Tracy Abel, Jenny Crews, and Adonis Middlecoff of Chicken Salad Chick were at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
People were allowed to play with their food at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival & Awards. Meaning, those attending the event moved around, laughed, and schmoozed while they sampled food from 16 food stations — and drank from 14 drink stations — at the event, which was held February 4th at The Kent.
It was the third year for the event since it changed formats in 2022, going from a sit-down dinner to a tasting format. “For years — I want to say 50 years — it was a banquet held in a hotel ballroom,” says Memphis Restaurant Association executive director Sally Fienup.
Phillip Ashley Rix at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Andrew Mason and Lauren Pfingstag at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Karina Bautista and Thomas Schaub at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Christopher Green at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Connor and Kelly Fox at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue) Hall Crawford and Jeffrey Goldberg at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Kyle Sklar and Tristan Farrow at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Aaron Binkowitz and Madison Erwin at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
The association changed the format for several reasons, Fienup says. “Number one, was a general trend in events pre-2020 where tastings became popular for fundraising events. People enjoyed a more casual atmosphere for events and eating.”
Covid was another reason. “We still wanted to have an event post-Covid, but everything changed in terms of people not wanting to be confined to sitting down for long periods of time. People wanted flexibility to come and go. And just our access to pricing and even rentals changed post-Covid.”
And, finally, Fienup says, “I think the Memphis Restaurant Association community was ready for a change in the format of their events because we were and always were interested in attracting members to our community who may or may not have been familiar with us.”
A crowd of 460 attended this year’s event. “This one, by far, was our most successful in terms of number of attendees and number of participants,” Fienup says. “I would say the restaurant industry felt stronger over the past year than it had in the past, which I think contributed to the restaurants and beverage vendors participating.”
Peter Parrino and Todai Malone at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Earl Brown, Curtis Mitchell II, Pierre Pige at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Kyle Crisler and Bailey Rhodes at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Reuben Skahill and Shelby Lewis at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Emily Aguillera and Juan Juarez at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)John Robinson and Catherine Sights at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Chris Ware, Deni and Patrick Reilly at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Jake Schorr at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Each year the Memphis Restaurant Associate gives out awards. This year’s honorees were Memphis Restaurateur of the Year: Marco Puerto, owner of Cocina Mexicana; Associate Member of the Year: A. J. Jones with Old Dominick Distillery; and Lifetime Achievement Award: the late Jennifer Biggs, who was food editor for The Daily Memphian.
Mike Miller is president of the Memphis Restaurant Association
Mike and Tonya Miller at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Carson Blackfan and Maggie Gibbons at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Joshua and Melody Smith at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Kat Bollheimer and Stone Pannell at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Alisha Cunningham, Norbert Mede, Lashanna Span at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Landon Stone and Adalya Armstrong at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ryan Marsh at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Donnie and Alexis Malone at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Jeff, Harry, and Kelcie Zepatos at the Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)Clint Van Court, Katie Jones, Clark Schifani, Kelly Brock at Memphis Restaurant Association Food Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue) We Saw You
Michael Donahue began his career in 1975 at the now-defunct Memphis Press-Scimitar and moved to The Commercial Appeal in 1984, where he wrote about food and dining, music, and covered social events until early 2017, when he joined Contemporary Media.
