Korean-themed food festival kicks off attracting crowds

This year’s Macau Food Festival is riding on the growing popularity of Korean culture worldwide. Through this focus, organizers hope to strengthen the event’s appeal for locals who have shown a waning interest in the festival in recent years.
After the gastronomic fair kicked off last Friday, up to 25 booths operated by owners of Korean eateries began serving up treats for the very first time in fifteen years at the plaza in front of the Macau Tower.
“We have been engaged [in talks] with them for a couple of years,” Chan Chak Mo, a lawmaker and also the president of the festival’s organizing body, the United Association of Food and Beverage Merchants of Macau, told the Times.
Both sides finally struck a deal this year after the Korean travel authorities and chambers of commerce overcame concerns about the event’s feasibility and profitability over 17 days, Chan noted.
Visitors started streaming into the venue in the late afternoon. The booth operators had already prepared themselves for the possibility of a large crowd, which would continue to swell as night descended.
Making rice rolls without pause, In-Seon Kang, vice-
president at the Korean Food Association and also a restaurateur from Incheon, told the Times through an onsite Korean-speaking assistant that he aimed to accumulate sales of around HKD330,000.
However, achieving high profits is not the top incentive for most other merchants. Rather, they are aiming to achieve exposure to the Chinese market. Raam Man Hou, a supervisor at Kumkang World System – who also used the services of an interpreter -, said that the culinary tool manufacturer sought to not only promote his home country abroad, but also to let people get a better grasp of their products through its three stalls.
He expressed the company’s willingness to broaden its business venture into the Chinese market, given the vast population.
Kang Kyunng Kab, a chef from another restaurant that has 50 branches across the country, said that he hoped  his brand could be popularized through the event prior to venturing into the Chinese market.
Although the festival has always managed to secure tourists’ participation, the organizer, along with some local eateries admitted that the response from locals has been lukewarm for the past few years.
Long queues, shortages of tables and seats for dining, and overcrowding are some of the main criticisms of the attendants. However, the organizer has yet to work out solutions despite ongoing efforts. “We did, but couldn’t come up with anything,” said Chan Chak Mo, adding that, in the years ahead, the festival would remain similar to what it is now.
He did not think it was within the organizer’s capacity to control the venue size and crowds with the purpose of simply catering to locals.
The event has been branded as a platform to promote local eateries since it was initially introduced. The territory’s booths this year totaled a record number of 122, with 43 of them added from the last edition.
Although it is largely underwritten by the government, the festival was still viewed as lucrative based on marketing opportunities for local restaurants, Chan noted.