GHS may have for this event.

Works Cited

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Mall, M. B. (n.d.). Marina Bay Link. Retrieved Novemeber 15, 2012, from http://www.marinabaylink.com.sg/store.aspx

Ng, S. (2012, June 27). Makansutra, Yahoo. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from Singapore Food Festival Is Back Again: http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/singapore-food-festival-back-again-062210971.html

Ng, S. (2012, June 27). Singapore Food Festival Is Back Again. Retrieved November 21, 2012, from Yahoo News: http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/singapore-food-festival-back-again-062210971.html

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Singapore Food Festival. (n.d.). About SFF. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from Singapore Food Festival 2012: http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/2012/page/2

Singapore Food Festival. (n.d.). Singapore Food Festival. Retrieved November 21, 2012, from Seafood-Tales of temasek: http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/2012/

Singapore Press Holdings. (2012, July 22). Singapore Food Festival draws record numbers. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from AsiaOne: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/SoShiok/Story/A1Story20120722-360627.html

Tan, R. L. (2012). Get Hooked on Seafood at Singapore Food Festival. Life! The Straits Time.

Tan, R. L. (2012). Great Catch for Festival. Life!, The Straits Time.