Sazon Latin Food Festival Austin, TX
I sat down with Chad Burnaw, the manpower behind this event to learn about the brand, Latin City, how this event came together, and their plans for the future. The Sazon Latin Food Festival is a food festival that was held in Austin featuring food from all over Latin America, great music, and an incredible crowd.
Who is Chad and what is LatinCity’s mission?
Chad is from Virginia, he moved to California where he got his education in international business, and where he was inspired to start Latin City.
If you’ve ever moved away from somewhere you call home you can understand that you start to miss it. You miss the things you would do there, the people, and the food you would eat. That was the same way Chad felt in San Francisco. Originally from the Caribbean, he found that there weren't too many venues and events that offered the food, music, and experiences he was familiar with.
After diving deep into the nightlife searching for spaces that featured salsa, merengue, and other Latin styles of dance he noticed there were not a lot of spaces for this community that looked like him.
Chad talked about a small club that he came across that was playing great Latin music. The club was overflowing with people dancing and having a great time. He said it was like “walking into a space that feels like home”. And visiting this club helped spark what Latin City is today.
The community was there, but the spaces weren’t big enough to accommodate them. He found that the city needed more of these types of events with larger venues to include more people from all over Latin America. Latin City is more than just fun events and great food, it is a movement to celebrate the diversity in the Latin community, bring people together, and inspire ownership.
One thing Chad mentioned about venue managers and owners is that they begin as promoters. The promoters generally work within their network of people and put on those types of events and create a certain following, not targeting Latin Americans.
His goal is to throw these events to continue to celebrate Latin diversity through food and music. Chad has actually hosted almost 160 of these events all over San Francisco now and successfully put the very first one on right here in Austin!
How did this event in Austin come together?
Since Chad had organized plenty of events in the past, doing one in a new city could be worrisome but it is definitely an area he is familiar with. He worked with the restaurant Ani’s Day and Night for the location, contacted vendors, and began promoting it.
After seeing astronomical pre-registration numbers he contacted a few more vendors to accommodate. The event was a huge success attracting four times the amount of people expected. Latin City aims to have vendors represented from every country in Latin America so everyone can walk into a space that feels like home.
What are the future plans for LatinCity?
There aren’t too many places in Austin to go to eat Latin cuisine. At the same time, there is a good population of people who are left out of an experience they have in their homes. Latin City wants to bring home-cooked food and familiar sounds to a number of cities.
Chad plans to organize another event in May and has plans to host events in Houston, Dallas, and even San Antonio. Latin City wants to bring people out of their neighborhoods and into better venues to cultivate better experiences. If you would like to stay up to date on what Latin City is doing you can give them a follow @LatinCity on Instagram.