Raise your hand if you were terribly concerned a year ago this weekend.
If you are a small business owner, you very likely were. I know I was. The concern came in all kinds of shapes and sizes. It was put very succinctly to me last year by a business associate.
“Jesse” he said “This is very different than 2008.” (referring to the recession and mortgage crisis) “This year our biggest concern should be staying alive.”
Of course, he was right. You can lose a job, a car or a house, but those can be replaced. 530,000 families in America will tell you all you need to know about that.
It was plenty scary.
But it was also long ago for the most part. I’m not here to take up your time with a play by play of an absolutely horrible year. We can all compare scars another time. Because most of us have plenty.
On so many levels though, I think a majority of us would agree that the worst of this is behind us. Hotel occupancies at 91% or so in Savannah this weekend will tell you that the masses agree.
I got poked this weekend. One shot done. The biggest side effect? I drove straight to the gym for a fabulous workout then drove home down Abercorn blasting some old school jams singing at the top of my lungs. I was in a fabulous mood. Why?
Because while it was hardly just ceremonial, that shot felt to me like I stepped over a threshold onto final approach to the end of this hell. Frankly, it was the culmination of a pretty good week at Eat It and Like It. It’s really hard not to be over the moon excited about the rest of this year and future years.
So what does this mean to you, the reader, the viewer, the follower on social media or newsletter?
If you’ve been paying attention, and I know a lot of you are, in near record numbers actually, you’ve seen an increase in our production in ways unrelated to our (TEN years later) still very popular and highly rated television show.
Our podcast has been running weekly for well over a month. Our web content is more frequent than it has been in years and our social media is a playground you want to be part of if you aren’t already.
We are having a blast bringing you content that is not only informative, but sometimes entertaining and relevant to our food scene and my food travels.
As you know by now, if it is worthy of sharing, I do. Whether it be Downtown Savannah, Beaufort, Atlanta or Nashville.
As for television, I mentioned a few months ago that we’d be evolving our format a little bit. We think our food scene has grown enough to make our content more topical.
So much is happening so quickly in this area, it has become impossible to ignore. And we are looking forward to sharing so much of it.
That doesn’t mean the fire hose will open full blast beginning next week. Of course not. I may have gotten a vaccine, but that doesn’t necessarily give us access to every kitchen we want. Some restaurant owners are more cautious than others and that is understandable. So we’ll make it work however, and have a blast doing it.
Starting with lunch today out on Tybee. So I’ve gotta go. Thanks, as always for sharing a few minutes. Please remember to follow us on social and sign up for our newsletter. There’s no better way to stay on top of this area’s food scene.
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