SELLING FRESHWATER PRAWN IN FOOD FESTIVALS: A MARKETING EXPERIMENT IN KENTUCKY

This paper evaluated consumer perceptions of cooked freshwater prawn sold in festivals. Data were collected from prawn consumers attending the Kentucky State Fair and Garrett's Festival (in Lexington, Kentucky) on knowledge of prawn, seafood consumption frequency, proclivity of purchasing locally grown food, etc. A conjoint experiment was conducted in which respondents rated nine hypothetical plates of cooked prawn, differing from one another by the number of prawns, price, cooking style, and the presence or absence of side items. Results from data analyses indicated that the Garrett's Festival respondents were more educated and had more knowledge of prawns than the State Fair respondents. The State Fair respondents, while indifferent to the prawn cooking style, considered the product's price to be more important than the Garrett's Festival respondents. All results suggest that vendors would be more successful in dedicated prawn festivals than participating in festivals of general interest, such as the State Fair.