By Mark Baratelli
Publisher
I have a feature called #bringtoorlando. It's a type of post I write in which I share one good idea I''ve found other cities doing, and ask our readers to bring this idea to Orlando. It makes the city better. That's its goal.
Here are a few examples of some #bringtoorlando challenges:
- 20 at 20
- Street artist Joshua Allen Harris
- Zine Symposium
- Shakespeare's Macbeth playing in 93 rooms
- Lima Lives
On March 6, 2014, I did a #bringtoorlando post about the chocolate chip cookie milk shot:
Here's what I said:
Much like the cronut wafted its way into local Orlando restaurants and theme parks after it hit New York and the universe, the Chocolate Chip Cookie Milk Shot is sure to be available within the month locally after it was announced Wednesday. Made by the creator of the cronut, this delicious and "why didn't I think of that?" obvious dessert will be available Saturday at SBSW in Austin Texas... and locally within the month. (Source, Source)
No one took me up on my challenge. But having my #bringtootlando challenge ignored is not unusual. On April 28, 2010, I issued a #bringtoorlando challenge for something called a "food truck bazaar." I put that idea right out there in the open for anyone to accept and execute.
No one took me up on that challenge either. I did it myself on March 31, 2011 and now 4 years later, I do about 10 of them per month, every month. It's the nation's original and first food truck tour. I've done over 500 events.
Thank you for ignoring that #bringtoorlando challenge!
On March 10, 2015, I issued another #bringtootlanfo challenge, this time for an edible coffee cup I read about being produced in England by Kentucky Fried Chicken. I shared how the inside was coated with a heat resistant layer of chocolate and the outside was covered with an edible label made of sugar.
The instagram post we shared one month ago
The difference between this #bringtoorlando and others was that someone LISTENED and shared the post with someone who could potentially make the product.
The local food blogger Taste Cook Sip (Web | Instagram | Twitter) tagged my post with the name of a local chocolate shop: Peterbrooke Chocolatier:
Peterbrooke Chocolatier emailed me a photo of their first attempt at the cup. I thought it looked more like my March 6, 2014 #bringtootlando challenge, the chocolate chip cookie milk shot. So, I sent her a link to my post and suggested she go in that direction. She agreed.
We made plans to meet up at 4pm Saturday April 11th so that I could take photos of the cup. Those plans were made a week prior to April 11th. On April 10th, my friend Tom asked me to go on an April 11th Disney World visit. I emailed her on April 10th and asked if I could meet either later that night or earlier that day. We agreed on 10am.
I of course being someone who is always late, showed up at 11:15am. Her husband was there. He took me back into the kitchen and showed me the cups. I was way more excited than anyone. Here was this idea I'd read about and asked someone, anyone to do, a year ago. And right here in front of my eyes, it was sitting, done. I didn't make it, bake, work on it, nothing. I just shared the idea. But I just knew, even in March 2014, that locals would flip over this product. And here it was, a year later, sitting in front of me.
I shared our photo that we had taken inside their kitchen on Instagram and it got a lot of response:
- 159 likes
- 49 comments
Our visual style on Instagram is this:
- a photo of one object
- minimal descriptive text on the photo
- zero text beneath the photo
I didn't have room on the photo to say....
"I shared this idea in March 6, 2014, no one took me up on it, then a year later I shared a similar idea in March 10, 2015, the local blogger Taste Cook Sip shared it with Peterbrooke, Peterbrooke tried the first idea (cookie coffee cup) and sent me a photo, I suggested they try the second idea from 2014 (the cookie shot), they did it, and here it is. Due to the design language I'd been establishing on my instagram feed for almost a year now, I just said simply: "We suggested they make a cookie shot and they did it" because of the design
The product goes on sale Friday April 17th at Peterbrooke Chocolatier in Winter Park. I think it will be a hit because not only of its innate charm (swig a drink and eat the cup), but of the multitude of uses:
- Bars could buy them by the gross and sell shots of Baileys in them
- One could be set next to every place setting at weddings
- A mom could pick up a pack of 30 the morning of her child's birthday party
Ultimately, this is not about cookies. It' about making our city better. Yes, it's a shot glass made from a cookie. But I knew it'd be something that would get people excited. And I am right. When I saw people experience them in person Wednesday at 2015 Taste of Winter Park, when multiple people asked me "where did you get that?" as I held it in my hand walking around at that same event, and when I see the reaction on Facebook...
- 670 Likes
- 133 Shares
- 48 Comments
...I knew I was right.
I feel like this fun little product will bring a lot of smiles to locals' faces, new business to local owners, and an inspiration to local bakers and creatives. That's why we do the #bringtoorlando challenges: to make our city better.
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