A summer of festivals: July roundup

July has been an action packed month for our members and we wanted to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you who has taken the time to send us your summer snaps from festivals and events, tag us in pictures on social media and get in touch with us about your experiences.

Now is a perfect time to be keeping in touch with your NCASS team, as we launch our new Empower Independents campaign: NCASS Taking a Stand – for you! More information can be found here.

In one of our Member Spotlight interviews this month, we caught up with Jason Hallett and Ryan Dear of Just Wing It, who after setting up in business just 6 weeks ago have already smashed their first festival. The duo couldn’t get over how much they enjoyed their first experience trading in a festival field.

Talking of festivals, two of our members who’ve sent in pictures have spoken about what they love most about the festival season:

Lucy from Toastie, commented:

“So far this summer we’ve traded at Bearded Theory, Glastonbury, Formula 1 Silverstone, Standon Calling, Camp Bestival, Wilderness, Boomtown and many more.

“We love moving from festival to festival. Each has its own personality and each brings a whole different environment for us to work in – there really is never the same day twice working in the fields!

“We love the fact we get to work with so many amazing people. We have our little community and we all look out for each other – that’s really special!”

Lindsay from Libi’s Horse Box Bar, said:

“I love every event I attend in my horsebox and the feedback I get from the public is so lovely; it’s nice to know they feel the same way I do about her.  I have met such lovely people at the events I have attended, I love music and dance and sing along to the music when I am serving which sends out a nice happy vibe.  I feel very lucky to have and run my own company, so I must admit festivals are my favourite events, I would just like to do more  of them.”

I’m lucky in that I don’t think of it as a job at all, it’s something that I absolutely love. I love meeting and talking to people, I love to experiment with new cocktails/drinks even though I already have a large range of different drinks. Running my own business in a horsebox that is beautiful is just fab.”

Elliot Leopald of Summit Tasty, said:

Some of the highlights of the season so far have been the Southampton People’s Pride which was great fun with a lovely, friendly atmosphere, and the Canada Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square which are quite special to us personally as Canadian Poutine was what inspired our food truck in the first place.

We just love all of the people you meet when working at a festival or event. Whether they’re other traders such as ourselves who are always happy to give us advice as a new business, or even do a cheeky swap for each other’s food. Not to mention all the people who are just out having a great time and who we get to have a quick chat with while they’re waiting for their food. Met some genuinely great people so far and every event you’re guaranteed to meet someone different.

After years of working in various hospitality roles, always for other people, the best bit about this job is that it’s our first time having our own business and the freedom that goes with that. We get to cook the food that we want to do, take it where we want to go and it’s 100% ours. It’s the most stressful job we’ve ever worked but I think we can say we’ve loved (almost) every minute of it!

You can view more festival photos over on our Facebook page.

If you’re still in the midst of a busy events season, we’d love to hear all about how it’s going! Send your pictures and details to [email protected] for a chance to be featured across our social media channels and/or mailers.

Finally, if and when the British summer finally arrives, we’ve been lucky enough to receive the recipe for a delicious Lemon Gin Mojito from the lovely Lindsay at Libi’s Horse Box Bar – the perfect Apéritif for those long nights under the stars.

Lemon Gin Mojito

50ml – Lemon Gin
25ml – Lemon juice
25ml – Sugar syrup
Soda water
Garnish: Mint/Lemon

Ciao for now!