The Big Grill Festival Festival

TrustedApple

Was at this yesterday me and the lads got our tickets for 7 euros in thanks to living social.

Food was nice but very pricy I found I went to the Indian grill place small little name, 3 pices of chicken and small lamb suish 10 euros is a lot of money for something that is smaller then a kebeb LoL. This was fantastic to be fair I wonted a 2nd one but didn't wont to spend another 10 euros

Had a burger as well that wasint great at all it was quite tasteless.

Beer was great at it got the metelman porter and that was just so nice and fresh tasting and I had to get a 2nd one.

Ended up spending 42 euros including paying in on 3 beers, the kebeb, burger and 3 cookies. It was good but I would be in no rush to go back at them prices.

nxbyveromdwjpg

Went yesterday, good craic, bloody expensive and getting nothing for the 18 euro entrance fee is annoying but it was a good day out.

The hot chicken wing contest did not disappoint, 50% of the people gave up after just one wing, then one guys goggles filled with tears and another guy vomited. Excellent.

Did anyone catch what restaurant provided the wings? i'd like to do that challenge.

Creamy Goodness

Selah Old Type wrote: »

Went yesterday, good craic, bloody expensive and getting nothing for the 18 euro entrance fee is annoying but it was a good day out.

The hot chicken wing contest did not disappoint, 50% of the people gave up after just one wing, then one guys goggles filled with tears and another guy vomited. Excellent.

Did anyone catch what restaurant provided the wings? i'd like to do that challenge.

Probably these folks — http://www.wingit.ie

0gac3yjefb5sv7

Great day out, plenty of beers and burgers...will be there next year!

smallgarden

Does anyone want two free tickets for it today?

theavenger

smallgarden wrote: »

Does anyone want two free tickets for it today?

I'll take them if you still have.

smallgarden

theavenger wrote: »

I'll take them if you still have.

Yeah still have them. If you pm your email and ill send them on to you

theavenger

smallgarden wrote: »

Yeah still have them. If you pm your email and ill send them on to you

Thank you so much

Zaph

Just back from the Big Grill and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Admittedly we had tickets my wife won and we wouldn't have gone otherwise at €18 a head, which cannot in any way be justified by the organisers. Spent more today than we did at the Taste of Dublin, but unlike the Taste (for which we also had free tickets) we didn't feel ripped off in any way. The portions were a decent size and reasonably priced and there was plenty of room so the event wasn't squashed in on itself like Taste. It was also very family friendly, but the kids generally seemed well behaved and they certainly didn't bother us at all. The pints were a fiver, which was grand. Had a California Common from Franciscan Well, which I enjoyed. It's modelled on Anchor Steam but is slightly hoppier and it went really well with the barbecued food. Also had a Rascals pilsner which was OK, but nothing to write home about.

Only complaint I'd have about the festival is the music. There was a samba band there who were very good. For the first five minutes. Half an hour later they still hadn't managed to come up with a second tune and they were a bit annoying. They were replaced by a DJ who played decent enough music, but the Jameson tent quite close to the stage that we were sitting in front of decided to crank up their music and the two were basically competing with each other, which was a bit ridiculous. If we got free tickets again next year we'll definitely go, but there's no way we'd pay the prices they charge into it.

Lovely Bloke

Zaph wrote: »

€18 a head, which cannot in any way be justified by the organisers.

While I avoided the event myself because of the price of entry (as I did last year too), the organisers can definitely justify the price because people are clearly paying it.

Hippo

Enjoyable enough atmosphere but €18 entry is ridiculous. There was a suggestion beforehand (on the website?) that taster portions would be available so that at least you could sample a variety of food, but no-one seemed to be offering any. It meant that you had to buy a full portion, and I'm only capable of eating one full portion! Some of the food was very overpriced as well.

I'd say there's a good few unused 'smokins' in people's pockets this morning, especially if you were left with a small, difficult to spend amount. Must be a handy earner. DJ Yoda was good and as was said above, if people were paying the entrance fee then it can be justified on those grounds alone, but at those prices I won't be back, there's far better and cheaper food options all over Dublin.

schemingbohemia

I really enjoyed it, nice vibe. Only problem is I don't eat meat, but I was sure I heard in advance that some stalls would be doing fish, didn't find one! There were some veggie options though.

Was a lot bigger than I expected and was very nicely laid out, with some good tunes and plenty of places to sit and chill.

L1011

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

While I avoided the event myself because of the price of entry (as I did last year too), the organisers can definitely justify the price because people are clearly paying it.

If most are getting in on comps and living social deals it doesn't support the full price

Toto Wolfcastle

A lot of tickets were given away in competitions on various websites and on Twitter. I won a group ticket, so that's 6 people who avoided paying full price. Well, 4, because my husband and I wouldn't have gone without the free tickets but the other 4 would have paid full price.

I really enjoyed it though. I didn't feel ripped off like I did with Taste. The atmosphere was lovely. It was well laid out with plenty of seating. They had a decent selections of drinks. We had some really good food and the portions were decent.

I'd go again. I wouldn't pay €18 to get in, but I'll be entering the competitions again next year!

nxbyveromdwjpg

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

While I avoided the event myself because of the price of entry (as I did last year too), the organisers can definitely justify the price because people are clearly paying it.

They pay it but they resent it. I know I did/do.

I guess the profit outweighs the need to have happy and satisfied customers though.

Lovely Bloke

L1011 wrote: »

If most are getting in on comps and living social deals it doesn't support the full price

you are going to have to present evidence to show that MOST attendees are on free/comp tickets.

BeerNut

Selah Old Type wrote: »

I guess the profit outweighs the need to have happy and satisfied customers though.

If they didn't have happy and satisfied customers there wouldn't be any profit. Nobody is forced to go.

L1011

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

you are going to have to present evidence to show that MOST attendees are on free/comp tickets.

I said "if".

This thread doesn't seem to have many that paid 18 quid. Livingsocial were doing them for 7 I believe (so the organisers would be getting 3 to 4 quid from that).

nxbyveromdwjpg

L1011 wrote: »

I said "if".

This thread doesn't seem to have many that paid 18 quid. Livingsocial were doing them for 7 I believe (so the organisers would be getting 3 to 4 quid from that).

There were only deals for Thursday and Friday, which is a 10er anyway so the 7 euro was 3 euro off.

I don't think there was that many competitions either. Definitely not many for Saturday tickets.

Blut2

I'd wonder at that profit margin logic. Why do so many tickets through living social for 7e (when they then have to pay Livingsocial's % out of that), and give away so many free, when if they just priced them at say 8e direct from themselves they'd almost certainly sell out at that price. I guess they've probably done the maths on it and decided their way is better, but its a shame for the consumer.

BeerNut

Blut2 wrote: »

Why do so many tickets through living social for 7e (when they then have to pay Livingsocial's % out of that), and give away so many free, when if they just priced them at say 8e direct from themselves they'd almost certainly sell out at that price.

You get really good marketing via the deals sites: people see and buy the offer who wouldn't if you were doing it yourself. And on the Thursday and Friday at least I would say the gate receipts are far less important than token sales. They need to get people in to spend money, and deals sites are the best and cheapest way to do that.

nxbyveromdwjpg

Blut2 wrote: »

I'd wonder at that profit margin logic. Why do so many tickets through living social for 7e (when they then have to pay Livingsocial's % out of that), and give away so many free, when if they just priced them at say 8e direct from themselves they'd almost certainly sell out at that price. I guess they've probably done the maths on it and decided their way is better, but its a shame for the consumer.

They don't think they had loads of competitions. I was actively looking for them as soon as I saw the Saturday prices, there was maybe 5 or 6, let's say 10 and be generous and say there was 4 tickets given away in each.
So 40 tickets - ish? Maybe 50? Given the size of the event that's not a lot.

The living social route and the fake 'sold out' announcement they had on the Thursday (before putting tickets back on sale on Friday) are all methods to get people buying tickets in advance I guess.
All the living social deals had timers that ran out a few days in advance. The offer was basically to get €3 off for buying your ticket before knowing what the weather was going to be like.
They don't want people waiting until the day because if it's raining then they'll lose a ton of people.

Zaph

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

While I avoided the event myself because of the price of entry (as I did last year too), the organisers can definitely justify the price because people are clearly paying it.

I'd argue that getting away with charging €18 is not the same as being able to justify it. People clearly wanted to go, it's a good day out, but it's hard to see what you're getting for your €18 apart from a bit of music and some demonstrations when you then have to pay for everything inside. They didn't even have something as basic as a map or guide to hand people on the way in so you'd know what's there and where everything was. To me it's good old fashioned price gouging, simple as that.

testaccount123

Zaph wrote: »

I'd argue that getting away with charging €18 is not the same as being able to justify it.

Why do they have to "justify it"? If people will pay 18 quid in then thats what they will charge. They seem to have judged it perfectly as the place was busy all weekend.

Anyway, I ended up with free tickets for both Thursday & Friday, went on the Friday and really enjoyed it. A good few interesting beers on show (Rascals Chardonnay Saison and Kinnegars Kettle Sour stood out) as well as having some of my go-to's (Troubles Graffiti & Remix) for a reasonable price. Good chats with the brewers (who were happy to be turning a decent profit at a festival for once). The grub was great and again reasonably priced I thought.

Roll on next year.

smallgarden

I think it was more reasonably priced than the likes of taste. At least you could spend the whole day there rather than short time slots. There were plenty of competitions on twitter. I personally wouldn't pay full price for this or taste. I'd recommend alltech craft beer festival if you're interested in craft beers. They're really open to tasting as much as you want and do 1/4 and 1/2 pints too

BeerNut

Zaph wrote: »

it's good old fashioned price gouging

"Price gouging" = "I want this thing but don't want to pay what it costs".

Zaph

BeerNut wrote: »

"Price gouging" = "I want this thing but don't want to pay what it costs".

No, price gouging = I want this thing but we both know you're taking the p*ss.

BaZmO*

Selah Old Type wrote: »

The living social route and the fake 'sold out' announcement they had on the Thursday (before putting tickets back on sale on Friday) are all methods to get people buying tickets in advance I guess.

But does that not prove that going with Living Social is a good idea as they know how to promote/sell an event.

Selah Old Type wrote: »

All the living social deals had timers that ran out a few days in advance. The offer was basically to get €3 off for buying your ticket before knowing what the weather was going to be like.
They don't want people waiting until the day because if it's raining then they'll lose a ton of people.

Again, is that not showing how much of a risk putting an event like this is, hence the price. If they left it to a pay in at the door at a reduced price (or free), they'd be screwed if it rained which is ALWAYS a possibility in Ireland.


We always have this type of debate when it comes to events in Ireland, or when it comes to the cost of things. "Argghh, they're ripping us off!!" or "They're gouging us!" It's a pointless debate unless you're talking about a monopoly.

Zaph wrote: »

No, price gouging = I want this thing but we both know you're taking the p*ss.

How do you know they're taking the p1ss? Do you know what their costs are? How much profit (if they make any) is an acceptable amount for them to make in your eyes?

BeerNut

Zaph wrote: »

No, price gouging = I want this thing but we both know you're taking the p*ss.

Huh? How do you know? Without working out how much Big Grill costs to put on, how much it takes in, and agreeing what's a fair profit for the organisers to go away with, I don't see how you can judge. Your sole point of view on this seems to be "€18 is more than I want to pay in". What price wouldn't be gouging, and what's your calculation based on?

odyssey06

I went along through a corporate ticket. I would could not justify paying full price for a ticket but OH was able to pick one up online for 7e.
I think anyone paying full price for a ticket should at least get 5 tokens to spend.

I don't think the prices for items inside are a rip off, and 7e ticket to cover the costs of setting up the event in Herbert Park seems fair enough - although whatever they paid the music entertainers it was too much.

But I think the tokens thing is a bit of a racket. I understand there might be some tax benefits to the organisers in terms of unspent tokens. But I find it awkward because you end up spending less or more than you intended unless you want to queue up a lot at token booths.