restaurants, and the social media frontier

perhaps this falls on deaf ears, but my conscience has been tugging at the lack of new content on the blog, when the reason for that lack of posting really amounts to content itself. so here goes:

i've been pretty quiet about this, and there's nothing too crazy about it really, but i'm in the position to start my own business here in chicago. it started with stephanie giving me the opportunity to work for her, in a position she calls her media coordinator, which two months ago afforded me the chance to meet the right people at the right time. i've since started working in a similar capacity for the hearty boys, who, for those in the food network know, won the first season of "the next food network star" and went on to run "party line with the hearty boys" for three seasons. they're operation is impresive, pushing out some of the best catering services in the midwest, as well as a brand new restaurant that opened this past fall from their boystown hub, hearty. not long after i started work for the boys, a friend referred me to another chicago mainstay, bin 36. the bin brand is unique in that they operate three restaurants in chicago—from which they've been nominated for outstanding wine service by the james beard awards—but also push their own wine in the national market that's produced in partnership with hahn estates. the driving force behind the operation is a three-man partnership who divide their expertise and presence between food, wine, and management. point being, i'm planning some unique work with some pretty cool people.

it's an interesting place where i find myself, filling the needs of restaurants by offering a service traditional public relation firms are somehow not able, or wanting, to fill. tonight i'm heading to an event with the head of an up-and-coming distillery who's thinking i might fill his needs, too, which has really got me thinking. i don't see why once i get this up and running, i shouldn't make something out of it. there's a need, no doubt, and right now there are few in the position to make it happen.

and yet, there's no certainty in what i'm doing. maybe these guys will learn how to handle social media on their own and manage to integrate its nuances within the day-to-day necessities of hospitality procedures. maybe technology will change further and sites like twitter will peeter out just like livejournal and myspace have before it. maybe you have no idea what i'm even talking about, no clue what social media even is, and my reach just won't reach far enough. or maybe not. maybe i've found a service that's at just the right cost so that the hassle and annoyance of constant updating and upkeep is something people are more than happy to have me carry as my burden, and not their own.

it's an exciting risk i'm taking, and as with everything else, time will tell how it works out.