Image by Cyn, the Food Pornographer, here
The Taste of Tasmania was once the pinnacle of Tasmanian events, a shining light at a time when Tasmania was desperately trying to find its mojo. Beyond a showcase of Tassie produce, it showed our potential as a food mecca and introduced our potential to those outside of the state.
Today, Hobart City Council loses almost a million dollars a year on the Taste. It is not the fault of the food vendors, or the public. It is the fault of council. So what went so terribly wrong?
The truth is, Tasmanians don’t look forward to the Taste the way they did. Value for money has gone south, buskers and entertainment have become ho-hum, and lines and seating are an unfixed problem. Right there are powerful clues as to why people are tiring of it.
This year’s numbers signal the end: applications for The Taste are down a whopping 40% from last year. There’s no surer sign that the event is in its death throes; more, it’s a wake-up call to council, a giant finger pointing directly at Council’s multiple failings …
Fact is, events are an expensive and risky game. They need to be driven by personalities who have a balance of courage and madness, a creative vision of what they want to achieve, the self-belief they can make it happen and the skills to solve many problems and issues simultaneously, quickly and creatively.
The key to a successful event is vision: This is not a word to describe Hobart City Council. And therein lies the problem. Councils are not dynamic, entrepreneurial organisations, and shouldn’t pretend to be otherwise. They should focus on providing basic services, because after all, that’s their role.
The Taste of Tasmania lost its way when Hobart City Council decided a facilitator role was not enough. Council, in its mind, would become the visionary, backed by a huge bucket of other people’s cash and the support of aldermen ready for any and every photo-op. And they geared up with a massive, highly-paid events department.
Curiously, councils around Australia at this time were moving in the opposite direction, a recognition that events are damn near impossible for bureaucrats to run efficiently. Those councils instead turned to facilitating specialists from the private sector to get the job done. And that approach continues to work . . . elsewhere.
Those councils have learned — most of them, the hard way — you can’t allow massive inefficiencies into your event operation, then simply push those extra costs onto the vendors. This might be a standard council response when costs rise: think rates and parking fees, but it won’t work with events.
Anybody in the events business will tell you that the full month council takes to set up The Taste – a month! – is twice what it should be. That’s double the venue costs, security, equipment hire and staff costs. It’s a whole month of policies and procedure meetings, safety briefings, onsite meetings, inductions, VIP tours for aldermen …
The multiple and multiplied costs have been dropped onto vendors, quicker than you can say, Not My Problem. For years, council has pushed The Taste vendors to breaking point financially, and with their latest effort, this year’s cashless payment system, added the final straw to break the camel’s back.
Council is now slugging the visitor. And they’ve done so, not in a responsible, transparent way like gold coin entry – or, dare I say it – an actual entry fee. No, the cashless payment system provides Council with a means to bite the visitor as well as the vendor, and do it via a 10% fee the vendor collects for them. It’s brilliant: hidden from view and all the work and blame falls at the vendors’ feet.
With 250,000-plus visitors to the Taste each year, vendors should be down at city hall, lining up and signing up. Instead, those remaining 70 or so small businesses, many of whom have spent years building their reputations — and building the event for council — have to give 10% less value for money.
It is the vendor who risk a backlash from the public, risk damaging their own brand as well as the brand we call Tasmania. And all to cover the backside of an inefficient council and its events department as it prepares to hang its hat on yet another failed event.
Under council’s watch, The Taste has gone from showcase, to food mall, from an opportunity for up-and-coming local talent to a massive risk, even for seasoned and experienced restaurateurs. It’s not driven by a love of quality food anymore, it’s driven by procedures and policies.
Gone already is any romantic ideal of showcasing our wonderful produce, winemakers and chefs. The Taste is not a real showcase of Tasmania anymore. The reason there is more fish and chips and curries at The Taste is because they’re cheap and quick to pump out large volumes. This means you can afford the fees, but has little to do with brand Tasmania.
Council claim The Taste benefits the state, but is that their job? It doesn’t take brilliance to activate the busiest area of Hobart at the busiest time of year. To do it poorly is something else again. Supporting an event of state significance is surely a state government role, but do they want to support an inefficient event run by bureaucrats? They know better than that.
The businesses in Salamanca would do fine without; in fact some argue that they would do even better without The Taste. The harbour is busy anyway. Indeed, North Hobart and New Town, South Hobart and Sandy Bay slow to a crawl as customers head to the waterfront. Why is council spending resident’s money on an already busy waterfront?
Let’s move on. The Taste has failed: events fail often. The problem now is continuing with it may be doing more damage than good. The question is what to do about it.
Hobart City Council has created a million-dollar monster and need to be shown a way to escape. Yet they can’t run from it: that would be to admit they’re wrong, and besides, the aldermen love to be associated with it. And they cannot run it, not efficiently: the bigger it gets, the more cumbersome it becomes. Even outsourcing is problematic, as Council is sure to make a mess of that and end up losing control.
The Council’s business model has failed. The Taste’s future is under a cloud, its benefit to the state questionable, even potentially damaging to the Tasmanian brand. The stallholders are questioning its value – that’s what a 40% drop in numbers means – and the public are bored with it.
The Taste has already failed. It has failed the food industry, it has failed the ratepayers and it has failed Tasmania.
The question is does the council, the Mayor and Aldermen have the courage to do what needs to be done?
NOTE: this article was submitted to us by someone who wishes to remain anonymous due to a fear of retribution by Council. It is a great read hence our publishing it.
• EMRS poll of voting intentions: Libs remain cock-a-hoop … read for yourself HERE
