Eat It and Like It celebrates its 5th anniversary this week. February 3, 2011 eatitandlikeit.com went live and my life has never been the same. Obviously we had been working pretty hard defining our brand leading up to the launch of the website. That process was about six months long, actually. Eat It and Like It was created over the summer of 2010 by myself and my business partner Senea Crystal. There aren’t any big anniversary celebrations in the works, just more hard work planning what our next 5 years are going to look like. All of that said, I got to thinking this week about some of fun we’ve had over the years. Like any other start up business, there have been a few highs and a number of lows. All of which had something to do with where we are right now. I thought it would be fun to share my top 5 moments over the last 5 years. The good and the bad. We’ve had plenty of both.
**Premiere of Eat It and Like It with Jesse Blanco – On September 24, 2011 the first episode of Eat It and Like It premiered on a Saturday morning on WJCL-TV. It was always the plan to have a television show. I was a television personality by trade, after all. But we didn’t think it would happen so quickly. We thought we’d give it two years or so developing the blog and then roll out a well-planned television program. Truth be told? I got a little impatient and fast-tracked the whole thing. Best decision we ever made. Eat It and Like It with Jesse Blanco was an instant hit and a brand was truthfully born.
**Injury sidetracks progress – In May of 2012, after our first EMMY Nomination, I tore a tendon in my right wrist shooting a basketball during production of our show. Initially I thought it was a strain of some kind. I was stubborn, and put off the doctor for a few weeks. When it didn’t get any better, a visit to the doc revealed the tear. A cast didn’t heal it, surgery was required. The cast was removed from my arm in January of 2012. That was a full 9 months of no TV production and limited updates to the blog. Add rehab to that and you got a full year or more where we sat almost idle. It was a tough stretch.
**Savannah Morning News Comes Calling – All of that down time due to injury may have buried us had it not been for a perfectly timed invite from the Savannah Morning News to contribute a column to their publication. When the call came, not only was I flattered, but I had no idea we’d be on the shelf for another year healing my wrist. My first weekly column in the newspaper appeared in July of 2012, which allowed the brand to continue to grow despite the fact that we were not producing any new television shows. To this day, the Eat It and Like It column ranks among that newspaper’s most popular franchises.
**First annual Eat It and Like It Foodie Awards – In May of 2014 we put together what has to this point become our signature event of the year. The Eat It and Like It Foodie Awards was the result of a ton of hard work, research, voting and discussion. We wanted to put together our first “Best of” series. The culinary scene in Savannah had grown to the point where we thought we could offer tremendous diversity in categories. There were 35 categories in all awarded to the true best in town. Our results weren’t sponsor driven. Our results weren’t a popularity contest. If our panel of seven thought you were the best in a particular category, then you got the trophy. It was, and remains, as simple as that. Details on the 2016 Eat It and Like It Foodie Awards are coming soon.
**Permanent Transition from News to Food – On May 24, 2015 I signed off as a newscaster in Savannah for the final time completing a 2 year transition to self employment. In June of 2013 I left my anchor spot on the 10pm news in Savannah and moved into a part-time sports position at WSAV. Two years later, we had gotten Eat It and Like It to a point where it could allow me to focus exclusively on this. Continued growth and development of the brand, the television show and subsequent projects (including spin off TV shows) are all I do now. Trust me when I say it is more than a full time job.
I am most proud of the fact that no one has every paid to be on our TV show. Never. That’s not how we operate. Of course, despite all of this fun we’ve had, we’d be nowhere without your support. We’ve enjoyed #1 TV ratings, we’ve seen record website traffic. All of it healthy signs of growth for Eat It and Like It, so thank you for your continued support.
See you on TV,
Jesse
