Little Loaf on Tour

I went to school for music and music business, and after graduation ended up working as an account manager at Sonicbids (an electronic press kit site for bands) and then as an event manager for Pandora (fave job ever). Both jobs required that I learn the ins and outs of festival season. The hours are long, the weather is unpredictable, and traffic is always a mess. But, it’s always a blast. 

So, it’s a fun full-circle moment that I’m now planning Little Loaf’s summer tour, applying to a number of vegan-centric festivals in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

We’ve really found our sweet spot when it comes to food festivals. But, we had to learn what wasn’t quite right for us first. Namely: big vegan events in NYC. 

There is an inherent allure of events like Vegandale on Randall’s Island (essentially the Coachella of Vegan Food & crafts) and the Vegan Night Market in Central Park. We did those two last year, and in the wise words of Alanis Morrisette, “You Live, You Learn.” Both of those events ended up being 24-hour days for me and Colleen, the weather was brutal, and while the customer interactions were great, folks in NYC have options for vegan pastries and won’t necessarily be driven to, well, drive upstate to see us. And even with the sales, the booth fee, Uhaul rental, gas, additional payroll, and physical exhaustion just weren’t worth it.

However, smaller, more community-centric vegan events and festivals in New England and upstate New York are the perfect fit for us. I’m not sure if it’s New England and the Hudson Valley have a similar vibe, if it’s because the vegan and queer communities are so connected across this region, but people come out specifically to see us, which blew us away the first time we experienced that at the Vegan Market in Somerville last December. We thought it was going to be a chill event—1K FB RSVPs for a free event, maybe 600 people would show up, and maybe 300 of them would want pastries from us—which was entirely wrong. We were slammed and sold out in two hours! The organizers ended up having to make two lines to get into the building—one for general entry, and one to hit Little Loaf first. Wild! We experienced the same thing at RI VegFest, which resulted in our busiest weekend ever. And in February, the slowest month for bakery sales!

So, this year we are being super strategic about our events—focusing on Upstate New York and New England, branching for only one (potentially) in New Jersey. 

We’ll also be focusing on expanding our farmers markets, because those are basically weekly festivals in the summertime, and it allows us to extend our retail operations (better margins than wholesale) to where customers are—with minimal overhead (staffing, small booth fee). And, of course, doing events like Dutchess County Pride and New Paltz Pride.