An Ode to Maria

...and an introduction to The Road Ahead!

Welcome to The Road Ahead!  A newsletter musing on today’s emerging food culture and tomorrow’s opportunities.  

My name is Ivy and I run a creative culinary agency in NYC, Butter and Egg Road.  Over the course of my life, and certainly since launching my business in 2012, I’ve had the great privilege of participating in some truly remarkable dining experiences.  In fact, it was at a solo dinner in Paris, almost ten years ago today, that first inspired my foray into entrepreneurship. (don’t all good stories begin in Paris?)

But if you were to ask me about one of the most profound meals of my life, I would have to say it was an unlikely Tex-Mex lunch in a stone building, on the side of the road, in San Antonio.  And I can’t even remember what I ordered.

What I do remember, was how I felt.  Deeply moved.  Full of joy.  Transformed.

Last March, amidst the early aughts of the pandemic and watching the devastation of closures ravage our food industry, I led a talk at a virtual conference titled: Restaurants Beyond Food.  Sure, it was meant to grab attention.  But it was also meant to inspire hope and spark new possibilities.  Because what many of us have come to know, as I did over a simple taco lunch, is that restaurants serve us in a multitude of ways, many of which have nothing to do with food.

Thinking back to Maria’s Café, while I don’t remember the menu, I do remember meeting Maria and her daughter.  I remember them sharing the story of Maria moving to this country.  The telling of Maria’s passion and conviction in opening her restaurant, now almost 40 years ago.  I remember swapping stories of entrepreneurship and family, and then their family actually arriving as the restaurant was closing and inviting us to join their table.  I remember hugs goodbye.  I remember remarkable grit, gratitude and new friendship.

That day was the perfect embodiment of what restaurants not only are, but can be.  Beyond food and entertainment, the role of the restaurant has evolved into that of connector, translator and educator.

Restaurants are a gateway to new ideas.  They break down barriers to new cultures, invite us to explore new neighborhoods and engage us in new conversations that help us see and think differently.  We may come for the delicious food experiences, but what we take with us, what stays with us, is a greater sense of appreciation, knowledge and enlightenment.  That is what Maria’s Café served me that day.

As vaccinations start rolling out across the country and we (hopefully! finally!) begin to turn the corner on this pandemic, I remain optimistic about the perseverance and creativity that’s emerged.  The owners, chefs and restaurant teams seizing this terrible crisis, however unexpected and unplanned, to leverage their unique narrative and brands they’ve built to explore new ways to do business and redefine what it is to be a restaurant.  The meal kits, merchandise, virtual classes, products, collaborations, subscriptions, the pizza delivery sub-brands…they’re all innovations that will likely now become enduring fixtures in our industry.  Pushing restaurants to expand their capabilities and realize new opportunities to grow their audiences beyond their walls & cities, diversify revenue channels, and build stronger, more profitable, more equitable business models.  

And so it’s here, at this intersection of transition and reinvention, where I’ll begin this newsletter experiment.  Exploring new and emerging frontiers in our food culture and the growth and possibilities that await.  Celebrating the uncharted and exciting road ahead.  

Looking forward to having you join the journey!

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Have a similarly transformative dining experience you want to share?  Would love to hear it!  Drop a comment below.

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Written by Ivy Ackerman, founder of Butter and Egg Road, an NYC-based creative culinary agency, building bridges between business and emerging food culture.  Follow her on Instagram or LinkedIn.