Harbour Food Festival doubled direct ticket sales in one season

Harbour Food Festival sold general admission through a marketplace and everything else, from tasting sessions to a chef's table, through a second tool with its own checkout. Buyers who wanted both paid twice and the festival paid two sets of fees.

Early-bird waves were announced by email from a list exported the night before, and the team could not see which wave a buyer had come from.

All ticket types moved onto one Expola checkout: timed general admission, tasting sessions as add-ons offered at the moment of purchase, and the chef's table with a waitlist. Early-bird waves were scheduled in the ticketing settings and announced by automated campaigns to segments built from the previous edition.

The branded app carried the map, the schedule and push notifications for last-minute session releases. Reporting showed revenue by wave, by channel and by add-on for the first time.

Direct online ticket sales grew 2.1× in the first season on Expola. Add-ons offered at checkout added $72,000 of ticket revenue, and the festival saved around $19,000 in marketplace fees over the same period.

The chef's table sold out from the waitlist in under an hour when a second sitting was released, entirely by push notification.