Largest ever Savour show a sell out

HALIFAX - A sold out Savour Food and Wine Show attracted 850 lovers of food and drink to the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel.

The 2008 edition of the Feb. 28 event was the biggest yet, with more than 60 booths serving up the best of Nova Scotia’s food, wine, spirits, beer and cocktails.

“There is no room for more people next year. It was sold out three weeks before the show,” said Savour spokesperson Christine White.

“The restaurants and consumers both had nothing but good things to say about the show.”

RANS executive director Gordon Stewart said the show was the pinnacle in terms of meeting the needs of the consumer audience and the restaurants.
He said the challenge now is to determine whether to expand the evening further or cut back on the number of tickets sold.

“Is moving to a larger venue a good model? The tendency to spread it out would make it more trade show-y,” Stewart said.

The demand from restaurants to participate during a slow time of year means the association has to turn people away, he said.

Non-Halifax residents also enjoyed some of the province’s best culinary creations thanks to Dine Out Nova Scotia with set menu prices at over 30 restaurants across the province including Rhubarb Grill & Café in Peggy’s Cove, Cocoa Pesto Bistro in Windsor, Gabrieau's Bistro in Antigonish and Jamieson's Irish House and Grill in Cole Harbour, among many others.

With the Savour show essentially at its peak, Stewart said the main area for growth is Savour month, with some restaurants selling out five nights a week, something unheard of for a normal February.

Dine Out has become so popular and lucrative for owners that RANS is talking about doing it again the last week of June and the first week of July, another traditionally slow time for business. That is likely to start this summer, Stewart said, and could even happen several times a year.

Savour 2009 is scheduled for Feb. 26, again at the Westin in Halifax.