Taste of Charlotte | Tasty food taken to the street

The Taste of Charlotte festival may seem expensive, but it's a good way to try out new restaurants. Image from Flickr.

The Taste of Charlotte food festival starts this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Taste of Charlotte shuts down several streets in Charlotte and has dozens of restaurants participating. The Taste of Charlotte festival will set you back a pretty penny or two, but will also support one of the most popular festivals in Charlotte.

The details of Taste of Charlotte

The Taste of Charlotte festival will span five city blocks in Uptown Charlotte. The festival will start 11 a.m. on Friday, June 11 and will end at 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 13. There are more than 30 food vendors, dozens of national tours, lots of entertainment acts and more. Admission is free, so the Taste of Charlotte is a great place to spend your weekend.

How much the Taste of Charlotte will cost you

The Taste of Charlotte festival has free admission, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be spending any money. First, parking and transportation will set you back a few dollars — a cost you can minimize by using public transportation. Second, there is the cost of food and drinks. The Taste of Charlotte food and drink vendors do not take cash money. Instead, you have to purchase “coins” from the Taste of Charlotte booths or website. These coins are about $1.33 apiece, and you can purchase food and drinks for anywhere between 1 and 6 coins. Everything is sample sized, and food is generally 2 to 3 coins and drinks are 3 to 6. This means, to get a full meal of any kind, you will most likely be spending $20 or more.

Taste of Charlotte for the vendors

The 40 or so vendors that will be selling their wares at the Taste of Charlotte won’t be getting the entire $1.33 for every token you hand over to them. Instead, the Taste of Charlotte organization takes a percentage of the cost of the coins to pay for organizational and administrative costs. Visiting the Taste of Charlotte may seem expensive, but it can actually be a much less expensive way to check out new restaurants if you spend $6 to get a tasting sample of their wares, instead of $30 to try out a dinner at their regular location.