Rock City Eats, for me, was a very long time in the making. Several years ago I began working with small, local manufacturers to help increase sales and optimize efficiency. Through working with local manufacturers for 5 years I came to appreciate the hard work that goes into running and maintaining a small business. I saw the passion of the owners as well as the struggles they face.
I decided back then that I wanted to help local businesses become profitable. I also loved the local food community. Rock City Eats was born out of the idea of trying to support and promote the local restaurants and growers, while still pushing chefs and restaurant owners to continuously improve their product.
That really is where my contribution to Rock City Eats starts to fade. I have been blessed to find a group of passionate writers who share the same vision to shift more revenue into local establishments. Great assets like Kevin Shalin, Daniel Walker, Becca Bona, Zara Abbasi Wilkerson, Mark Hooper, Lyndi Fultz, Kath Hale, and many others who have contributed in some way over the past year. We function as a team and complete each other in ways that I never thought possible, and certainly better than I could ever do myself.
Additionally we ran into great restaurants and chefs that contributed to this collective vision. These individuals gave us access, ideas, and influence even when we needed to be critical. The list is too large to name here, but without the relationships we built all this would be impossible.
A very deep thanks to our sponsors and advertisers. There are some great individuals and companies that buy into our vision to make Little Rock a better place and support our mission. Every local company who advertises on our network of sites does so first to support the community and help their fellow businesses. In exchange we give them some of the best advertising return in the city. Special thanks to Ben E Keith, Faded Rose, 109 & Co, Cupids, and Heifer International for supporting us this year.
Finally, and most importantly, thanks to you all who read, share, and comment to on Rock City Eats. You complete our mission to support local. When we have a business who thought they had to close the doors be able to stay open due to an out pouring of support, that is you. When we have a local restaurant owner write in and tell us their sales for the week tripled due to an article, that is you. When a quality chef is recognized for making great food, that is you.
Thank you so much for making Little Rock a better place to live. 2015 is going to be even better because of you.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
– Greg
RIP Damgoode Pies
November 20, 2023
