No bad Taste for 'snubbed' suburban eateries
The Taste of Chicago, which marks its 30th year in 2010, is turning away suburban restaurants seeking to be vendors, unless they have or establish a city location.
But Sweet Baby Ray's of Elk Grove Village and Wood Dale doesn't feel too bad about being excluded, and considering only a handful of suburban restaurants participated, the other exclusions likely won't have much of an impact in the suburbs. The city event already has welcomed 11 new Chicago vendors this year.
In addition to Sweet Baby Ray's, you won't be seeing these vendors anymore: Aunt Diana's Old Fashioned Fudge of Riverside, Celebration Creamery of Niles, Buona of Berwyn and Mazzone's Italian Ice of Western Springs. In the past, Grazie of Des Plaines also had participated.
Sweet Baby Ray's started at the Taste in the mid-1990s to promote its BBQ sauce. But the sauce business was sold to Ken's Foods of Massachusetts in 2003, and then Ken's took over the Taste booth, said restaurant co-owner Mike O'Brien.
The restaurant has a presence, although not full-time, at United Center. O'Brien said his restaurant just focuses on a few suburban festivals, such as Frontier Days in Arlington Heights.
"These events can be costly," said O'Brien. "If the weather's not good, you can get creamed."
Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events, said the restriction returns the Taste to its original focus on city eateries.
The city rules date back to the first Taste of Chicago in 1980. The application has stated that a food vendor must be in operation in the city, year-round and for at least one year. In 2007, all vendors were notified that the city would bring all of the food booths into compliance by the Taste of Chicago in 2010. "While the five vendors who do not comply were all wonderful partners to have on this event, we are strictly adhering to the original guidelines of the festival," she said.
More than 30 vendors will participate, including 11 new ones this year. A preview for the public is May 11 and 12, with the event running June 25 through July 4 in Grant Park.
Since the Taste is a major tourism attraction, the city markets the event with the hope that visitors will try out participating restaurants and then return to them later. That ultimately provides support to city-based restaurants and puts taxes in the city coffers.
"We do not anticipate an attendance drop due to this issue," Gatziolis said. "We still have 53 food booths, more than 300 menu items, two Taste portions (2-4 tickets) at every booth, a variety of ethnic foods, specialties and Chicago traditional fare such as pizza, ribs and hot dogs."
The Taste of Chicago is a city-owned and city-funded event, which gives the event the right to set the policy, said Illinois Restaurant Association spokeswoman Kerry Shorr.
"The city of Chicago focuses on supporting Chicago businesses and that is why this policy was created," Shorr said. "There is a limited number of spots at Taste of Chicago and that's why there is a need for rules on who can participate."