Indy Pizza Fest founder responds to social media backlash, concerns over organization

INDIANAPOLIS - Indy foodies are calling out a pizza festival they say was half-baked.




Social media is full of posts and comments that the first-ever Indianapolis Pizza Festival wasn't prepared to feed the number of people it sold tickets to. Meanwhile, its founder says the complaints are just a slice of the full story.




"I feel like the lines are super long and they're giving out little pieces," said Marcela Verduzco in a video posted to TikTok.




Pizza lovers began airing their grievances online before Pizza Fest even ended. The sold-out event was scheduled for noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, but 3,200 of the roughly 4,000 ticket holders showed up within the first hour and a half.




"That was not expected," said Tommy Barrett's the festival's founder and an Indy-based TikTok food critic. "We thought it would be staggered, or just through the day people would come and go."




Barrett says he spearheaded the festival on a mission to promote locally-owned restaurants, and he stands by it.




"The misconception is that there was no water, there was no pizza, that it was just a terrible time," Barret said. "People had fun. It was just that, if you came when everybody else came and you felt like you couldn't get around, you probably wouldn't want to stand out there when you're hot and hungry. I get it, I really do."




Attendees raised concerns over a couple vendors running out of pizza and a lack of space, with only the south half of Monument Circle rented out.




"You do events like this for it to be successful, but I don't know if they were prepared for the success," said Amp Harris, president of Amp Harris Productions.




Amp Harris has years of experience organizing large-scale events around the City of Indianapolis under his belt. He says the turnout makes it clear there's a demand for this kind of event, so it's important to learn from what went wrong.




"I just don't put it on the promoter," Harris said. "I also have to go to the people who sold the space to the promoter. What were the rules that this promoter had to abide by? Who is protecting the consumer when they come to this festival?"




FOX59/CBS4 reached out to Downtown Indy Inc., which rents Monument Circle out to third parties. The organization indicated that, while they may help facilitate, renters are responsible for event operations and outcomes.




"I'm not going to put any blame on anybody," Barrett said. "It's my event, I coordinated it. I thought of the idea. I worked with people, obviously, but I'm not going to blame anybody. It's not what I'm here for."




Barrett says the original plan included 31 pizza vendors, five drink vendors and an additional drink stand with water, soda and merch, but about 10 pizza vendors backed out - some at the last minute.




He plans to bring Pizza Fest back next year with more space, a board, and other changes based on feedback he's received.




"It's not like I'm trying to take people's money, I'm not a scam," Barrett said. "I'm trying to help the city. I'm trying to grow it. I'm trying to create opportunity for businesses to showcase themselves and that's what we did."




Barrett estimates 18-20% of Pizza Fest's profits will be donated to United Way of Central Indiana.





via: https://fox59.com/news/indy-pizza-fest-founder-responds-to-social-media-backlash-concerns-over-organization/