As brand and packaging designers, we’re always searching for ways to keep our fingers on the pulse of what’s going on in different cultures. Fall is in full swing and we found ourselves up in Wisconsin at the prestigious Kohler Food & Wine Festival (October 16–19, 2025, Kohler, Wisconsin). It offered a rich experience of delicious sips, bites and even better people watching in a beautiful, historic American town.
The Kohler Food & Wine Festival began in 2001, as a celebration of culinary craftsmanship and hospitality inspired by The American Club resort’s legacy of excellence. Over the years, it has grown into one of the Midwest’s premier food and beverage events, featuring celebrity chefs, master sommeliers, and interactive tastings. The festival blends world-class cuisine with the artistry and design heritage that define the Kohler brand. We took a spin around the festival because we’re always curious about what the best chefs, wine experts and mixologists are up to. 
For festival goers, the event delivers intimate access to celebrity chefs, world-class wines, and curated dining experiences within the luxurious setting. It’s not just about food and drink; it’s about indulgence, inspiration, and being part of a community that celebrates the art of living well. Plus, you can golf, go to the spa, or work out at the state of the art fitness facilities in between the eating and drinking.
Here’s what caught our eye at this year’s festival plus a few takeaways for next year’s planning.
Experience and Setting
The festival is structured as a multi-day suite of events (chef demos, tastings, dinners, evening soirées). The festival pass gets you into the Village Tent and tastings of your choice of wine, beer, cocktails and N/A options. You can sign up for cooking demonstrations held in large tents with state of the art video set ups and fully kitted kitchens. The demonstrations are focused on showing you how to cook a recipe and the chefs tells stories to fill the time. Attendees get a bite of the finished recipe with a tasting of a paired wine plus a chance to meet the chef. We were lucky to attend two demonstrations by chefs Dan Jacobs and Claudette Zepeda, cooking pelmeni and birria respectively.
The Kohler, Wisconsin setting is a big part of the experience: arriving in Kohler, staying ‘on property’ at The American Club or Inn on Woodlake, being immersed in an environment where all cues signal luxury, craftsmanship, and hospitality. The old school architecture of the American Club, the resort, serves as the backdrop for the curated dinners and tastings. The badges around festival goers’ necks are like VIP tags or backstage passes. The tastings are held in the many meeting rooms and bars of The American Club. Each tasting was lead by an expert and came with a flight of wines, some water and a packet of crackers to cleanse the palate. The Duckhorn Vineyards and Staglin Family Vineyard tastings were real treats.
Surprisingly, it was difficult to orient yourself to what was happening where. There was very little information on the website—which was also confusing to navigate. The printed brochure which we got at check-in helped.
Design
As brand design people, we were most intrigued with the Village Tent because you got to see twelve or thirteen brands and how they created an environment to draw festival goers in.
Most of the brands—be them wine, liquor or non-alcoholic—evoked a place, with specific fake grass, plants, or large photo backdrops cuing location. This was not notable for the wine brands because they are selling the romance of terroir and trying to get you to visit the winery itself. We were surprised that even the Tito’s Vodka booth was selling Texas, with fake cacti, cowboy boot sculptures and wagon wheels. Bulleit took us to the woods and Don Julio to a breezy hacienda.
At an event where there’s pretty much nothing to do other than drink and with limited seating, the booths that offered a place to perch were busy. Others offered more active ways to get involved. Belle Glos offered the chance to dip your own wine bottle into wax; smart because it pushed an upsell and it got people involved in the brand’s signature packaging. Duckhorn Vineyards had a simple photo booth that captured folks and offered a way to remember the visit. Bubbl’r Sparking Water put out branded cornhole boards, which was particularly inspired with the captive audience and a beautiful fall weekend.
There was a small live music stage for singer/song writer performers and a DJ bumping tunes, so the Village felt alive with sound. We just wish booths offered snacks other than an odd piece of Halloween candy here and there. Especially with the large pours keeping the vibe high.
Takeaways
The 2025 Kohler Food & Wine Festival showed off a premium festival experience. With luxury brand names like Staglin, Duckhorn, Dao, La Crema, and Stella Artois, there’s an opportunity to position your brand via association. The festival brings out top culinary names like Martha Stewart, Scott Conant, and Top Chefs Tiffany Derry and Eric Adjepong, as well as renowned chefs from all over the States like Robert Irvine and Kardea Brown–so joining the mix of brands at the festival would cue that you’re on the cutting edge of cuisine. Also, the festival keeps participating brands top of mind when attendees are planning future culinary/wine trips, buying a new bottle or making their next restaurant reservation.
While the festival delivered on environment, exclusivity, sensory design, brand associations and great people watching, we found it lacking much food—leaving me perpetually hungry. However, in that gap, we saw a giant opportunity for food brands to explore and engage in a potential new channel. Maybe next year, everyone will flock to your brand’s booth.
