With the goal of connecting new customers to local cuisine, E-foodie.com hosted their first Downtown Fullerton Crave & Crawl on Thursday where 40 restaurants throughout Downtown Fullerton gave out free samples to participating members.

It was a busy day for E-Foodie founder Brian Williams who was working at the check-in table. “Crave an Crawl was an idea we had to introduce people in the community to Downtown Fullerton and to really give them a feel for the community around them,” Williams explained. 1700 people signed up to visit the crawl.

Immediately after checking in, the first stop was Heroes Bar and Grill, a Downtown Fullerton favorite for many locals. They had a long, but fast-paced line where they were serving spicy sausages.

Heroes owner Jack Franklin was also there to see how the event turned out. He loved the turnout. “I brought in 600 units of sausages, and we burned through that so I had to go find some more,” said Franklin.

All throughout Downtown Fullerton you can see people crowding the restaurants to get their share of free samples. Live music was performed outside of The Night Owl.

Hapa Cupcakes had a big turnout in their shop and many people know them for competing on the TV show, Cupcake Wars. They made about 700 cupcakes for the event. “We were told only to make 500 hundred, but I have been to events like this and we always run out quickly,” said owner, Hanayo Martin.

Many shops ran out of samples within the first hour of the event.

Bolü Bakery Cafe had a sign on their window stating they had ran out of free samples. They only made 100 macaroons according to an employee working in the shop.

Branagan’s Irish Pub was also very busy. They were serving small bowls of chowder. It became clear that their paying customers were being neglected due to the Crave & Crawl participants who were lining up for their free samples.

However, the entire event was enjoyed by all the participants. “I don’t know if I can decide on my favorite restaurant, but my favorite part was all the free food,” said Steven Ju from Fullerton.

Cindy Myers, also a Fullerton resident brought her children to the crawl. “This is where we are from, so I think it’s great that my kids know the area and also teaches them that you don’t have to spend much money to have a great night in town.”

Overall, the event was a big success and all restaurants are expected to participate again next year.

“I plan on it being an annual event. This is the first one so far that we’ve have a great turnout and it’s continuing to grow. The restaurants are measuring their success on this event, so I expect this to happen again next year.” Williams stated.

When Heroes owner was asked if he was gonna participate again next year, he replied, “Of course, it’s for Fullerton!”

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