Vendor Guidelines
WELCOME AND HELLO BVM FRIENDS...
Thanks so very much for being involved with the Big Vegan Market! We’re so happy to have you on board and look forward to having a very busy and fun market. To ensure we have the best possible market we have constructed a guide with various requirements and suggestions for you to go over, for you to understand what is required of you when attending the Big Vegan Market and for you to best prepare and ensure you have everything you need on the day.
First and foremost, when attending the Big Vegan Market, all products must be vegan. Whether you’re selling food, drinks, alcohol, craft, fashion, skincare, some kind of service, etc, etc, etc it MUST be vegan. NO leather, gelatine, honey, dairy, milk powder, wool, feathers etc. No offering honey as an option in drinks, NO offering "normal" milk as an option. NO animal products whatsoever.
As this is a market with vendors selling their wares, we kindly request that you do not just give away your product. If you are promoting your business you can certainly offer deals and discounts and so forth, but we want to keep a friendly and somewhat even playing field for those selling their wares. For example, if someone relies on selling their chocolate mylk over the weekend to make a living, and you are giving it away, it might become a bit hard for them. Therefore you are required to primarily sell your products.
Letting People Know About The BVM
Media and marketing is an important aspect to this event. We look to attract a wide range of people; vegans and interested non-vegans alike to come through the doors and see all the amazing things on offer and therefore we look to advertise far and wide. Melbourne Vegan Eats will be conducting specific and targeted advertising for this event through a variety of press, cross promotion and social media channels. We also see you promoting your appearance and the event itself through all your social media channels as beneficial to both you and us.
How we will be promoting the event
- Through paid advertisements on our own social media channels, particularly Instagram and Facebook. We will do regular posts about the markets including introducing vendors attending the markets and their products, specials that will be on at the markets, shots of the venue and the space, accessibility, etc.
- Street and shop advertising including extensive postering and flyering in high traffic, relevant locations.
- Spreading the word through local publications
- We are approaching several possible sponsors that can share the event on their social presence
- We believe that branding and graphic design are a very important part of conveying the image and the message of the markets. We want to convey to vendors and attendees a like that we will be hosting a fun and classy markets which people will want to attend, therefore we are putting a great amount of attention to detail into the artwork and overall look of the markets.
We will be rolling out a strong media campaign (media release, social media and street canvassing) for the Big Vegan Market providing you vend at the market, your help in spreading the word and letting everyone know about the event is crucial. Posting about the event through your social media channels really helps spread the word, entices your followers to come and try your products and add to the great vibe of the day.
Making social media posts about the event, once with a picture of the awesome food/craft/textiles you’ll be selling on the day and a post of the event poster with events details will assist in getting the crowd engaged in your products and the event. We will email you through the event poster sized for Instagram and Facebook posts.
This year’s events will be general entry and the entry fee will be $7 with children under 12 being free. Vending staff have free entry, you just have to let us know on the door.
We will have craft stations set up throughout the market for the littlest vegans to enjoy on the day.
The Venue
The Royal Exhibition Building is a world heritage listed site, completed in 1880. It received restoration throughout the 1990s and in 2004 became the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, being one of the last remaining major 19th-century exhibition buildings in the world. Because of this and the many other beautiful features of the building, special restrictions apply.
We are VERY lucky to be hosting a major VEGAN event at the REB, so adhering to the restrictions is of paramount importance!
Use of Gas and Open Flame
It is a STRICT guideline from the Royal Exhibition Building that there is to be ABSOLUTELY NO gas cooking or open flames in the building. There is NO compromise on this policy and you will be asked to leave IMMEDIATELY if you setup and attempt to use gas or an open flame.
Any Vendors who need Gas or open flame cooking, will be set up in our outdoor food court.
Protective Matting
As part of the Royal Exhibition Building Guidelines, ALL food vendors must put down a non-porous protective flooring covering their ENTIRE space.
Fixing/taping items to floors and walls
If you need to affix or tape down matting, flooring, posters, signs or anything else on your stall, the only method you can use to do this is TENACIOUS tape. THIS IS A REQUIREMENT OF THE REB. Tenacious tape can be purchased from Schaffer Tapes, contact on (03) 9580 5573. You cannot affix items to floors, walls, ceilings of the Royal Exhibition Building using duct tape, gaff tape, blu tac or other forms of adhesives or nails etc.
Floor marks, chips and scratches
Before and after every Big Vegan Market, a thorough inspection of the ground floor on the Royal Exhibition Building is undertaken. After the 2019 event we were charged close to $1500 for damage to the building, mostly from floor scratches and chips in pillars. If it is found that you have caused damage to the building, we reserve the right to pass any costs of repair on to you.
Please look after your allocated space in the beautiful building we are so very lucky to be using!
Royal Exhibition Building Induction
The Royal Exhibition Building requires everyone to complete the vendor induction to vend at the site. It is a short process (about 10-15 minutes) to ensure everyone is across the safety requirements and facilities of the buildings. Please complete the induction and be able to show that you have completed this (either email confirmation or print out)
Please follow the link here
Floorplan
We carefully curate the floor plan of the market and try to place vendors so that there is not the same vendor type next to one another and create a theme or flow throughout the market. This is quite time consuming for us and something we try really hard to get right. With vendors coming on late, pulling out and other changes being made, we do not release the floor plan until a week or so before the markets. While we might not be able to provide you with a specific location, if you need to know where you are located in the general vicinity of the building for planning please get in touch with us and we can help you out the best we can.
Your Space
Allocation
Standard sized spaces for businesses vending at the BVM are 2m x 2m and 3m x 3m, or as selected in the application form. If you require a different space or setup i.e. you wish to bring along a van, trailer or other contraption with unique sizing, arrangement please contact us with your space requirements. If you simply turn up on the day with a structure larger than your allocated space you will either be charged extra or you may be turned away from vending.
Marquees
If you would like to use a marquee at the 2024 Big Vegan Market, please be aware that as part of the Royal Exhibition Building requirements, you MUST have a smoke detector fitted inside your marquee. This is because your marquee is counted as a structure and therefore must have a smoke detector fitted. If you do not supply a smoke detector you cannot use your marquee.
Space, Decoration and Fit out
Because every vendor likes to decorate their stall differently, each stall is a bare shell that is your space to decorate. As each vendor decorates the stall differently, there will be a divider at the back of your stall and there will be no side divider with your neighbor. If you have a corner stall, only one of back edges will feature picket fencing. This allows you to place trestle tables up side by side, or have a nice open space, or set it up however you choose.
Power
If you would like to have a powered stall space, you MUST check yes that you want power on your application form. We will plan out the floor plan based on who elects to have power and if you don't elect to have power then you won't be in a spot that can access power.
We'll send you out a form to provide all your power requirements prior to the event.
Cleanliness + Housekeeping
All vendors are to clean up after themselves and operate in a tidy manner. Rubbish and food waste including oil is to be taken from the site by vendors and disposed of thoughtfully.
If you have not tidied up properly, you will be asked to come back and tidy up your stall space before leaving.
Public Liability Insurance
To vend at the Big Vegan Market you are required to have public liability insurance. Please ensure you have the standard public liability insurance to cover you for operating your business at events.
Please submit proof of this to us when possible as this MUST be done before the event to be able to operate.
Use of EFTPOS/Cash
We will have numerous ATM’s on site (between 6-8) and we will also be advising attendees to bring cash and we suggest that in any social media posts you make about the event, you do too!
We also recommend the use of EFTPOS payment options such as SQUARE, PayPal and so on.
Food + Drink Vendors
Food trader (previously known as Street trader)
If you are selling food and/or drinks at our event, you must register with Food trader to vend at Big Vegan Market. Once registered with Food trader, you will need to notify the City of Melbourne that you will be vending at our event. The requirements of Food trader encompass standard health and safety procedures that need to be adhered to when vending at markets.
This info is available on the Food trader website (https://foodtrader.vic.gov.au) . If you haven’t already registered with Food trader, please get your application underway ASAP once your application has been approved please ensure you pass it onto us via email.
Sales of bottled water and soft drink
As the use of plastic water bottles is an ongoing concern for landfill, sales of water in plastic bottles at the Big Vegan Market is NOT allowed.
We will be communicating this with all attendees and providing a water station for drinking water.
Additionally, we request that there be no sale of cans of coke, pepsi, lift, and similar soft drinks as these will detract from the sales of more artisan/small business made products.
We really appreciate your understanding of this.
Refrigeration and Freezer Use
We will be providing limited communal refrigeration. Space allocation is limited so please advise if you will require storage of cold goods.
Alternatively if you will be providing your own, please let us know for power provisions.
Bump In
Bump in will take place Friday before the Market and will be staggered, based on where your stall is set up.
You will be advised of your allotted bump in time in due course.
You will be required to be wearing a hi-vis vest prior in order to enter the building during bump in. If you have them available please bring along hi-vis vests for yourself and your crew as it will greatly help us and speed up your entry to the building. If you don’t have any, we’ll have backups you can borrow but please ensure you return them at the end of each day.
Bump Out
As the event license only extends up until midnight Sunday of the event weekend, there is to be no bump-outs or pickups conducted on Monday or any day of the following week.
Due to OH&S requirements, you will need to wait until all attendees have exited the venue after the market has finished at 6pm Sunday of the markets to bump out, even if you have sold out of products.
Default / Not Attending
We understand that things happen and your circumstances may change and you are no longer able to attend the market. Full payment for your stall and associated fees secures your spot at the market and therefore we have reserved your spot in the limited spaces held at the market. If you must pull out of the market please contact us soon as possible as refunds are based on time out from the markets. The refund structure is tiered as follows:
- Longer than a month out from the market dates a FULL refund can be issued minus a $100 admin fee.
- Within one month of the markets we can issue a refund that is 50% of the initial amount invoiced amount, then minus a $100 admin fee.
- Within 3 weeks of the markets we cannot issue a refund.
Attendee Access
Information to advise your social media followers how to get to the markets -
Tram
Trams 86 & 96 stop directly outside the Royal Exhibition Building
Train
Parliament Station is a short walk to the Royal Exhibition Building
Car
Parking is available at the Exhibition Building/Museum space but very limited. Parking is also available on nearby streets but also very limited.
Assisted Access
The Royal Exhibition Building is wheelchair access friendly.
Final Note
If you have any questions about the event, would like to do something special/different please get in touch to have a chat to us! We want you, along with the market goers to have a great experience and we’ll do our best to make this happen.