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
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 street festival that was held each day of the RNC outside of the Baird Center.
The fest featured roughly 100 vendors selling everything from cheese curds and vegan barbecue to dress shoes and bobbleheads. All items had to be screened by the Secret Service and loaded in days before the convention started, and each day, the vendors were shuttled to the convention site from American Family Field.
Overall, the week started off slow for most vendors due to Monday's high temperatures and the first official session keeping delegates inside the convention hall for much of the afternoon, but activity along the block of West Kilbourn Avenue picked up throughout the rest of the week.
In stopping by Convention Fest and speaking to several vendors at different points in the week, it seemed sales varied based on the type of product offered. With a limited amount of restaurants within the secure perimeter, many convention attendees and media stopped at one of the dozen food stands or trucks for lunch or dinner. Meanwhile, other products, such as shoes or skin products, were less of a necessity and therefore drew fewer customers.
But across the board, most vendors who spoke to BizTimes noted their appreciation for the national exposure Convention Fest brought to their Milwaukee-based brand -- and the opportunity to be part of a historic event for the city.
"It hasn't been as busy as we had hoped but it's been a really fun experience and just being a greater Milwaukee business, Wisconsin-based business, having all the interaction with volunteers from across the country, delegates from across the country, media coming in from across the country and just representing a really sweet piece of Milwaukee and Wisconsin," said Megan Maze of Wauwatosa-based Ultimate Confections.
Prior to plans for Convention Fest being announced earlier this year, Maze had stayed up to date with RNC-related news, attended every information session and connected with state delegations in hopes of getting the chocolatier a "piece of the pie," she said. Convention Fest turned out to be the right opportunity to sell its line of hand dipped chocolates and other desserts to a slew of potential new customers from all over the world.
In addition to its booth at the street festival, Ultimate Confections was hired by Visit Wauwatosa to make 4,000 custom chocolate bars to be included in goodie bags handed out to guests staying in Wauwatosa hotels.
For Glendale-based Solwerk, which sells a line of men's dress-casual footwear exclusively through its e-commerce site, being part of Convention Fest meant being face-to-face with the company's target market of men 35-65.
"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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