Asialicious Food Festival Successfully Launches to Great Support From Public
Business, confidence restored as community demonstrates “heartwarming” support for crisis-stricken GTA restaurants.
- (1888PressRelease) February 22, 2020 - The Asialicious Asian Restaurant Food Festival successfully launched last Friday with a strong outpouring of support, restoring public confidence to a restaurant industry harshly impacted by coronavirus outbreak-related fears.
Local restaurants participating in the two-week-long festival, which had previously suffered from a sharp decline in business, were suddenly filled with diners over the holiday weekend.
Chinese Cuisine & Hospitality Association of Canada (CCHAC) President Catherine Hou said the public response to the festival was “heartwarming” and “beyond our expectations.”
“As soon as we launched, we received tremendous support from so many people,” said Hou, saying she received many positive phone calls and emails in support of the festival.
“It makes me proud to be a Canadian.”
Hou said one participating restaurant experienced $20,000 in one-day sales as a result of the Asian-themed restaurant festival. Another, a small-scale restaurant sized under 3,000 square feet, had made some $15,000 in sales at the start of the festival on February 14.
In addition to many dine-in customers, the public showed strong support for the festival on the Internet. Online delivery platforms like FoodHwy reported a significant increase in online orders, specifically saying they received twice as many delivery orders than on average.
Politicians from all levels of government have shown their support for the Asialicious food festival by making appearances at Asian-themed restaurants.
Asialicious-appearing dignitaries include Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng, MP for Scarborough–Agincourt Jean Yip, and Mayor of Markham Frank Scarpitti.
Mayor of Mississauga Bonnie Crombie is scheduled to make an Asialicious appearance on Wednesday. As well, online food influencers and industry experts will take part in upcoming festival tastings.
CTV News reported that Wuhan Noodle 1950 manager Zhengyu Fang was pleased by the overwhelming response.
"I'm happy, the community is really good and so many people have come to support us," said Fang. "It gives me confidence.”
The official Asialicious website has received some 110,000 unique visitors within the first 4 days of the festival, accumulating for a total 200,000 hits. Meanwhile, Asialicious has gathered some 96,000 impressions on Instagram.
Asialicious is a celebration of Asian food and culture that offers festival goers exclusive promotions and contests.
Every Asialicious restaurant is represented by a signature dish offered to the public at a discount or as part of its promotions. Not only that, Asialicious also offers a loyalty program stacked with three tiers of rewards:
Asialicious Master: Customers that collect 5 stamps will receive a gift card worth $25 from participating restaurants
Asialicious Hero: Customers that collect 10 stamps will receive a gift card worth $100 from participating restaurants
Asialicious Super Gourmand: Customers that collect 14 stamps will receive a mystery prize worth $500+ and an invitation to the festival after party
Complementing the loyalty program is the festival’s food photo contest. To enter, entrants post photos of their food online to social media with the hashtag #asialiciousfest. The top 10 photos will win a $100 gift card from participating restaurants.
The Asialicious Asian Restaurant Food Festival puts the focus on local Asian restaurants and allows the public to experience them at their very best. It was launched with the purpose of encouraging diners to return after coronavirus outbreak-related misunderstandings caused a severe drop in business.
Despite the outpouring of support, Hou warns it may be too early to confirm if business has returned to normal for the Asian-themed restaurant industry, and called for more supporting initiatives such as Asialicious.
The Asialicious Asian Restaurant Food Festival is hosted and organized by the Chinese Cuisine & Hospitality Association of Canada (CCHAC).
Asialicious ends on February 28. For more information, go to Asialiciousfest.com or use the hashtag #asialiciousfest.
Chinese Cuisine & Hospitality Association of Canada
Chinese Cuisine & Hospitality Association of Canada (CCHAC) is committed to food and culture communications between China and Canada. We cooperate with stakeholders to advocate and develop Chinese food culture overseas and stimulate food industry development. We are a not-for-profit organization voluntarily formed by individuals and groups in hospitality-related industries.
###
space
space
Satisfied Users & 
Approved Press Releases
Print
Email
Report Spam