A Look Behind the Scenes at Feeding Music Festival Fans

From the Innings Festival in February to Austin City Limits in October, and Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza in between, music festivals run year-round. Part of the experience includes dining, of course. In fact, it’s a critical component, says Kevin Noonan, senior food and beverage manager for C3 Presents, based in Austin, Texas, which produces each of these events.

Kevin Noonan, photo by Charles Reagan (@charles.reagan)

“We’re so far these days from food being an afterthought at festivals,” Noonan says. “It’s such a big piece of the festival puzzle. We pay a lot of attention to it and want to make sure it’s executed properly, so we’re proud as the festival (producer) but also so the vendors are proud to be a part of it.”

Noonan has served C3 for 15 years with the past 10 years on the food vendor side. He oversees all aspects of the events’ food sold on-site, from general admission areas to premium lounges. C3 events range in size from about 4,500 guests a day at the Austin Food & Wine Festival to some 115,000 fans a day at Lollapalooza. For a glimpse into what it’s like, Noonan offers the following insights:

Fans want food that tastes good—and looks good. Pizza, chicken tenders and tacos continue to sell well but lately (and not surprisingly), Noonan says, fans have gravitated toward Instagrammable menu items. At the Innings Festival, a vendor sold bao (soft bread buns usually filled with meat) featuring a baseball-inspired look. “It had this cool red stripe design and it was a huge hit,” Noonan says. Popular menu items with equipment implications include stir-fry prepared with woks (“the flame comes up and … can really catch eyes”) and potato swirls produced using a unique cutter (“a perfect example of an Instagrammable item that people love and that also tastes great”).

Fryers are the leading must-have for many vendors. “They’re universal in the sense that you can do fries, which everyone loves, along with corn dogs and desserts, like deep-fried Oreos, deep-fried Uncrustables, beignets and doughnuts,” says Noonan, adding that gourmet corn dogs are hugely popular at festivals right now. A classic flattop grill would be next on his list. C3 provides vendors with the “bones of the operation,” he says. The team offers tents and service counters to achieve a clean, consistent look for guests. In the back-of-house, they deliver refrigerator and freezer trailers, hand-washing stations and dedicated bathrooms. They source all utilities. But it’s up to the vendors to bring the equipment they need to serve fans.

“The No. 1 goal for us is having enough food on-site .. and placing it in areas that feel seamless (with the traffic flow).”

• Kevin Noonan, C3 Presents

Lines need to move fast, and serving the masses is hard work. C3 strives to keep lines from forming at all, actually. No one wants fans to miss a band. “The No. 1 goal for us is having enough food on-site and having enough of the food that people want on-site, and placing it in areas that feel seamless (with the traffic flow) versus making fans go out of their way to get food,” Noonan says. At the same time, C3 also avoids oversaturation; the team wants vendors to succeed. It’s a balance. Noonan says another challenge is the amount of hard work it is for vendors, who come in early to prep, feed fans all day (including dinner rushes right before a headliner takes the stage) and stay late to clean up. Then, depending on the festival, they do it all over again the next day. But many vendors come back year after year, he says. Festivals help promote brands and can make for a team-building experience.

As for the future of feeding music festival fans, Noonan continues to think of ways to improve the experience. Collaborating with local restaurants to provide a menu item exclusive to a festival or serving guests in the field while they’re waiting for the next band to play mark ideas in the works. “(We’re looking at) bigger activations around food versus walking up to a tent and ordering, which is great and feeds the masses, but we’re always thinking about how we can stay ahead of the game and offer something new,” he says.