While the Republican National Convention’s impact has fallen short of expectations for many bars and restaurants outside of the event’s secure perimeter — so much so that even The New York Times wrote about it — dozens of local businesses benefitted from being at the center of the action as vendors at Convention Fest, a
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"What's very nice is the people I've been approached by is very much in line with our clientele," said founder and president John Stollenwerk Jr. "It's interesting, as I've been walking around, you look at delegates or media or others involved, there's a lot of people dressing up. I haven't seen this many suits in a long time, and that's in our wheelhouse."
Stollenwerk brought inventory for people to try on, but instead of lugging a shoe box around, customers provide their home or business address and Solwerk ships their order, free of charge, directly from its warehouse.
"I had one guy who actually wanted to wear them so he gave me his old shoes to ship back," he said.
Muskego-based popcorn maker Pop's Kettle Corn has been able to leverage the Convention Fest opportunity to bolster is corporate gifting business. By Tuesday afternoon, Pop's had already secured three or four contacts of potential customers that were interested in ordering Pop's products in bulk as end-of-year gifts for clients or employees as a year's-end show, said owner Mark Knudsen.
"We ship nationwide, so it's one of those things where some people will find us and hopefully use us throughout the rest of the year," said Knudsen.
Sales this week have been "great" for Big E's, a Milwaukee-based mobile food vendor known for its smash burgers. Owner Eric Alums purchased a brand new mobile food trailer four months ago, in anticipation of increased visitors to the area during the RNC and to be apart of other area events, including most recently the Germantown fireworks on the Fourth of July and Summerfest.
"It's definitely paying off," said Alums.
Convention-goers that have patronized Big E's this week have told Alums that he serves "the best cheese curds, the best smash burgers, the best pickle fries, everything is good," he said.
When he heard about the opportunity to register for Convention Fest a few months ago, he already knew he was getting the food truck and was on his way to growing his brand, which started in 2021.
"I figured this would be the best way with people from all over the world come here to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and they get to try some of the food and when they get back home they're gonna tell their friends and the word keeps spreading. So that was the main reason right there, so people can see this logo right here."
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