Monday update

While preparing today’s blog post I came across a very important holiday some of you may want to put on your calendar. The first Friday of December – so this year, Friday, December 4 – is Bartender Appreciation Day. This holiday was created by Sailor Jerry in 2011 to show appreciation for bartenders’ skills and the services they provide.

From Cristina of City Tasting Tours:

City Tasting Box showed out with this holiday exclusive SUGAR & SPICE box! There’s FOURTEEN small businesses you can support with one purchase! Black Friday Weekend Sale ends Monday – 15% off everything + $5 Nationwide Shipping

If my mom were still alive, that box would absolutely be one of her Christmas presents from me this year. Keep it in mind for your family and friends who don’t live here – or even those who do.

There’s a GoFundMe to help feed and clothe the less fortunate in Memphis this holiday season. I can promise you the money will be used wisely; this is organized by my buddy Rahul, who participated in many activities to help the homeless when he and his parents had a convenience store out in Binghampton.

A petition is circulating to ask the Shelby County Health Department to release all COVID-19 data that led them to conclude that imposing further restrictions on restaurants was warranted for Health Directive No. 15. Sharing the data would go a long way to helping the restaurant owners understand the “why” behind the decision. Many restaurant owners feel like their industry is being singly targeted by health officials who want to be able to say they “did something” about the surge.

Not a local story but very cool: 17-old entrepreneur has a business selling chicken wing-style sauces. Her company generated $192,000 in revenue last year and she has raised $245,000 in funding. The barrier to entry in business has been flattened in the age of the Internet. If you have a great idea and are willing to go out there and put in the work, the sky is the limit.

From The Daily Memphian: COVID has taken a $4 million bite out of a fund used for Downtown improvements, funded by tourism dollars. This could affect Tom Lee Park improvements, most of which are scheduled to happen after Memphis in May 2021. (But will Memphis in May 2021 happen?)

Also notable in the article above: Downtown Huey’s is really hurting from the lack of tourists. Y’all go up there and get a Texas Toast Burger or some nachos or whatever your favorite is.

The DM’s restaurant reporter Jennifer Biggs will be on FM 91.7 Thursday at 11 AM with Tawanda Pirtle to discuss Biggs’ first-ever Steak Sandwich from Jack Pirtle’s Chicken. If that time doesn’t work for you, the podcast will drop this week on The Daily Memphian website.

Baptist Ambulance is hiring EMTs and Paramedics.

From The Dirty Crow Inn:

Who has been missing the food from The Dirty Crow Inn??
Well, stay tuned!

Momma’s took over the building at Crump & Kentucky where The Crow operated, but the deal allowed The Crow to keep exclusive control over its own recipes. I’d love to see the “5-Star Dive Bar” make a return, especially if it’s a little closer to home.

Still writing professionally on Medium… in October, it took only 8 days to beat my September earnings… in November, it took 29 days to beat my October earnings. Not particularly pleased with that but I guess it’s better than not beating my October earnings at all.

Hmmm… “Quotes from experts” is an article type that always does well on Medium. Maybe I’ll write one titled “4 Experts Share Their Most Powerful Advice For Fighting Covid” and quote the following experts:

  • Becky from Facebook
  • Karen from Facebook
  • Kandi from Facebook
  • Sue “Social Distance Yourself/Wear a Mask” Richardson from Twitter

I have a lot of errands to catch up this week, so it will likely be Thursday before I get out to do anything fun – assuming “fun” does not get completely banned by the Health Department by then. Back tomorrow with more news.