{"id":4625,"date":"2014-03-20T01:25:49","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T08:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=4625"},"modified":"2014-03-29T20:14:11","modified_gmt":"2014-03-30T03:14:11","slug":"tourism-vancouver-releases-2014-festival-statistics-and-best-bite-award-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/03\/20\/tourism-vancouver-releases-2014-festival-statistics-and-best-bite-award-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism Vancouver releases 2014 festival statistics and Best Bite award winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1560424_513045145474666_774923463_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Facebook Page of Dine Out Vancouver Festival<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Vancouver, BC (March 19, 2014)<\/b>: Contributing an estimated $3.9 million to the local economy, the 2014 Dine Out Vancouver Festival<\/i> continued to show growth and expansion with a record-setting number of participating restaurants, increased bookings and more\u00a0culinary event attendance than ever before. After yet another successful year, it\u2019s no wonder the Georgia Straight<\/i> awarded Dine Out<\/i> a Golden Plate Award for “Best Food Festival\/Event” for the second time in a row.<\/p>\n

During the 12th anniversary of Canada\u2019s 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\u2019s top chefs creating a communal soup for the public.<\/p>\n

Every story starts with a reservation \u2013 and at the end of every Dine Out<\/i>, the numbers tell the story:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0263<\/b> \u2013 number of participating restaurants
\n\u2022\u00a031<\/b> \u2013 total number of unique culinary events and experiences
\n\u2022\u00a0500+<\/b> \u2013 number of free soup samples dished out to the public at the Chef Soup
\nExperiment
\n\u2022\u00a04.4<\/b>* \u2013 percentage increase in restaurant reservations over last year\u2019s festival
\n\u2022\u00a02.2 million<\/b> \u2013 total number of Dine Out<\/i> menu views
\n\u2022\u00a06.3 million<\/b> \u2013 total number of page views at dineoutvancouver.com<\/a>
\n\u2022\u00a080,317<\/b>* \u2013 total number of diners seated
\n\u2022\u00a018,000+<\/b> \u2013 estimated number of people served over five days at Street Food City III
\n(double the number that attended last year\u2019s event)<\/p>\n

“For the past dozen years, Dine Out Vancouver Festival<\/i> has successfully brought families, friends and visitors together to celebrate Vancouver\u2019s exciting array of local food and dining offerings,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The festival\u2019s ongoing success and growth continues to make it an even stronger showcase of Vancouver\u2019s passion for food and our vibrant character as a city.”<\/p>\n

“Dine Out<\/i> gets better every year, and we\u2019ve now come to expect that each year\u2019s 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<\/i> encourages local chefs, restaurateurs and culinary leaders to take risks and think outside the pot. It\u2019s thanks to these passionate foodies that Vancouver is one of the world\u2019s most sought out culinary destinations.”<\/p>\n

Throughout the 17 days of the festival, diners were invited to cast votes for their favourite Dine Out<\/i> experiences. This year\u2019s festival all-stars are:<\/p>\n

Best $18 menu<\/b>: Bistro 101 \u2013 Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
\nBest $28 menu<\/b>: Seasons in the Park
\nBest $38 menu<\/b>: Five Sails \u2013 Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel<\/p>\n

Best B.C. VQA wine pairing<\/b>: The Observatory \u2013 Grouse Mountain
\nBest B.C. craft beer pairing<\/b>: Forage
\nBest dining experience<\/b>: Siena
\nBest service<\/b>: Federico\u2019s Supper Club (server: Earl MacDonald)<\/p>\n

New this year, the revamped Dine Out for a Year<\/i> contest encouraged diners to submit photos and videos<\/a> of their food-filled experiences via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with one daily winner receiving a restaurant gift certificate. At festival\u2019s end, Mr. Wing Hin Tse from Richmond was named grand prize winner and took home 52 gift certificates to some of Vancouver\u2019s top eateries.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to our winners! Stay tuned for Dine Out Vancouver Festival<\/i> 2015, taking place January 16 \u2013 February 1, 2015.<\/p>\n

*based on OpenTable reservations only. Note that only 56 percent of participating restaurants accepted OpenTable bookings, so this number is likely much higher.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

About Tourism Vancouver\u2019s Dine Out Vancouver Festival<\/i><\/b>:
\nProduced by Tourism Vancouver and presented by American Express, Dine Out Vancouver Festival<\/i> (January 16 \u2013 February 1, 2015) is a city-wide celebration of eating out, attracting tens of thousands of local and visiting foodies to Vancouver\u2019s exceptionally diverse collection of restaurants for 17 days. Celebrating its 13th year in 2015, Canada\u2019s 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<\/i> 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.\u00a0 dineoutvancouver.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Tourism Vancouver\u2019s focus is on building exceptional customer relationships with meeting planners, travel influencers, travel media and independent tourists.\u00a0 The organization\u2019s brand essence is about “exceeding expectations”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Facebook Page of Dine Out Vancouver Festival Vancouver, BC (March 19, 2014): Contributing an estimated $3.9 million to the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":4626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1481],"tags":[1199],"class_list":["post-4625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-comm","tag-dine-out-vancouver-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}