The festival fringe
Alongside the Main Event, Eat Cambridge ran a fringe: a fortnight of smaller events hosted by independent businesses in their own premises. Supper clubs, tastings, workshops, talks and demonstrations, each organised by the venue, not by the festival.
The fringe is the part of the model most worth understanding. It cost the organisers almost nothing to run, it put the programme in the hands of the businesses themselves, and it spread the festival across the whole city instead of concentrating it on one site.
It also meant the festival's size was set by how many businesses wanted to take part, which is a healthier constraint than a budget.
A record of the fortnight around the main day, hosted by businesses rather than by the festival.