"We were starting with no awareness of the event but the support was fantastic, everyone put together individual events, after that we realised what works. Now they understand pricing, we have all learnt a lot from that first event."
Ticket sales indicated local people and out-of-towners had also been dying for an excuse to enjoy the finer things in life.
When F.A.W.C! launched in November 2012, Hawke's Bay Tourism rolled out a series of events which gave food, dining and tourism operators a new sense of optimism heading into the summer holiday season.
"Everyone said start small but we were ballsy and audacious and went big from the start and it paid off. We made our mark and stamped our authority like we wanted to."
There were 2770 tickets sold to 58 unique experiences in that first year - 50 per cent of the total number available, with 16 events reaching capacity.
Last summer, with the addition of some new offerings, and knowledge spreading about the world-class wine and food extravaganza, 4397 tickets were snapped up - 80 per cent of what was on offer - and 36 events filled.
"What we are seeing now with summer F.A.W.C! is that people are buying tickets to multiple events, especially visitors who are making the trip from out of town."
While they won't have access to figures for this year until F.A.W.C! wraps on November 9, they had already surpassed sales from the previous two years, a fortnight out from the launch at Craggy Range on October 31.
In August, a database of 3000 F.A.W.Cers snapped up 810 tickets, selling out the Locavore's Lunch, two events at Deliciosa and Trinity Hill as well as a seafood banquet at the home of artists Brian and Leanne Culy, before they officially went online.
Tourism Hawke's Bay passed another milestone this time, selling a record 500 tickets in one day, compared with 300 the previous summer.
After the success of summer, organisers addressed winter, a typically challenging time of year when tourism slumps and visitor numbers drop away.
They started by introducing a smaller offering of cleverly crafted experiences to complement the cooler months.
In 2012 they started out with 29 events, selling 87 per cent of tickets; by the following June they reached 90 per cent from 51 events.
F.A.W.C! gave people the opportunity to experience things they might not find elsewhere in New Zealand, something which was starting to put Hawke's Bay on the map internationally - with new interest from Australia and America.
"We intend to turn it into New Zealand's premium food and wine event, we are now getting a lot of chefs from out of town saying, 'how can we get involved?'," Ms Dundas said.
In future it is hoped they will attract international chefs, to further increase the credibility and profile of F.A.W.C!, opening the region up to a global market.
The concept of F.A.W.C! was modelled loosely on the Aspen Food and Wine Classic, which is held over a few days in June every year.
"We wanted to make it a bit bigger, I guess that's what it started with. We were pretty bold, when we look back on it, we only kicked it off in the middle of 2012 to deliver the first one on November 1."
Enticing a greater number of visitors to Hawke's Bay has a roll-on effect with the economy, as people are likely to book accommodation, eat out when they are not tied up with F.A.W.C! and were inclined to check out the local retail scene.
"We have to look at it and make sure it's doing what it should from a visitor point of view. Locals are great supporters but we want that visitor element, we want locals to share F.A.W.C! heavily with visitors from out of town."
National media had helped to spread the word since the inaugural event, they also looked at the website to make it as user friendly as possible.
Trinity Hill have been involved since the beginning and are hosting a massive nine events this time around including two of the biggest - a Wineries Ride finale and Bang Bang with Gemco.
It was a lot to organise but they were willing to take a chance.
"Ultimately F.A.W.C! has been really good for us in the past," sales and marketing associate Janine Bevege said. "I think the region really needed something like this. Winter F.A.W.C! has been really good for getting people out and about."
One of the benefits was having a forum to get their brand in front of as many people as possible, though it might take a few more years to see the real results.
"I think that it will happen over time. The concept has been picked up by locals, it's just about getting those visitor numbers in from Auckland and Wellington."
For more information and tickets see: fawc.co.nz
