Food Taste Fundraisers

Food taste fundraisers can be excellent fundraising events for your cause!

They're interesting, tasty, fun and can be very profitable!!!

They are also really great ice breakers/introducers for communities, especially for parents at schools!

But before we have a look at some food taste themes you could use, let us first look at how you will raise funds at these events...

Fundraising:

These are a few ideas that you could use to raise funds at your food tasting fundraiser.

Learn how to fundraise with a Food Taste Fundraiser... (Photo by Visitnola / Flickr)

There will be other ways that might work specifically for your group or cause so be creative and think carefully about how you can raise those extra funds on the evening!

Entrance (ticket) Fees - Obviously your first way of raising funds at your food taste fundraisers will be through entrance fees.

But if you use the idea below I would suggest not having a fee at all... or only charge a very small amount!
Ask for Donations! At all your different food tables have a donations box... and make a rule that if people want to taste the food on the table they must donate into the box first.

Emphasize the point that the event is a fundraising event and that you still have to cover costs before you can raise funds.

You'll find that people will give very generous donations (especially if the food is good) and that you'll raise a lot more than if you were asking for entry fees!

Another brilliant way of getting donations is by using Donation Scratch Cards which you can find on Fundraising.com.
Or another GREAT option instead of entrance fees could be to sell taste vouchers/tickets at the door that people can hand over at the tables when they want to taste a specific food.
Have a drinks bar – When people eat, they get thirsty. Have a drinks bar where people can buy cool drinks, beer, wine, etc.

A great fundraising product for this would be your Custom Water Bottles! A highly recommended product for event fundraising.
Have a Raffle Or Auction (or both) – Raffles are one of the most reliable methods of fundraising at any event and I would recommend you always use one.

Just make sure the prizes are really great and possibly relevant to the food being tasted. Also make sure a raffle sheet is put on every table!

An Auction can all also be very successful, especially if you have the right type of guests. Look into it.
Through Selling Other Fundraising Products - Like supporter T-shirts or other Fundraising Apparel.

Other options are your Fundraiser Bracelets, or Organization Calendars, Photo Books, or Cookbooks.

Cookies made from a Cookie Dough Fundraiser can be used as tasters on one of the tables!

For other fundraising product options grab your FREE fundraising guide.

And what about ways of lowering expenses during your food taste fundraisers...

Cost Saving:

Here are some ways of cutting down the cost of setting up your food taste fundraisers...

Sponsors - Get local businesses to sponsor your food costs. You can offer them advertisement at the food tables as an incentive!

Or what about...
Getting local restaurants and/or shops to sponsor their food dishes! (Plus other necessaries like bowles/plates etc.) It's a great way of getting food for tasting and also offering a way of marketing for the local restaurants...

Obviously you will want to find restaurants that will fit with the theme of the tasting event... Like curry dens for a curry tasting evening.

Also see if they would be interested in having one of their chefs stand at their respective tables and inform people about the food they are tasting!

Or maybe even consider having the event at a willing restaurant...
Find a free venue... Like maybe a willing restaurant. Or you could once again try and get a local business to sponsor your venue cost!

Obviously if you are a school or church you should be lucky enough to have your own hall to use.
Signage - You are going to use signs and/or banners to help people find their way around the tables. Try get these costs sponsored as well or look to get them done cheaply (without them looking tacky).

One Other Thing to Consider...

Have another attraction for people – If the evening or event is solely food tasting I would suggest that you add something else to keep people entertained.

Like maybe a short cooking lesson on some of the food tasted or a live band... Be creative about it and think carefully about what your attendees would really enjoy!

I would suggest that you also read the 'running fundraising events' page and grab a hold of the Instant Event Fundraising System for quality tips and ideas on holding fundraiser events!

Okay, let's now look at a few food taste fundraising ideas...

Food Taste Fundraisers:

When deciding on what type of foods you will have at your food tasting event, you should consider what would interest your supporters the most.

Be creative about it and think out of the box.

Don't just have ordinary foods that someone could go to a fast food parlour and buy...

Have exotic and rare foods; food that people haven't tasted before! (Obviously you will need to make sure you can access these foods too!)

Local Restaurant Dishes:

Obviously the first one to consider would be food dishes that local restaurants have. It will help when it comes to having food donated, and you should be able to find some very interesting tasters for people!

Most people don't try overly different foods when eating out... so now is the time!

Countries of the world:

This is one of the best food taste fundraisers and it works so well for schools!

Choose a variety of countries whose foods you will use and then have separate tables for each.

The helpers (School kids) at each table should dress up in their respective country's clothing! It's really fun for the kids!

You can add a few extra things like having music from these countries playing during the evening... or have the kids act out or talk about the customs of the countries they are representing!

Specific Food Cultures:

Like curries or oriental foods (You can have some real fun with curries). What about foods from Africa or South America.

There are just so many different food cultures you could aim your food tasting theme around... Just be imaginative.

One thing you must make sure you don't do is go too over the top... like by offering really gross or unethical foods. Always keep it within reason!

Some other themes would be... Pastas, vegetarian, worldwide rice dishes.

Biscuits, Snacks & Sweets:

This is another great one and you can have such a diverse selection with it! Obviously keep your different tables relevant...

Like for example have a biscuit and cheese table, a beef jerky (biltong) table and a sour sweets table etc.!

Smaller Food Tasters:

If you are holding your food taste fundraiser at another fundraising event you can go with a smaller theme or idea.

Like chocolate tasters or biscuit tasters. Use something that will catch people's attention!

A Spin Off Idea – Wine Tasting:

Another popular tasting event is wine tasting!

You should always be able to draw a good crowd to a wine tasting evening. Be sure to offer snacks as well and make sure you get all your wines sponsored!