a21’s Post

Just over one week ago, we wrapped on our fourth year as producers of the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, a four-day spectacle consisting of an Intimate Dinner Series and three themed days of walk-around Tasting Tents. Our team of over 20 event operations, marketing, sales, brand engagement, and partnership members worked from dusk til (well-past) dawn to ensure another year of success.  In one weekend, we saw… - Over 9,500 festival attendees - 4 Intimate Dinners & Brunches, featuring big names like Scott Conant & Kardea Brown - 40+ chefs serving up over 240K portions of their best bites - 7 chef demonstrations on the Publix stage - 60+ partners, including Infiniti and Goya Foods - Nearly 100K organic social impressions  - And so much more Thanks to everyone involved in another successful year of the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year.

Earlier this month, New York City’s Pier 36 saw the Art on Paper fair return for its 10th year. Within its 70,000 square-foot space, more than just paper-based artwork was showcased; live printmaking workshops were held, flamenco dancers graced the showroom floor, and a lineup of books brought an interactive touch portion to the overall festival. Our very own Kelly Freeman, fair director and head of our AMP division, contributed to two major art publications reviewing & recapping the event. Read what she had to add below in Hyperallergic and The Art Newspaper. https://lnkd.in/ePa8J5vf https://lnkd.in/ePDfArzH

From one city to the next, our Heritage Fire tour is an ode to locals, following a consistent format that brings together chefs, farmers, sommeliers, distillers, brewers, and barkeeps to serve up an unforgettable culinary experience. The same was true for our inaugural Heritage Fire stop in Louisville, featured in this BizBash article highlighting our approach and the essence of the tour. Read more below. https://lnkd.in/efiK8rpT

Cheers to our latest successful build for Pernod Ricard's Código Tequila by our Brand Engagement team! We proudly planned, designed, and executed Código Tequila’s debut in travel retail at two of the busiest airports in the U.S.—New York’s JFK and Las Vegas’ Harry Reid. These high-impact builds resulted in thousands of daily impressions, strategically reaching travelers and boosting brand visibility. The success of these installations has not only exceeded expectations but has also influenced Código's overall brand image moving forward. A huge shoutout to our talented team for bringing this vision to life! If you're in Las Vegas now through September 14th, you can even check it out yourself.

Led by our talented Culinary Operations, Partnership & Partnership Fulfillment teams, the Martha's Vineyard Food & Wine Festival was a huge success in its 2nd year under a21 management.    Guests indulged in intimate dinners & spectacular wines, shucked oysters on the water, and tasted the best bites the Northeast has to offer. We can't wait for year number 3!

“I have attended several A21 events so I know the level in which [Friedman’s] team executes. A21 events always have a mixture of activities but more importantly a diversity of people. Perhaps it’s A21’s demographics of the staff, including the leadership team. Or perhaps it’s the geographic locations of the events. After speaking with Brett Friedman, it’s his overall strategy.” A deep commitment to people represents the core component to putting on any & all of our live experiences as a company. For us, people are those we partner with, like The Roots Fund and the Pebble Beach Company Foundation, who bring meaning to our ventures. People we honor as talent, like Maneet Chauhan, Keith Corbin and Etinosa Emokpae, who sprinkle in flavor in more ways than one. People on our own roster, like Nathalie Marie Raime, Myah Holmquist, & Victoria Garofalo, who bring visions to life. To be recognized for this feat at Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival by Forbes is a distinction we’ve only dreamed of achieving. In its revival this past April, PBFW saw groundbreaking, authentic inclusions of purveyors, partners, and projects from various origins, all of which made the festival’s comeback all the more special, all the more revered, all the more monumental. Thank you Noel Burgess (Noël B.) for this gem of a feature that we’ll now wear like a badge of honor and hold as a barometer of success for which to surpass in all our future endeavors. And, finally, a very special thank you to our very special internal team who makes it all happen, year after year, event after event.  See you next year, California. Read more about the Forbes feature here: https://lnkd.in/eBMTJSPu