CINCINNATI — Mark Acosta never imagined he’d be serving from his own food truck at Asian Food Fest.
Parked just behind Court Street, his family’s black Lasang Pinoy Filipino Eats trailer served hundreds.
“The last couple years, we've been eventgoers. My wife and I are like, 'man, one day, I hope we have our own place.' To actually be a vendor at this event. I mean, it's just dreams became reality,” he said, as his family served up pork egg rolls and adobo chicken in the background.
The business, which opened less than a year ago, has relied on word of mouth to get bookings. Attending a big festival like Asian Food Fest provides a platform to get in front of consumers who might be willing to book the truck in the coming year, he said.
Lam Dang with Asianati said businesses see immediate impact over the course of the weekend, as a typical vendor can see revenue of $15,000 to $20,000.
“That's a massive deal for them during the weekend, especially because most of them are mom-and-pop shops,” Dang said.
Mom-and-pop businesses like Nou Street Food, which returned to the festival with its flying pork belly dish for a second year.
“We don’t have a place. We just only do weekend events and restaurants,” said owner Nathan Vue, adding that the truck got several more follows after last year’s festival.
Mansi Patel and her sister-in-law started Chuckee’s Homemade Ice Cream last year.
“We're just excited to get our name out there… We haven't been able to do any events like this,” Patel said.
The business is based in Dayton. The festival means debuting in a new market.
“It's just nice to have people know our name and then whether or not they make it, hopefully, out to Dayton, to come try our ice cream,” Patel said.
Nearly 100,000 people attended last year’s festival, meaning there are 100,000 first bites to make a first impression.
The goal is to “uplift the Asian community and uplift the restaurants as well and the businesses,” Lam said.
The festival takes place at Court Street Plaza through Sunday at 8 p.m. Click here for more information.
