CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some popular Charlotte restaurants will take center stage as a new element to an old favorite festival this spring.
The Charlotte SHOUT festival is back after a break because of COVID-19 and this year you can sample food from some of the city's top restaurants. Festival organizers are making that happen in a unique way, making sure it helps, not hurts, the already struggling restaurant industry.
The organizers of this festival are taking a different approach trying to make sure the restaurants come out on top after all that they’ve faced.
“We love to be involved with things like that especially when it feels very local,” Jamie Brown, the owner of Supperland, one of Charlotte’s newest and hottest restaurants, said.
But she admits some past festivals have made it tough for restaurants to take part. Especially after the last few years.
“There has been a lot of ups and downs, COVID issues, labor issues supply chain issues it's been a lot,” Brown said.
So she’s grateful and excited about a new approach to an old standard.
“In the past when tried doing food or sampling events the burden falls upon the business to make that happen but this one is a little different," Brown said.
The Charlotte SHOUT festival celebrates the city’s culture and this year is adding a food component called Charlotte StrEATS. Organizers are making sure the restaurants taking part don’t suffer in the process.
Kristen Wile of Unpretentious Palate is co-organizer of the StrEATS festival.
“We just didn’t think it was fair to ask restaurants to take part in this just for free for marketing so we’re paying restaurants to cover food costs, helping cover labor," Wile said.
Casey Wilson of Carben Events is the other organizer and added, “We’ve partnered with Johnson and Wales and they’re going to provide some culinary students to work with to help out with these chefs. It's an awesome opportunity for them, helps restaurants as well.”
And the community also benefits, the list of participating restaurants is a who’s who of some of Charlotte’s favorite eats.
“It’s nice to see that organizations who are putting on events like streets are doing things in a different way and being mindful of the things we're faced with," Brown said, "We’re super happy to be a part of it.”
RELATED: Charlotte Shout is back!
The main event for the food tasting is April 16.
For more information on the festival: https://cltstreatsfestival.com/
Contact Michelle at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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