Tourism Vancouver releases 2014 festival statistics and Best Bite award winners

Photo: Facebook Page of Dine Out Vancouver Festival

Vancouver, BC (March 19, 2014): Contributing an estimated $3.9 million to the local economy, the 2014 Dine Out Vancouver Festival continued to show growth and expansion with a record-setting number of participating restaurants, increased bookings and more culinary event attendance than ever before. After yet another successful year, it’s no wonder the Georgia Straight awarded Dine Out a Golden Plate Award for “Best Food Festival/Event” for the second time in a row.

During the 12th anniversary of Canada’s largest restaurant festival, more than 80,000* diners sampled, sipped and devoured their way through 263 restaurants in and around downtown Vancouver. Thousands more took part in a menu of inventive culinary experiences that included a sushi-inspired film fest, an al fresco lunchtime fiesta with 23 street food carts and a brand-new kickoff event that featured 50 of Vancouver’s top chefs creating a communal soup for the public.

Every story starts with a reservation – and at the end of every Dine Out, the numbers tell the story:

• 263 – number of participating restaurants
• 31 – total number of unique culinary events and experiences
• 500+ – number of free soup samples dished out to the public at the Chef Soup
Experiment
• 4.4* – percentage increase in restaurant reservations over last year’s festival
• 2.2 million – total number of Dine Out menu views
• 6.3 million – total number of page views at dineoutvancouver.com
• 80,317* – total number of diners seated
• 18,000+ – estimated number of people served over five days at Street Food City III
(double the number that attended last year’s event)

“For the past dozen years, Dine Out Vancouver Festival has successfully brought families, friends and visitors together to celebrate Vancouver’s exciting array of local food and dining offerings,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The festival’s ongoing success and growth continues to make it an even stronger showcase of Vancouver’s passion for food and our vibrant character as a city.”

“Dine Out gets better every year, and we’ve now come to expect that each year’s festival will top the last,” said Lucas Pavan, festival coordinator. “In addition to providing a needed financial boost to Vancouver restaurants during a slower time of the year, Dine Out encourages local chefs, restaurateurs and culinary leaders to take risks and think outside the pot. It’s thanks to these passionate foodies that Vancouver is one of the world’s most sought out culinary destinations.”

Throughout the 17 days of the festival, diners were invited to cast votes for their favourite Dine Out experiences. This year’s festival all-stars are:

Best $18 menu: Bistro 101 – Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
Best $28 menu: Seasons in the Park
Best $38 menu: Five Sails – Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel

Best B.C. VQA wine pairing: The Observatory – Grouse Mountain
Best B.C. craft beer pairing: Forage
Best dining experience: Siena
Best service: Federico’s Supper Club (server: Earl MacDonald)

New this year, the revamped Dine Out for a Year contest encouraged diners to submit photos and videos of their food-filled experiences via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with one daily winner receiving a restaurant gift certificate. At festival’s end, Mr. Wing Hin Tse from Richmond was named grand prize winner and took home 52 gift certificates to some of Vancouver’s top eateries.

Congratulations to our winners! Stay tuned for Dine Out Vancouver Festival 2015, taking place January 16 – February 1, 2015.

*based on OpenTable reservations only. Note that only 56 percent of participating restaurants accepted OpenTable bookings, so this number is likely much higher.

About Tourism Vancouver’s Dine Out Vancouver Festival:
Produced by Tourism Vancouver and presented by American Express, Dine Out Vancouver Festival (January 16 – February 1, 2015) is a city-wide celebration of eating out, attracting tens of thousands of local and visiting foodies to Vancouver’s exceptionally diverse collection of restaurants for 17 days. Celebrating its 13th year in 2015, Canada’s largest restaurant festival allows diners to sample menus from hundreds of restaurants around the city, all for a prix fixe cost (price points are $18, $28 and $38 per person) and many with suggested BC VQA pairings (available at an additional cost). Dine Out also features special hotel room rates and packages, plus a full menu of unique food-themed events, seminars and activities. Wines of British Columbia is a festival partner, and supplier partners include All You Need is Cheese and OneCoffee.  dineoutvancouver.com

Tourism Vancouver’s focus is on building exceptional customer relationships with meeting planners, travel influencers, travel media and independent tourists.  The organization’s brand essence is about “exceeding expectations”.