By Matt Leingang
The Cincinnati Enquirer

If attendance matches that of past years, about 500,000 people will spend more than $12 million this weekend at Taste of Cincinnati.

That makes the event more than just a party. It's big enough to have an economic impact on the city.

The most recent attempt to measure the economic impact of Taste of Cincinnati was in 2000, as part of a report on summer festivals produced for the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and the Partnership for Cincinnati.

The report is a bit out of date, but, "Taste hasn't gotten any smaller," said chamber spokesman Ray Buse.

So where does all the money go?

Mostly to the 43 vendors. After their own expenses for labor and supplies, the vendors keep the proceeds.

Some may make as much as $10,000 a day, which is good, but nothing that would top a normal weekend business cycle at their restaurants.

"We don't do this for the money," said Ron Larkin, 41, whose family owns Ron's Roost in Bridgetown. "It's more for advertising and marketing."

Larkin expects to sell 10,000 pieces of fried chicken and 10,000 pieces of white chocolate cheesecake, which won last year's Best of Taste award for desserts.

First-time vendors, such as McAlister's, said they weren't looking to make much of a profit. The deli opened last year in Kenwood and now has locations in Blue Ash and West Chester.

"Name recognition is what it is all about," general manager Scott Neidich, 31, said. "If we do that, we've won the battle."

In the 25 years of the festival, the Chamber of Commerce has never released how much money it makes from the event. But the chamber collects from a variety of sources:

• Fees. Restaurants pay the chamber a $1,700 booth fee, which offsets costs such as providing electricity. But the event also depends on corporate sponsorships to cover expenses. Sponsors pay anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000, depending on their level of involvement.

• Alcohol sales. Beer, for example, costs the chamber about $99 a keg. But most of the $4-$6 that people pay for a glass of beer goes to the chamber. The rest goes to the beer concessionaire.

"The important thing here is that all of the money we make goes back into promoting the community," Buse said.

Who else benefits from Taste?

The state, county and city benefit from sales taxes figured into the flat prices paid for food items. Governments also benefit indirectly from the income taxes paid later by people who work the event.

With an estimated 75,000 people from outside Greater Cincinnati coming to Taste, some hotels and other local restaurants, stores and entertainment venues get a boost from the weekend, too.

But their take is probably low since many of the out-of-towners are people making day trips to the event or ex-Cincinnati residents returning for a long weekend to visit. Many of those people are not staying in hotels, Buse said.

E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com