The Manchester Food and Drink Festival will take place this year from Thursday 16th - Monday 27th September. The event will once again be headline sponsored by food delivery platform Just Eat.
The Festival Hub will return in 2021, taking place in Cathedral Gardens and promising a magnificent celebration of the region’s food and drink and all the talented people that bring it to the table.
As always The Hub will be free to enter. In 2021 there will be a limited number of bookable tables available. For a reservation fee of £5, guests can guarantee a table and skip the queues. Advanced table bookings are now live and can be made here:
https://manchesterfoodanddrinkfestival.nutickets.com/tablereservation21
The Festival team are also thrilled to announce that the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards are back ‘in the flesh’ for 2021, and taking place at a brand new venue. The MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards will take place on Monday 27th September at Manchester Hall. The event promises to be the ‘hospitality homecoming’ event of the year as MFDF brings the industry together to celebrate and recognise the achievements and challenges of this extraordinary time. The 2021 award categories will be announced soon.
The Festival is open to the entire hospitality industry and this year it will
support the recovery of its dining and drinking economies, by showcasing and celebrating as many businesses as possible
Alexa Stratton-Powell, Festival Director commented:
“This year’s Festival is about celebration, reflection and recovery. It has been an extraordinarily difficult time for the hospitality industry, and so too for the Festival and all the events companies and professionals around the country. Postponing last year’s MFDF was a very difficult decision, but the right one. This year we'll come together to do what Manchester does best - support each other and our city. We want to create the most exciting Festival yet; celebrate as many of our hospitality businesses as possible and make sure everyone has a brilliant time enjoying the region’s amazing food and drink! We’re particularly excited to be announcing the MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards are back! They give everyone a chance to recognise the achievements of our unrivalled hospitality community. We will be back soon to announce the award categories, nominees and how to vote- giving everyone the chance to get behind their food heroes.”
Andrew Kenny, UK MD of Just Eat, said: “We’re delighted that the plans for MFDF have been finalised and we can share the good news. We are really looking forward to celebrating with our customers, our local restaurant partners and the whole of Manchester at MFDF this September.”
MFDF 2021 will be delivered in line with current event guidance. The Festival team will be monitoring the situation closely, as they continue to plan the event.
The new MFDF Planner is ready to download for 2021 - bringing the Festival to your fingertips like never before. App users will be able to browse the full festival programme, reserve tables at the Festival Hub and vote in the MFDF awards too. The app can be downloaded in the apple and android app stores by searching ‘Mcr Food and Drink Festival.’