Side Dish Dozen
The Side Dish Dozen is a Schnip-curated selection of stalwart local businesses bundled into a sponsorship group to give this newsletter a stable financial position in 2024 and beyond.
Thank you to these generous businesses for stepping up to sponsor Side Dish:
Four by Brother Luck (including Tipperary Cocktail Parlor and The Studio)
Wobbly Olive (including Allusion Speakeasy)
Blue Star Group (including Principal’s Office, Stellina Pizza Cafe, Gold Star Bakery, Decent Pizza Co., Ivywild Kitchen, Lazo Emanadas and La’au’s Taco Shop)
District Elleven (including T-Byrd’s / bird tree cafe):
To borrow from one of my new Side Dish Dozen sponsors, Goat Patch Brewing, “It Takes a Tribe.” (That’s the name of their award-winning red ale, if you didn’t know.) Hence my goal of coming alongside a select bundle of companies to essentially do business with so I can fund journalism for the wider community. They are town champions to me, co-investing to improve our cultural scene and ensure that the food and drink industry receives thorough and smart reporting coverage and attention. And they’re businesses that consistently execute at a high level and have earned loyal community support over the years.
In the interest of full transparency and tightrope walking the chef knife’s blade edge related to potential conflict of interest I will say these businesses are now in a special category where they won’t be critically reviewed by me in the traditional secret-shopped sense. Instead, for their investment in Side Dish, I'll be including some logos and ads and a devoted listings lineup in each newsletter to highlight their weekly programming. I’ll also be working with each one of them this year on a monthly event and a single feature blurb, more in a profile/newsy capacity. Most importantly I want their monthly stories to read as entertaining and informative, not as dry sponsored content that feels inauthentic and icky deep down. That’s not how I roll.
Third Thursday Sip with Schnip nights monthly will now travel to each sponsor space where we aim to enhance them with more specials, guest presenters and even nonprofit beneficiaries. A special thanks to The Carter Payne for hosting them all up to now; we will return to party there in August 2024.
(Not every event will hit a third Thursday due to calendar conflicts but the majority will, and we’ll message each one way ahead of time.)
Thanks also to my PartnerSchnips pals, Ranch Foods Direct and Gather Food Studio as well as Focus on the Beer/Focal Pint.
