Eat Real Fest: By the Numbers
The second annual “Eat Real Festival” at Jack London Square is in the books. And while we can’t wait to go play with the organization’s newly launched iPhone app ($2.99), which helps diners eat local all year round, we thought we’d take some time to digest some statistics from the three-day feeding frenzy. What’s required to pull off a powwow of 90 food vendors, 23 breweries, 15 local vineyards, scores of DIY urban homesteading demos, butchering showdowns and a whole mess of Phish-style jam bands on the waterfront? For starters, 500 volunteers, working a total of 5,000 hours. For more stats, consider these:
Number of people who attended the event: 110,000
Number of bicycles parked each day by the East Bay Bike Coalition: over 600 (reaching capacity each day)
Approximate amount of sales revenues generated at the three-day event between vendors, beverages retailers and other merchandise (entrance was free): $700,000
Number of pounds of beef cut by three two-man teams of butchers on Saturday: 550
Number of pounds of meat cut by two butchers for the pig butchery demo on Sunday: 215
Number of pounds of said butchered beef and pork sold for commercial consumption that day: 0 (Because of USDA slaughter rules, it could not be sold for commercial or retail use. All of the butchered meat was used for demos, or distributed to team members.)
Average wait time at a food truck: 10 minutes
Most sought-after vendor: Chairman Bao, which served 4,000 baos on Saturday and whose wait times were close to 30 minutes.
Number of porchetta sandwiches sold by RoliRoti on Sunday in three hours: 3,750
Popularity according to the longest lines: Chairman Bao, Sam’s Chowder, RoliRoti, Gerard’s Paella, Senor Sisig, Hapa SF, Kara’s Cupcakes
Number of people who participated in the “Great Butter Shakedown”: 350
Number of people who cut up over 40 pounds of cabbage and carrots cut up to make a communal batch of sauerkraut that they brined and jarred together to take home: 70
Number of kombucha mothers given away by local kombucha producers Dara Merin of Sage Table and Jessica Prentice of Three Stone Hearth so that people can start their own batch right away: 50
Number of participants who made their own bitters (from fruit, spice and brandy) with Greg Lindgren of Rye: 50
Number of sourdough starters given away by Danny Gabriner of Sour Flour so that people could make their own SF-style loaves: 50
Number of pieces of newspaper and packets of millet local mushroom purveyor Far West Fungi used to demonstrate how to grow your own mushrooms at home: 40
Perhaps some of the brightest statistics come from the least glamorous end of the weekend affair: organizers report that of the four dumpsters filled from the weekend’s aftermath, two were filled with recycling, two filled with compacted compost and only one filled with garbage headed for the landfill.
– Meesha Halm
Copyright Zagat










Leave your response!