From Jan. 19 to Feb. 11, Growing Chefs, an Ontario-registered charity based in London, is hosting the Londonlicious Festival. The Londonlicious Festival is a local food celebration highlighting the greatest locally grown goods and restaurants.

“Londonlicious’ relaunch aims to provide complete support to the local hospitality sector,” said Growing Chefs executive director Jennifer Wyant. “The local hospitality sector is still financially recovering and navigating an unprecedented rise in food and operational costs from a global pandemic.”

According to Wyant, Londonlicious allows new and returning guests to savour expertly selected prix-fixe menus while showcasing the city’s establishments.

“We do this considering a range of menu choices and price points that will satisfy patrons and participating establishments alike,” Wyant said.

Wyant said that they took ownership of the festival in late 2022.

“It used to be run as a for-profit festival. We have made some changes to it and run it as a not-for-profit. We lowered the fees considerably,” Wyant said. “We lowered approximately 50 per cent of the total cost for the restaurants to participate.”

According to Wyant, lowering the fees benefits both the customer and the restaurant.

“We are not looking to make money off of it. We are looking for marketing dollars and opportunities,” Wyant said.

Wyant said that when the restaurants sign up, they pay a fee. That fee goes entirely into their marketing budget.

She added that they want to highlight their relationships with local agriculture, suppliers and farmers.

“We have given the venues much more freedom about creating their menus,” Wyant said. “They used to be within a pretty tight budget, like $25 or $30.”

She said they have now asked the restaurants to make it more cost-effective for themselves. Wyant added that they want to support the whole Southwest Ontario corridor.

“We have a partnership with Bell Media,” Wyant said. “We have a local print sponsor. We did print material in the local Eatdrink Magazine.”

Wyant added that the restaurants offer a specific Londonlicious menu for a “curated three-course price.”

“We do have some exceptions to that rule where we have some takeout menu items in three for three-course format for whether it is a discount like a discounted price or something different, fresh and new specifically for the festival.”

Wyant said the objective is to grow the audience every year. She added that they have new vendors and restaurants joining every year.

“This event is to draw business to London,” Wyant said. “Eventually, we hope to get hotels on board. So, it is something that we are partnering with tours of London.”

Wyant said getting hotels to participate would help build local tourism, get more people, and “show how great of a city London is.”

“We have over 40 businesses participating this year,” Wyant said. “We generally want to get new people in the door to new venues to try new things to boost the economy of the hospitality sector.”

Wyant said they are expecting over 5,000 people.

“I believe we had over 4,000 last time,” Wyant said. “To have a more accurate number this year, we have asked restaurants to track how many people attend their establishments.”

Wyant reiterated that the festival is designed to support all unique in London, Ont. For a full list of the restaurants participating, visit londonlicious.ca.