Established in 2015 Street Food Circus is an ever growing collective, a rag-tag bunch of nomadic cooks, misfits, mixologists, rebels and revolutionaries who create immersive dining experiences and events like no other. 

Headed up by Ringmaster and impresario Matt The Hat and a troupe of traders serving up the whole world on a plate. We’re ready to pitch up in towns, villages and cities across the country at the drop of a hat. We produce award-winning events with creative flair and have all the right ingredients to help new traders realise their dreams.  

Want to run away with us?

I’ve always been passionate about eating good food;, who isn’t? The first pit stop while travelling is finding a late-night street market - the excitement, people, sights, sounds, smells and atmosphere. It always feels like this is where real life and community lives. The joy of discovering a whole new world of flavour through tasty local delights, totally authentic and absolutely delicious. Cooks perfecting that one dish, with recipes passed down through generations. Food markets are one of the oldest worldwide phenomena and whether it is eating a perfect plate of saucisson in a village in Southern France or devouring delicious frankie rolls in Mumbai, every country, region, city, town and village has its own cuisine to be eaten on the street. It’s the food of the people! 

Initially SFC began with the romantic vision of wanting to bring those moments and a tiny slice of that atmosphere back to our hometown of Cardiff, drawing on elements of markets that I and SFC co-founder Simon had experienced in Mexico, India, Thailand, New York and Berlin.

We launched our warehouse dining concept, creating the first event at The Depot in October 2014 to great fanfare. The event felt revolutionary for the city, our little punk DIY food collective rocking up in a large scale warehouse, filling it with diners instead of ravers. 

We were sticking two fingers up to mid-scale conventional corporate dining - there is a 100% place for white tablecloth dining but that wasn’t us either. 

To say Cardiff had an appetite for what we're bringing to the table was an understatement.

2015 brought us a collaboration with Nofitstate and the concept of Street Food Circus was born on a site earmarked for development in the heart of Cardiff city centre. We brought our signature festival vibe and a whole host of hungry traders together, to create an event that went on to Win “Best Street Food Event”  at the British Street Food Awards. 

2016 we stepped it up a notch and pitched up our circus in Sophia Gardens. By now the Street Food scene was well established in the UK and it was drawing chefs out of their restaurant kitchens and onto the streets. We provided a platform for new traders to grow their following, traders like Dusty’s Pizza, Hangfire Smokehouse, Ffwrnes, who’ve all gone on to open bricks and mortar businesses.

Unfortunately although the Sophia Gardens event was a critical success, bringing thousands of people together to eat and drink communally, it was difficult for the company to operate a large scale concept on council land and be financially viable.

This made us take stock and rethink our model. We looked back to our simple founding mission and the reason that we started Street Food Circus in the first place. 

Since then we’ve created annual event concepts in epic locations like Forest Festival in Merthyr Mawr which was our first out of the city event concept, set amongst the trees in a beautiful filmic location in a woodland, near a castle, by the Sea. Forest Feastival kicks off our season every year and holds a special place in our heart, the perfect location for us to welcome in the Spring. 

After that it’s the annual Big Banquet,  which takes place in Caldicot Castle, complete with fire shows, circus school and a gravity defying high wire all within the walls of an epic castle. We hope to take this concept to the next level and other castles over the coming years. 

We hosted the annual Welsh Street Food Awards for nine years and produced an Americana food area called Truck Stop for Carfest. We create a smorgasbord of delicious events in epic locations that celebrate food, family with a touch of circus and magic.

Our Drive-In cinema Street Food Cinema helped us to survive the pandemic and we're still here in 2024 with big plans under our collective hats. 

We’re always looking for fun and passionate people who can add something to this rag-tag bunch of food rebels set on creating mischief, mayhem and magic. 

If you want to join us, get in touch! 

The space we operate in has changed radically but our mission and values haven’t.

After nearly a decade of putting on SFC we think we’ve got all the right ingredients to cook up events that are truly spectacular. 

We move forward with passion and purpose into the future with these principles in mind;