I need to take a second and share my opinions on the recent chatter about the current issues around the food truck event in downtown. I mentioned it briefly yesterday, before I had heard another side of the story. Thankfully, I got a phone call from another involved party that wanted to share their thoughts on the subject. I try to do my best to not spread gossip, sometimes I fail and yesterday I should have taken the time to do a bit more research before forming an opinion.

Here is the way that I see it-

Haley and Jessie with Gourmelt built an awesome event and the public outcry over their post yesterday shows the dedication from their fans. I am happy to see a small business that has created that kind of emotional connection to their customers. It doesn’t happen often. I understand the frustration that they are experiencing. Having someone copy your successful idea sucks. (If you want to see my personal experience with that, go visit Blue Ribbon Meats in Sparks. They sell a ton of items that are basically copies of our stuff from Butcher Boy.) In a way, it is sort of flattering. Mostly though, it can feel as though you have been robbed.

The other parties involved saw an opportunity to capitalize on and took advantage of that. I’m all for business and people making money. I have to respect that part of their project. I also believe that they may be paying more now for the event to take place and that their costs may increase based on how many people show up. That may explain the increased costs to the trucks. Besides, they are in business to make money. If they can’t deliver a profitable event to the other trucks then it will go through its life cycle quickly and be done. If it works, they will continue to do it.

Trying to avoid the “he said, she said” game…. I can only hope that they invited Gourmelt to be a part of it early on. That seems like the right thing to do, doesn’t it? Of course, there is no one telling them that they have to so it falls on ethical business practices from both parties. Let’s just hope that the new event organizers make it their own and do their best to invite a different clientele in order to best avoid diluting the Original Reno Food Truck Fridays (No, it’s not trademarked…..).

In the end, I think it makes sense for the parties involved to keep this out of public eye. At least the emotional and personal side of it. I don’t see where promoting a divide will benefit anyone. It will only serve to dilute the avid followers of the food trucks and the people that support our local foodie scene. If the community avoids any of the events due to their personal beliefs of who is right in this case, it only hurts the small businesses that are out there trying to make a buck and working their butts off doing it.

Also, this won’t be the only new food truck based event we will see this summer. I hear that Eldorado, GSR and The Sands are all working on their own. Plus, I think that Sparks is ripe for an event as well as south Reno.

Let’s all do our best to support local food businesses when we can. Visit whichever event fits your schedule and support the small business, regardless of who invited them to downtown. Cheers!!!

So, there’s been a bit of chatter on FB about buying local. Well I guess there always is but there have been a few recent posts regarding coffee shops, the Nevada Tourism marketing bid and others that have really made me think more about it.

My family has had local businesses for many decades in this town. It only makes sense that I would support the locals when I have the opportunity.

I’m all about seeing action. At least enough action to figure out if an idea is worthwhile or not. Talking about supporting locals and not doing it doesn’t help a soul. Planning events that are too complicated, or have the wrong goals in the crosshairs won’t help anyone. Sometimes the action isn’t what we would like to see, as my first story shows.

Food Truck Fridays

An event created by the amazing ladies from Gourmelt that was built to showcase the local food trucks. The first two events were a huge success! I made the first one and shared my thoughts, as did Mike at Downtown Makeover. Well, it appears that the event concept has been copied by another entity in town. I talked with them early on to get an article up on Chow Reno and can tell you that Haley, in her own words, told me that it was not a money maker for them but meant to bring attention to the awesome trucks in town. I have no clue what the trucks pay to take part, or what the city charges for the event to happen on their property. But I can easily see where there isn’t a lot of money to be made.

So, here we have a good case of someone supporting locals, but maybe not in the best way possible. Why not give credit where credit is due and involve the folks that stepped up first to create something great instead of pushing them out? Does “watering down” a great event do the community any good? I’m really curious to see what the other trucks have to say about this……

Coffee Shops

Probably a little better than a year ago I had a conversation with someone about local coffee shops and how there had been so many that sprung up in town. They haven’t stopped it seems. Or maybe a new one opens up in the same location as one that just closed. It seems to be a growing market in many of the cities that I visit, Reno is not alone.

Of course, the big enemy of all of these shops is Starbucks. Some call them the Walmart of the coffee world. Others talk about how much they hate big companies and still stop by every day or so for a latte. I’ll confess, many times it is my first choice when I need a caffeine fix. There’s a simple reason for that- they’ve trained me as a customer. Walk in the door and the barista knows what they are doing, they grab orders from folks standing in line to speed up service, they ask the right questions to make sure you get the drink you are looking for and it is served up quickly and correctly. Many coffee “experts” bag on the quality they deliver. But, they have basically trained America to think that coffee should taste just as they serve it. Good for them.

Want to battle them locally? Build the experience into your business. Create something different than a run of the mill coffee shop. Make it simple for guests to do business with you. The Starbucks smartphone app is an amazing example of “lock in” to a business. I pre-pay for my damn coffee!!!! The last locally owned coffee shop I frequented lost my loyalty card more than once….

But, all is not lost. The small shops are doing their best to serve their customers. Want to help out a great little Reno operation? Check out this link on Facebook and see how Brad Brighton is TAKING ACTION within his means to help.

Nevada Tourism, etc.

It seems as though the Nevada Commission on Tourism did not select a local company for their marketing bid this go around. As much as I’d like to see a local have some input on our marketing, I have to wonder if they really did submit the best proposals. After all, we are taking about our tax dollars being spent here. Shouldn’t it go to the firm that delivers the best return on those dollars?

There is one person taking action on a local level. Scott from Reno eNVy went through a lot of work to get a new Visitor Center up and running downtown. He’s one of the few folks I know personally that has fought and fought hard to see his idea come to fruition. I’m sure dealing with all of the entities wasn’t the easiest of tasks….. Want more info? As always, Downtown Makeover has the goods. Stop by the new center at 135 N. Sierra Street 5-8 PM on Friday May 11th to check it out for yourself.

Some other locally related things

Check out what The Marmot Companies are doing in Midtown. I chatted with these guys a few nights back and they are putting some serious effort into positive changes to that area.

You can find a decent group of folks that are into local business at this Facebook group. And we finally have some movement on a Cash Mob in Reno, more info on Facebook as well. Speaking of Facebook…… A friend/colleague and I started a Buy Local page there a bit ago. We haven’t used it a ton unfortunately….. Maybe hop over there and share your own story about local business?

Yeah…..

That’s about it. Just wanted to share some thoughts on what I see happening locally. I plan to do my part to help the foodies in town with a week long event later this year. I’ve teamed up with the wonderfully talented Natasha Bourlin of Passport PR to create an event that should prove to be a great time for you. More details soon, after we figure them out for ourselves

I’m not really into it. I understand the argument that “someone has to win”, “you can’t win if you don’t play”, etc…… But, I hate waiting in lines. Plus, my dad has been buying tickets damn near every week and he has yet to earn a dollar that he didn’t earn. Well, except for the time he won $20k in a raffle, but that was an exception

Anyway, I hear there was a winning ticket sold in Maryland. The only person I know that lives back there is Adam, I’m guessing that he didn’t win based on the fact that I haven’t received a text message telling me to pack up and get ready to hit the beach.

Tangent…. (for Adam’s eyes- Dude! If you won and didn’t tell me…… WTF?!?! But seriously, have fun on your vacation and holler when you get back into the country….)

Back on track…… Here is what I really wonder. Let’s say that someone out there is holding a winning ticket. We could assume that they weren’t taking it very seriously since they haven’t stepped forward and may not know that they won yet. What happens tomorrow when they found out they won? They will realize that there were so many hours that they were rich beyond their dreams and didn’t know it. That’s the fraction of time that I wonder about…..

Do they appreciate the time that they spent not knowing they were rich and living life as things were “normal”? Do they regret not watching the numbers being drawn and celebrating sooner? What about their friends and family that will undoubtedly change after the news hits? Did they appreciate their time as much before the winner was rich?

Does that make sense? Am I rambling? I just see a moment in time there that doesn’t happen often. It’s either on the verge of a rich uncle dying, a tech company selling or a lottery ticket hitting. Other than that, there are few times that so much money changes hands. Somewhere in there lies a few minutes or a few hours that a person has the financial means to do what they wish without knowing it. Somewhere in there lies a moment of truth that is not noticed until it’s too late.

If you won, would you be the same person? Regardless of possessions and bank accounts, would you treat people the same and have the same outlook on life as you do know?

As my aforementioned buddy Adam said on Facebook today- let’s hope the winner does something good with the money. It would be a shame to see it all pissed away on nothing but material possessions…..

So, I got the slap on the hand from Facebook today…

I guess they don’t see the art in this photo. Or maybe they see a bit too much art. Either way, it got me a few warnings and even scared me into thinking I was kicked off for a bit since I couldn’t sign in on my iPhone. Funny thing is, without Facebook I wasn’t sure who to tell!

I used to think I had a goal in life. You know, the “if I ever have more money than I know what to do with I’ll buy this” goal.

For the last 4-5 years or so this goal was manifested in the 118 Wallypower. A poweryacht of the finest caliber. Almost 17,000 horsepower to push let it cruise at just about 70 MPH. Not bad for a boat that’s 118 feet long…..

Here’s a video as well

So then, just tonight, I see another option. The Strand Superyacht 166…… Just about the same power, but only does 46 MPH since it’s 166 feet long. BUT……… it comes with a 600+ hp supercar as well.

Hmm…. decisions, decisions…………….. which would you get?