Alphabetical Listing | Restaurants by Location | Award Winners

Every year, the producers of Taste of Madison invite more than 600 area restaurants and caterers to participate in this annual event. For the past several years, we received responses from about 10 percent of the total restaurants invited. We don't hand-select the participants, nor do we have criteria in place that would bar any legitimate restaurant or catering company that is able to pay for booth space and receive the proper operating permits from joining in Taste. There are roughly 70 open spots for restaurants at Taste, and these are appointed on a first-come-first-serve basis.

It's quite common for people to contact us saying that they would like to only see truly local food vendors at the event. Unfortunately, a lot of local restaurants that would like to participate in the event simply don't have enough staff to run the booth and the restaurant for two days. Also, people must remember that these chains are making an effort to reach out to the community and be a part of it. In their competitive business, the chains no longer have the luxury of believing "If we build it, they will come." Big Bowl, Fuddruckers and Smokey Bones have closed their Dane County locations and rumor has it that others are struggling, too. Community involvement is key to their success, and these franchisees - many of them owned or operated by long-time Madison residents - realize the value of events like Taste of Madison. However, the number of participating chain restaurants has actually decreased in recent years. Last year 70 percent of all Taste of Madison participants were local... and that percentage is even higher if you count Wisconsin-established chains like Rocky Rococo’s, Michael's Frozen Custard, and Culvers.