Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Restaurant News Break the Chain Movement: A Declaration of Independence
Posted by Susan Ellis on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 10:32 AM
When I spoke with Crave chef Jason Doty about his Hand-Crafted Name contest, he said it was inspired in part by the Break the Chain - Eat Local movement.
"It's about us supporting each other," Doty said when I confessed I wasn't familiar with Break the Chain
Turns out that this very cool, very low-key movement — for which local independently owned restaurants show solidarity through T-shirts — can be traced back to Memphis' favorite cupcake-pusher Kat Gordon, owner of Muddy's Bake Shop.
According to Gordon, she and her brother designed the graphic for T-shirts to promote eatlocalmemphis.org, a blog created by Gordon's boyfriend Thomas Robinson.
Eatlocalmemphis.org is a relatively new site that covers local restaurants. Gordon says the blog will eventually feature profiles of restauranteurs, farmers, food writers, and "basically, everyone involved in our local food scene."
Gordon had the graphic printed up on T-shirts, aprons, and thermal tops by Bluff City Sports. On T-shirts, the Muddy's logo is printed on the back of the shirt at the collar.
She began selling the apparel at Muddy's and then she set the graphic free.
"It's a message important to share so we have made it available to all local, independent eateries who want to use it, free of charge, and they're welcome to put their own logo on it if they wish," she says.
"Jana [Misener] at Bluff City does the printing and will group orders so even us small businesses on a budget can participate!"
Among those who've taken up the offer are Fino's, South of Beale, Crave, and Cafe Eclectic.
Misener says she already noticing a pattern among participants: "They make an order, loved them, and order more."
For more information, e-mail Kat Gordon at Muddy's or Jana Misener at Bluff City Sports.
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
Awesome idea! I want one of those shirts now. I try to eat local whenever I can, although I admit to sometimes hitting a chain drive-through when in a hurry. Also, having only been in Memphis 1 1/2 years, I don't know of all the really good local places, so I happily bookmarked eatlocalmemphis.org. More new places to try, YAY!
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Stacey- we have bumper stickers for sale at cost ($2) in the bakery without our logo on them, so they're for absolutely everyone! You definitely need one, as you are The Queen of eating local!!! :)
I love the idea and I eat out frequently and try to always frequent the locally owned independent restaurants. I would like to see more in Memphis! I know that chains have a place, but when I go out...I want something different...something special...not something prepackaged that is the same in lots of other restaurants. I want individuality which is why I frequent places in Cooper Young, Muddy's (of course!) and others. It is not easy to be in business right now and we all need to remember to frequent our favorite spots if we hope to keep them around. If we don't support our favorites....we might find that our choices become all 'big box' type places. I used to love small interesting old hardware stores with fascinating things but....look around...they are gone. Let's not lose our favorite eateries.
I love the idea and I eat out frequently and try to always frequent the locally owned independent restaurants. I would like to see more in Memphis! I know that chains have a place, but when I go out...I want something different...something special...not something prepackaged that is the same in lots of other restaurants. I want individuality which is why I frequent places in Cooper Young, Muddy's (of course!) and others. It is not easy to be in business right now and we all need to remember to frequent our favorite spots if we hope to keep them around. If we don't support our favorites....we might find that our choices become all 'big box' type places. I used to love small interesting old hardware stores with fascinating things but....look around...they are gone. Let's not lose our favorite eateries.
Wow! Just went back to eatlocalmemphis and they changed it so it's MUCH easier to read. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
About eating locally: I don't eat at chains anymore if I can help it at all. Why do that when Memphis has SO many great locally owned restaurants? I suppose chains have their place, but I would much rather know that my hard-earned money is going to support our local businesses.
Southernbelle - thanks for the comments on the site being difficult, glad you like it better now. We are working on a custom design that should be a little more personal but still super easy to read. Thanks!
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