The Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship organized its annual three-day spring tradition Wolffest from April 8 to April 10.
The food fest is part of WCE’s capstone project and the final step in completing a Bachelor of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship from the Center.
The students are divided into seven teams and each team gets a leader or a CEO. The money raised by these students from the fest is used towards scholarships and student activities.
The event makes its students act under real-life pressure and make decisions that help them think and become entrepreneurs.
“One of the main reasons why we do a food festival is because restaurants and events like these are one of the hardest things to run,” said CEO of team Backyard Wolves and entrepreneurship senior Erica Parkinson. “So if you could do this, you can open any business, this is as hard as it gets.”
New collaborations
WCE emphasizes how an event like this brings the community together and expresses the different cultures around the world.
Therefore, to emphasize the community aspect even more, the organization decided to do something different this year by partnering with the Southern Smoke Foundation.
20% of all the profits earned were donated to support other workers in the food and beverage industry.
“We actually went out to their (Southern Smoke Foundation) version of Wolffest out in Discovery Green this past year,” Parkinson said. “Then we decided we’re gonna partner and work together to make it a good collaboration, and get some more exposure to not just WCE, but also to Southern Smoke Foundation.”
Compared to last year, students suffered because of bad weather conditions. However, they were satisfied this year and sold out most of their items.
With each year, the event keeps evolving, offers better deals to attendees and even raises more money, according to WCE students.
Effect on small businesses
Another purpose of Wolffest is to help small food businesses and mom-and-pop style food vendors get exposure.
“A lot of these vendors are small businesses, we have them come out and do different deals with them,” said CEO of team H-Toon and marketing and entrepreneurship senior Daniel Sadegi. “It’s a great way to give them recognition and bring their brand to the students’ eyes.”
Sadegi also talked about DopeDawgz Hotdogs, a gourmet hotdog vendor, run by a UH student who’s on a gap year trying to expand his business.
Wolffest has become a stepping stone for such small businesses and helped them get even more involved on campus.
“I know Trill Burgers since they got involved with Wolffest and have opened their location in the TDECU stadium,” Sadegi said. “I don’t know if it’s completely because of the fest, but they now have a partnership with the University.”
Bernard Freeman, who popularly goes by Bun B, a legendary Houston-based rapper and co-founder of Trill Burgers also made an appearance at the event.
Reactions from attendees
The students of WCE managed to get over 50 food stalls. These ranged from different cuisines like Mexican and Asian, food items from savory to sweet to even drinks and frozen desserts. The fest also had barbecue items and firewood pizzas.
Attendees experienced not just small businesses, but even well-known brands like Wingstop, Tajin, Raising Cane’s, Shipley Do-Nuts and Monster Energy.
“I came here last year too and this year feels a lot better, I can see a lot more people this time,” said petroleum engineering sophomore Fahim Hilmi. “I feel like there’s a better range of food, better variety of choices.”
Some of the hit items among the students were the lemonades from Twisted Lemonade, crawfish from Crawfish Noodles, free sour strip candies from Sour Strips, candies from Tajin and matchas from Enso Matchas.
“Everyone seems to be enjoying,” Hilmi said. “The lines are so long, it’s like a two-hour long wait, especially for the matchas.”
Students enjoyed the food fest to its fullest and appreciated the importance of organizing such events even more.
Wolffest not only gave students a break from the everyday food items available on campus but also made their college experience stand out, said psychology junior Keymaura Gregory.
“It’s nice to see everybody hanging out with their friends on campus, especially since most people commute here,” said marketing junior Cynthia Ortega.
Hilmi and Ortega liked the fact that students could find food from almost all around the world, from different cultures.
“My favorite part is the community and different cultures coming together, and that everybody is supporting other students,” Gregory said.
Student feedback, scope for improvements
While Hilmi and Gregory both appreciated the event overall, they still felt the prices could’ve been a little cheaper considering this is still college. Spending $15-20 for a single meal shocked Hilmi a little.
However, pricing was subjective from vendor to vendor. Some students felt the price was justified and were satisfied with their purchase.
“We just got these lemonades from the stand,” said psychology freshman Mila Lan. “I got two giant cups for $15 so I am pretty happy.”
For Gregory, while everything was perfect, she would appreciate having more covered seating areas in the future.
The fest was not limited to just food, the students also created a marketplace and got vendors who were selling jewelry, crochet items and clothing apparel.
“We noticed there’s a big demand for the marketplace and Wolffest has so much food concentrated, we thought it’d be fun to have a market as well,” Parkinson said.
Students like Gregory invested in the market as well and were satisfied with the quality, price as well as hospitality.
What Wolffest means to WCE students
Students of WCE feel extremely thankful for the institute, UH and all its members that provide them such great opportunities.
“We love our program director, managers and professors,” Sadegi said. “We have them to thank for everything and the University for letting us be out here and do our thing.”
You can find more information about Wolffest here.
