From slashing prices to getting public support, how some GVF2023 vendors are selling off excess food following event cancellation

KUALA LUMPUR, August 1 — Some local food vendors from the Good Vibes Festival 2023 (GVF2023) are still clearing up their excess food stock following the cancellation of the event.

The remaining two days of the three days music festival in Sepang which was cancelled recently left these vendors to find ways to clear their stock which were prepared for the whole weekend.

GVF2023 which started on July 21 (Friday) was cut short following the controversial behaviour of The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy with the cancellation being announced around noon the next day.

For local fried chicken vendor, Nomms Fried Chicken, they had to throw away close to 400 pieces of chicken as well as approximately 200 kilograms of rice which was already cooked for the second day of the event.

Nomms Fried Chicken’s manager, Gabriel, told Malay Mail that although having to throw away their second day’s stock, they were fortunate enough to manage to sell off their third day portions on Sunday.

This is due to the support from the public who came flooding to both of their stores in Kota Kemuning and SS15, Subang Jaya.

“The support from the public was really warm and touching, everyone came out to support us. They also helped to spread the message in neighbourhood groups.

“Fortunately we were able to sell off all the food on Sunday. Even though we sold them at a slight loss, all we wanted was to reduce food wastage and our losses,” he said.

He added that they spent over RM20,000 in food cost and logistics which included rental, equipment, cold trucks as well as their workers’ salaries and allowances.

The crew members of A Pie Thing during the Good Vibes Festival 2023 on July 21, 2023. — Picture courtesy of Alex Yeo

Damansara-based pie seller, A Pie Thing spent between RM15,000 and RM20,000 in preparation for the event and they still have around 2,000 portions of food left unsold.

Co-owner Alex Yeo said that they have been doing bundle set promotions of their pies in an effort to clear up their excess stock.

They too have been receiving warm support from the public in getting help to sell off the excess food.

“One memorable incident was a customer simply offering to transfer a lump sum of RM300 to us, and told us to offer the pies to anyone who may need or want them.

“We chose to pay it forward and give the pies to a children’s shelter home. After posting about this on our social media, we have had a few other customers who stepped up offering to do the same,” Yeo said.

Yeo added that the support they’ve been receiving included shout-outs via social media as well as people offering a pop-up space for them to sell their food.

However, opening up booths is not a viable option for Yeo as they’re lacking in resources and manpower to cater to such events in such a short time.

For mantou vendor, Mor’mantau, they have been selling their excess mantaus by opening up booths at a few local events which were offered to them for free following their predicament

Mor’mantau’s co-founder, Paul said that their friends and families have been their greatest supporters during this challenging period.

He added one of his friends and business partners, Deepak Gill, who’s one of the owners of local restaurant Locker and Loft had also offered to add their mantous as part of their menu at the restaurant for the time being.

“Obviously they were badly affected because they managed to make just a day’s sale. Plus the day they operated was during the slowest day which was on Friday.

“So, we have to help them out by selling their food,” Deepak said.

Mor’mantau spent around RM25,000 to RM30,000 in food cost and logistics and the slightly high costing price is due to their ingredients for their menu which included beef rendang and smoked duck.

They still have around 5,000 pieces of buns left unsold.

Despite the last minute cancellation of GVF2023 and its outcome, all three vendors are still optimistic in joining future Good Vibes Festival events.

“In the spirit of festivals, I really hope Malaysia returns back from this nightmare. I hope we can come back stronger and yes, we will definitely join (GVF) again,” Paul said.

Gabriel, who has been a vendor at GVF since 2018 said that he still had faith in the organiser and the festival and sees this cancellation as an isolated event.

“We believe in the organisers and the festival, it’s a great platform to promote our business and also to share love through food and music,” he said.

As for Yeo, he has been content with the organiser in terms of their management of vendors throughout the years and will be joining future GVF events.

“To be fair, we have supported this event since 2016 and we think the organisers have been great from the start in terms of managing all aspects of the event from the vendors to the artists

“The good name and popularity of GVF prior to this incident can testify to this. Furthermore, to us, we feel like there is this big unresolved chapter we would like to properly close,” Alex said.

Aside from that, in an effort to help ease the burden of GVF vendors, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil invited several affected vendors to open stalls at the Selangor edition of the Kembara Riuh for free last weekend.

Kembara Riuh is a carnival initiative led by the ministry through MyCreative Ventures Group and they will be touring to Penang this August 4-5 for the Penang Kembara Riuh as well.