By Staff Report Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

The third annual Savor the Central Coast posted record numbers for attendance and revenue.

The food and wine event is presented by the San Luis Obispo County Visitors and Conference Bureau and Sunset magazine. It hosted nearly 10,000 guests at the Santa Margarita Ranch over the four days between Sept. 27 and Sept. 30, reflecting an 11 percent increase in attendance over last year.

According to the visitors and conference bureau, the event — quickly becoming a favorite of the Central Coast’s foodies and wine connoisseurs — brought in $3.58 million in revenue, a 22 percent jump over 2011 revenue.

Although the event has not yet made a profit, Clint Pearce, treasurer for the board, said in a news release that it made significant progress on the financial front. “With the growth in ticket sales and good expense controls, we came within a few percentage points of breaking even,” Pearce said in the news release.

Thanks to the promising numbers, Sunset and SLO County officials have confirmed that Savor will be coming back in 2013. The event will be held from Sept. 26-29, 2013 at the ranch.

“The positive three-year growth trend establishes Savor as a premiere food and wine event on the West Coast,” Noreen Martin, president of the visitor’s and conference bureau and CEO of Martin Resorts, said in a news release. “In partnership with Sunset Magazine, Savor has helped sustain and grow the Central Coast as a tourist destination during a difficult economy. The goal of our partnership with Sunset has been to establish a premier destination-marketing event to showcase the San Luis Obispo County experience featuring great food, wine and adventure in and around our region’s great natural beauty. In three years’ time, we have done exactly that.”