Rice Party III
Last Thursday in Brooklyn was a night for celebration as we hosted our third Rice Party! Held at our office location in Greenpoint, Rice Party has become an annual tradition for Garnish Studios and is a night of cultural exchange, community, and flavor. This year was even more special because the event managed to line up with the day after Lunar New Year. Food lovers, creators, and brands were united through the most universal language we have - food. And since rice is a food item so prevalent in many cultures across the world, what better vessel to use for this moment of celebration and connection?
Pre-Party Anxieties
A week prior to the party, we were a bit nervous as only a handful of people had RSVP’ed to the event. We had a lot at stake with this event - we were in the midst of securing a number of sponsors for the party that we didn’t want to disappoint with a low turnout. Beverage brands KACE and Sanzo had already given us a number of boxes of their fruit tea and Asian-inspired sparkling water for the party, and we just received a massive box filled with Fly By Jing’s Sichuan Chili Crisp!
Luckily, by the night of the event we had over 100 people RSVP’ed to the event. You can blame it on procrastination, but I’d like to think it had something to do with our newest and brightest intern working tirelessly to promote the event on social media. ;)
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
A few restaurants ended up dropping by to contribute some rice dishes to the party. Wenwen, a local new-age Taiwanese restaurant, came through with their special fried rice. Bronx-based Black Rican Vegan also came by with some arroz con gandules to share. By the party’s peak we ended up with a bountiful and eclectic spread; we had Japanese curry with rice (shoutout to Chica’s Curry), a plant based Asian-inspired ice cream from Very Cool Ice Cream, and creative treats in the form of sushi-shaped Rice Krispie Treats. And that’s just scratching the surface of what was there.
The beverages were definitely not lacking at this party. Jumo and Hana Makgeolli were gracious enough to contribute some alcoholic drinks to the party, with Hana Makgeolli in particular giving us some of their newest product: a canned semi-sweet, more approachable version of their original Makgeolli. Neat founders Michael and Perry also came through to share their soju cocktails and pour some shots!
By the end of the night, Rice Party III was a bonafide success; not only did we succeed in hosting a moment of connection through food for our community, but we also managed to create buzz and brand visibility for all of our sponsors. We mainly focus on branding and digital marketing efforts, so it was nice to see people face-to-face and flex our muscles for offline experiential marketing. It definitely helped that we managed to get such amazing sponsors with products that were so easy to share and enjoy.
With each passing year, Rice Party only seems to get bigger and better than before! If you weren’t able to come to this year’s event and you’re a CPG brand, content creator, or just a food lover, you’re missing out. Keep an eye out for social media content with more photos and videos from Rice Party, and stay tuned for more events hosted by Garnish!
Next up: Rice Party IV. See you then!
