Celebrating Christmas with Allerhande

In recent months I had the opportunity to contribute to the preparation and execution of the Allerhande Christmas Festival. In this project I was responsible for the AGF stands, one for vegetables and one for fruit.

The fruit stand was a celebration of tropical colours, featuring bananas, pineapples, persimmons and much more. Visitors could taste pieces of tropical fruit, but also enjoy dishes such as pineapple carpaccio, fruit punch and stewed pears. The vegetable stand included a large demo kitchen where a variety of delicious vegetable dishes were served, such as beetroot soup, roasted pumpkin and Peruvian potatoes. All these recipes were also featured in the December edition of the Allerhande magazine.

The strength of the festival lies in the fact that the stands are staffed by suppliers of Albert Heijn. They know everything about the products being showcased, meaning visitors could directly ask questions about fish, bread, fruit or vegetables. Recipe cards were also very popular. Upon arrival, visitors received a ring binder to collect recipes, which was widely used throughout the event.

What I personally enjoyed most was seeing everything that goes into organizing an event of this scale: the build-up plans for the stands, the logistics to ensure everything arrives at the right place on time, the marketing of the event (which sold out very quickly), and the on-site coordination of workshops with well-known chefs.

It was a demanding project, but the satisfaction is huge when visitors, suppliers and the client all leave extremely satisfied.

Curious to see more? Here is a short impression of the festival.