The five day food and drink fest will go ahead this year, organisers say
We all need something to look forward to at the moment, so here’s some good news. Having been so disappointingly cancelled at the last minute last year, Manchester Food and Drink Festival has announced it will go ahead this autumn.
The event promises to be the ‘hospitality homecoming event of the year’
The culinary event of the Mancunian year will take place from Thursday 16th - Monday 27th September and will again be sponsored by the food delivery platform Just Eat.
The Festival Hub will return in 2021, taking place in Cathedral Gardens. Organisers promise it will be “a magnificent celebration of the region’s food and drink and all the talented people that bring it to the table”.
It’ll be an emotional one this year after the absolute nightmare our hospitality scene has endured.
The Festival Hub and MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards
As always The Hub will be free to enter. For the 2021 festival, there will be a limited number of tables available to book in advance. For a reservation fee of £5, guests can guarantee a table and skip the queues. You can book a table for Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2021 here. As usual, we expect pop-up kitchens from some of our best local food traders, brilliant beer and hopefully a bit of live music - imagine that.
After an online ceremony last year - with winners including Escape To Freight Island, Shindigger and Eat Well MCR - the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards are back 'in the flesh’ for 2021.
The MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards will be hosted at Manchester Hall this year on Monday 27th September.
The event promises to be the ‘hospitality homecoming event of the year’ as MFDF brings the industry together to celebrate and recognise the achievements and challenges of this extraordinary time.
The 2021 award categories will be announced soon. Watch this space.
MFDF 2021: Celebration, reflection and recovery
This year the festival says it aims to support the recovery of Manchester’s dining and drinking economies by showcasing and celebrating as many businesses as possible.
Alexa Stratton-Powell, Festival Director commented: “This year’s Festival is about celebration, reflection and recovery. It has been an extraordinarily difficult time for the hospitality industry, and so too for the Festival and all the events companies and professionals around the country. Postponing last year’s MFDF was a very difficult decision, but the right one. This year we'll come together to do what Manchester does best - support each other and our city. We want to create the most exciting Festival yet; celebrate as many of our hospitality businesses as possible and make sure everyone has a brilliant time enjoying the region’s amazing food and drink! We’re particularly excited to be announcing the MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards are back! They give everyone a chance to recognise the achievements of our unrivalled hospitality community. We will be back soon to announce the award categories, nominees and how to vote- giving everyone the chance to get behind their food heroes.”
Andrew Kenny, UK MD of Just Eat, said: “We’re delighted that the plans for MFDF have been finalised and we can share the good news. We are really looking forward to celebrating with our customers, our local restaurant partners and the whole of Manchester at MFDF this September.”
Safety first and the MFDF app
The folks that run MFDF have your safety and wellbeing front and centre. MFDF 2021 will be delivered in line with current event guidance. The Festival team assure the public that will be monitoring the situation closely as they continue to plan the event.
If you downloaded the MFDF app last year, fire it up again as the 2021 MFDF Planner is available to download now. From the app, you can browse the full festival programme, reserve tables at the Festival Hub and vote for your hospitality heroes in the MFDF awards. The app can be downloaded in the Apple and Android app stores by searching ‘Mcr Food and Drink Festival’.
See you there.
