A disaster for Luke Mangan’s A Moveable Feast
It looked a terrific invitation: a night of drinking and dining at an eight-course feast catered by celebrity chef Luke Mangan on Sydney’s most iconic beach, Bondi.
The chilled wine and gourmet eight course meal was catering for 3000 guests was “inspired by Mangan’s 19 restaurants found across five countries.”
Producer Hayden James was providing the entertainment.
Instead, the punters were left fuming with rage.
Despite having paid up to $165 a ticket for the event, some missed out on dinner while others waited up to two hours in drinks queues.
Worse still, patrons who either missed out on food, or felt they couldn't wait any longer, were told they would not be allowed to re-enter if they left to get food.
As is the case these days, diners took to social media.
“@LukeMangan $500 ticket for #amovablefeast #bondi NO food. 2 hour queue for booze Worst event ever @dominos instead,” wrote Mike.
"My one photo at #amoveablefeast I wasn't looking completely appalled at how badly it was run,"Tracey de Vries said on Instagram.
On Facebook, Nicholas Assef wrote: “Bondi's Moveable Feast - actually a moveable Farce! What happens when you sell 3000 plus tickets and people can't even get a drink of water let alone alcohol or food ....... Papers said it all this morning and the greedy promoters should be ashamed.
Mangan subsequently released a statement apologising for the stuff-up.
He said he was "aware that some of the 3500 guests at A Moveable Feast on Bondi Beach did not enjoy their experience and with that note, we sincerely apologise for this".
The main issues, he said, were caused by "operational challenges" beyond control.
"We will be working on these issues with the event organisers to ensure the next A Moveable Feast event is run seamlessly," he said.
Patrons might be entitled to a refund under Australian Consumer Law if they can prove the service did not deliver results that they and the business had agreed on.
by Leon Gettler, March 14th 2017
