Blogger Lexi Luo and burger enthusiast Richard Neill chow down on Beach Babylon's 2018 Wellington On A Plate entry Groovy Burger, Yeah!

After serving it up hot and fresh to Wellingtonians for a decade, Visa Wellington On a Plate is set to add two more weeks to its menu.

From 2019, the festival of gastronomical delights will continue through the whole month of August.

In past years, it has run for 17 days rather than the 31 touted for next year.

SUPPLIED Wellington On A Plate burger winner 2018 - Wilson BBQ burger at The Third Eye.

Festival director Sarah Meikle said feedback every year was that people wanted Wellington On a Plate to be longer.

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"Every year we think 'how could we do it better?' We have an industry consultation process and the feedback from people every year was: make the festival longer. But we had to figure out how to make it work."

SUPPLIED Visa Wellington On a Plate Festival Director Sarah Meikle said the Wellington hospitality industry had endorsed the new approach.

This year's event had been the biggest to date, with Burger Wellington a "runaway success", Meikle said. But the festival could not lengthen unless it was manageable for the industry.

"Being so popular has made it very challenging for industry to keep up."

The longer festival will see a segmentation of the various parts, starting with Dine Wellington for the first 16 days, and Beervana in the middle.

VISA WELLINGTON ON A PLATE Next year's Visa Wellington On A Plate will run over the whole month of August.

Burger Wellington would then take over the capital for the remaining 15 days. Festival events and Cocktail Wellington will be held throughout the month.

"We believe making this change will give all parts of the Festival the right amount of attention. It also means restaurants, bars and eateries can better manage demand and workloads."

The Wellington hospitality industry endorsed the approach. Many had provided feedback that Dine Wellington was getting lost amongst the burger madness that gripped Wellington during the festival, Meikle said.

"We're really excited. Wellington On a Plate was established to tell Wellington's food story, and to get people out in Winter when the hospitality industry needed a boost," she said.

"Now it's got a lot of momentum and is becoming a real focal point."

2018 WELLINGTON ON A PLATE BY THE NUMBERS

* 11,023 people attended pop-ups and free events

* 179 Burger Wellington entries

* 141 festival events

* 99 Dine Wellington menus on offer in 2018

* 20 per cent of attendees were out-of-towners