- Good afternoon. Welcome to the Bloomington Rotary Club's weekly celebration of service. I'm Steve Wicks
- and I'm honored to serve as your president this year. Please silence your electronic devices. On this
- day in history, October 7th, 1938, Germany began requiring that all Jewish passports be stamped with
- the letter J. Tracy Ivanovich will share her reflection.
- of in that vein, I guess. I remember two years ago on October 8th, I was giving the reflection, and
- it was the day after the terrorist bombing in Israel. And I remember getting reclimbed, shall we say,
- in the spirit of Dana Carvey, because it was distressful. I mean, the attack was terrible. But I also
- was worried about what would follow. And of course, now we've lived through what has followed, which
- is even more catastrophic with all of the
- deaths. You know, 1140 people killed the day of the terrorist attack, over 67,000 killed in Gaza. It's
- horrific. And last night on the news, I just got back from Belgrade last night, and on the news they
- were interviewing a woman whose child had been a hostage and was killed. And they asked her what her
- thoughts were, and she said, I'm distressed about
- obviously losing my son, but I'm also distressed for all the people in Gaza who've lost their child.
- She said, you have to, you can't be distressed about one child being gone if you can't about another.
- We start to lose our moral compass. And I thought that was really a great gauge for us. And then I started
- thinking, well, you know, who defines what the moral compass is, but that's a whole nother story. But
- I thought that was a really good way of looking at things that we can't, there's no sides.
- People are people and I was also reflecting on Lauren's last week reflection and there's a lot of. Problems
- out there, especially coming from Serbia. There's a lot of problems out there, but there are good things
- out there. We've just got to figure out how to control what we can control and try to influence and
- be positive as positive as we can. So I just wanted to share that.
- We have a few guests with us. Ellen Stroman is here as a guest of the club. And is it Garrett Ortinga,
- guest of Jordan Davis, our speaker. And Andrea Astil, guest of Andrea Murray.
- Jeremy Graham, guest of Jim Sims. And Joy, do we have any guests online? Hi, Steve, and hi, everyone.
- No, we do not have guests today. Well, welcome guests. If you'd like to learn anything about Rotary,
- just turn to the person next to you and ask. We have a number of birthdays to celebrate.
- New member how she Wang today is his birthday. Tim Jesson in the back here. His birthday is tomorrow.
- And art omic has a birthday on the 11th. Um, anniversaries, uh, past president Sarah Laughlin,
- 17 years today, uh, past president Tracy Yovanovich, three years on the 11th.
- Also on the 11th, Tim Jessen, nine years with our club and 13 years overall in Rotary. Number
- of announcements. Club is sponsoring an Iraqi refugee family. They need help in two areas, conversation,
- practice, and English with the parents to improve their spoken English skills, and job hunting and job
- preparation assistance for their 20-year-old daughter.
- who has intermediate English skills. Please reach out to Dave Meyer if you'd like more information or
- if you think you could help. Annual Rotary Toast is the event that funds our club and the foundation's
- local charitable giving. Don't forget to buy your tickets for the event schedule for Friday, November
- 7th at Ivy Tech. You hear this all the time, but tickets really are going fast. See me or Tracy or go
- to RotaryToast.com to get your tickets.
- And if you haven't seen it, there was a really nice article in the Herald Times electronic version today
- about this year's recipient, Pat Wilson. Save the date for the local NAACP Freedom Fund banquet at Ivy
- Tech on November 1st. There should be flyers on your table. Please see club members Jim Sims, who is
- here today, or Patrick Smith for details. Also save the date for the
- annual club holiday party December 11th at the Bloomington Country Club. And we will be joined same
- as last year by the Bloomington North Club. Wonder Lab partnering with Duke Energy and SCCAP invites
- families to come to Wonder Lab on October 12th from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free. There will
- be opportunities to sign up for energy assistance from Duke, SCCAP services,
- and Wonder Lab access passes. The chocolate mousse will be there. There will be giveaways, activities,
- and more. Last year, they had hundreds of families attend. They hope for more families this year. Rotary
- Book Club has one seat left. Is that correct, Sally? One seat left for their October 24 Uptown Cafe
- Dinner Bush Book Decession.
- followed by a Buskirk Chumlee talk by John Green, the author of the book, Everything is Tuberculosis.
- See Sally Gaskell right away if you're interested. Congratulations to Liz Fiddle, Raj Haddawi, Tim Jessen,
- and Winston Shindell, all of whom attended every weekly celebration of service for the past quarter.
- So our perfect attendance awards.
- Um, next sibling city virtual town hall has been scheduled for Saturday, October 26 from four to six
- PM. The topic is polarization. What should we do about it? This is not a winterizing talk. This is more
- of a political forum. Um, you should have received an, uh, a female invitation from a land barker with
- a link to the event registration. If you have any questions, please see a land or see me.
- Craig Spence, still recovering from his fall. He hopes to return home soon. And finally, over the weekend,
- you should have received quarterly billing. If you didn't receive quarterly billing and you're quite
- concerned about it, please see John Zote or please see me. Okay, celebration of service. A lot of stuff
- going on in the community over the weekend.
- And first, we'll talk about Hoosiers Out Run Cancer. I want to say they had 4,300-plus participants.
- Rotary in Bloomington was involved. The Handlebars was a team put together by the Bloomington North
- Rotary Club in honor of the recently deceased Dr. Mark Dayton. They raised over $15,000, and they had
- the largest family community team. So good job to the Handlebars.
- Our club was represented by volunteers and participants. A couple of pictures of the brights, Jim and
- Ann sporting the back of their Dr. Mark Dayton shirts, the handlebars, and then Jim and Ann walking
- in the one-mile walk. Also at the event, the Rotoractor Club. That's our, this year's President Neva.
- Rotoractors actually had two volunteer events on Saturday. This was one of them. So they were out there
- making lots of things happen. And then finally, it's a run for cancer support in the community. But
- in the spirit of last week's Mystery Rotarian, Martha Wales, who ran competitively for 35 years, I want
- to recognize one of our club members, Bill Brown, did the 5K run.
- And he came in fourth out of 35 in his age group. So yeah. Bill raising money for cancer support and
- doing it in a very fast way. Sunday was the Buddy Walk. And Bloomington North Club was a big sponsor
- this year. I was there at a rotary booth.
- Next to us was Lifestream, and then next to that was our new organizational member, Developmental Services,
- Inc. And here's a picture of lead member Haoxi Wang who's sitting right there and his colleagues. And
- it was a really fun event. And now it's time for the Mystery Rotarian. So those of you who are new to
- this, if you know the answer, just put up your hand. Don't shout it out.
- If you're online, raise your hand electronically, but don't say anything. So here's the first clue.
- As a journalist, this Rotarian once served as a senior science writer for General Motors Research
- Laboratories, edited the Welding Handbook, edited the Miami Herald International Edition, and served
- as a visiting journalism professor at IU and the University of Kansas.
- Okay, we have a few in the room. All right. Next clue. This Rotarian attended a 2010 launch of the Space
- Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center, which I'm really jealous about. Okay, put up your hand if you know
- we have. All right, a few more. Also, this Rotarian is a sixth generation native of Hopkins County,
- Kentucky, a status shared with
- Favorite author, Wendell Berry. Okay, put up your hands again if you know. We're getting a few more.
- Last clue. A Paul Harris plus three fellow and a Bloomington Rotary Club roundabout reporter, this Rotarian
- was a member of the Coral Gables Club for 30 years and has belonged to our club since 2018. All right,
- put up your hands.
- Okay. And the answer is Bill Oates. And Tracy, you were the first hand up. Did you get it right? Oh,
- okay. I think, Liz, you might have been the second hand. Did you get it right? Oh. Judy, you were? Did
- you get it right? Oh, good job, Judy. I think you have a three-week streak going.
- Bill is not here today, but if we get a round of applause for Bill Oates. Joy, did anyone get it right
- online? Well, I was scouring for raised hands and I did not see any. I think we were all stumped. Okay,
- thank you. So a couple of pictures of Bill, a file photo and then a picture from a couple of years ago
- during a Paul Harris ceremony. Bill with Lance and Tim and Liz.
- Ventured north of the Ohio River to attend Purdue, earned a BS in engineering sciences, later earned
- degrees from IU, and talk about diverse organizations, publishing books, the National Council of Teachers
- of English, along with the American Welding Society, and Market Data Retrieval, Inc.
- Bill has been surrounded by good basketball since he grew up in Kentucky. He spent time at Purdue, IU,
- and Kansas University. He spends his winters in Florida. So he'll be leaving soon. And then he'll be
- back in the spring, during which time he's volunteered to be a roundabout reporter. So move on to Rotary
- International Minute. October is Rotary Economic and Community Development Month. And we have a short video.
- play.
- I see entrepreneurs or workers up there in Northern Thailand. And I see that the major issues with the
- whole problem now is the inequalities of wealth between the rural areas and the urban city. We have
- to move those small-holder farmers into the market so to raise their income level in here and fight
- this inequality. Not many people can understand about the peace aspect.
- of agriculture. If we can support the economic development in a very sustainable way, I believe that
- we have a chance for building a peace platform. Our mission of Go Organics is to empower regenerative
- agriculture. We need local people to support the local farmers in here.
- while at the same time connecting with the world. It's all peace building. It's very interesting because
- once I had a meeting with the farmers, we present what is organic suffocations, what can you do to the
- farmers. After two hours talk with them, they thanked me for sharing with them the knowledge.
- But I told them, no, thank you. Without you, I live in a city, I have no food to eat. Please help to
- produce more quality food for the people to eat.
- and together we'll make a difference. Now we have some time for Happy Dollars. Is there anyone happy?
- I see Tim in the back. Here's Tracy up front.
- happy dollars because we are at 305 tickets out of 350 for the toast and the article today Jim's not
- here I don't think Jim bright but man that was great I'm not really happy about my birthday but I am
- happy for the st. Thomas Lutheran Church if you don't know what
- Last Wednesday the First Christian Church experienced a very, very disastrous fire which did not take
- out their sanctuary, but it has caused them to move to other places. And so Sunday afternoon we were
- hosted by St. Thomas Lutheran Church. I also want to say a word in favor of our neighbors over in Owen
- County. The Gay Pride celebration there in Spencer was just over the top. Thank you all.
- Oh, you came out of nowhere. I have five happy dollars because as Tracy said, 305, I think she said,
- I'm the proud owner of one of them. And on your tables, you'll have flyers for the NAACP and it has
- this real convenient QR code. So $5 to teacher's warehouse. So Jim, when you raise your hand and there's
- money in it, you'll be surprised at how quickly we move. I have $20 for
- For my daughter, Brenna, who's turning 35 today, I think, and her new grandson, my first grandson, Miles.
- I have $20 for the good news I just heard from our
- a fellow member for Gilmore. I said we've now reached $4.8 million in our beacon raising money from
- the community. And our goal is $5 million, so we're on our way. And also had a great groundbreaking
- just a few weeks ago, but this is icing on the cake. One online.
- Lynn Schwarzberg is not here so that I can say that I'm so happy, 10 happy dollars, that the Milwaukee
- Brewers are shoving the Chicago Cubs in the baseball playoffs. I change dollars for recognizing our
- member, I don't remember his name, who's having, who had his arm, hands broken.
- And I've been thinking about him because he's a pianist and I hope he's getting really, really good
- care. Can Leslie go? I have 20 happy dollars for
- A joyful event that happened in our family this week. Our son Jonathan moved from Bridgewaters Group
- Home, which is just up the street from Opportunity House to a home in Park Ridge East. He has got the
- bottom level of a split level home. And he's 40 years old. He operates under the age of two. And Doris
- Sims asked me on Sunday, well, was he happy? And I was kind of hemming and hawing, and Doris said,
- Well, you're telling me that he went from room to room clapping. I think he's ecstatic. So she was right.
- We have online. Yes. You want to get the online one? Hi, this is Leslie from Wonder Lab, and we just
- had our gala, The Wonderful Science of Oz. We have preliminary results that it's in the top three of
- all time. We got
- donations after the event. So thank you to everybody that attended, that are Rotarians, that donated,
- that helped. And if you want to be on a gala committee for Wonder Lab, let me know. We're looking for
- expanding our committee by 20 happy dollars because we did a really good job and proud of us.
- One more. I have some happy dollars to share to say that my husband and I volunteer at Spencer Pride.
- The Saturday was so fun. My husband was a volunteer at the Wonder Lab booth teaching kids how to make
- slime and I send all the kids up to make slime with my husband. So he texted me and said, I don't know
- why my booth was so popular. We had so much fun. Please come visit us next year. Thank you all.
- And now Sam Udak will introduce our speaker for today. So our guest speaker today is at the center of
- Bloomington's food scene. He served as the director of operations at the Chocolate Moose for 11 years.
- He started and continues to organize Bloomington's food truck Friday, which grew from the lot next to
- the old Chocolate Moose building to today's bustling location at Switchyard Park.
- He hosts a podcast, No Dishes, which is now at its ninth season, sharing the stories behind Bloomington's
- favorite restaurants. You may also find him calling bingo and DJing in special events and weddings.
- This summer, he spearheaded the return of the taste of Bloomington drawing more than 30,000 attendees
- to Kirkwood Avenue. Beyond his hospitality roles, he serves our community as the board president of
- Visit Bloomington and serves on the New Hope for Families and West Foundation boards. It's easy to see
- why he was honored with a 440 award from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce this year.
- Please join me in giving a warm welcome to our speaker, Jordan Davis. All right. Thank you, Sam. It's
- an absolute honor to be here. When Kyla first reached out to me about giving this speech, I was excited
- and also a little nervous. For someone that does a weekly radio show, a podcast, it's not often that
- I'm asked to give a speech. But then I remembered I get to talk about something. Oh, was that me?
- All right, cool, we're good. I gotta talk about something that I care a lot about, that's food. And
- more specifically, food in a community that I care really deeply about, Bloomington. With over 380 culinary
- offerings, our city punches way above its weight. 145 of those are in the downtown area. We have 10
- breweries, wineries, and distilleries, over 20 food trucks, 85 international restaurants, 23 pizza places,
- 35 coffee and sweet shops, and 38 bars and pubs.
- When tours visit, they spend more money on dining out than entertainment, lodging, or any other segment.
- In 2023, the most recent year we have data for, this accounted for $150 million spent. This helps support
- over 2,700 culinary jobs in Monroe County. In a visitor profile study, the second highest rated way
- to describe Bloomington after being academic was that it has great restaurants and food options. I tell
- you all this
- to emphasize how important a vibrant restaurant scene is to our community and communities around the
- world. Worldwide, culinary tourism accounted for $11.5 billion spent in 2023. In a time where it seems
- harder than ever to get everyone to agree on anything, in a time where it's easier than ever to focus
- on all of the negative around us, there's one thing we have in common, and that is the need to eat.
- Food is what fuels us. It's what keeps us alive. It's the universal language. When we meet or gather,
- we break bread.
- It's how business is done. It's how relationships are fostered. Look at us today. I know if I'm invited
- to something and I know there's going to be a good spread, I'm much more inclined to attend. But how
- do we keep this front and center for locals and tourists alike? How do we create these gathering spaces
- where we can share food and ideas that can in turn help us retain and attract young professionals within
- our community that we so desperately need? How do we activate our public spaces and continue to embrace
- Bloomington's unique identity
- through this universal need for sustenance. Back in September of 2014, myself, along with the owner
- of the chocolate mousse, Justin Loveless, started what has now become a beloved Bloomington tradition,
- Food Truck Friday. Every week, April through October, local food trucks and other vendors gather for
- this free to attend event that can be enjoyed by the entire community, featuring local bands and musicians
- during the dinner hours. While now a popular event nationwide, we were one of the first Food Truck Friday
- events in the country.
- If you type in facebook.com slash Food Truck Friday, it brings up the Bloomington Food Truck Friday
- page. Many much larger communities don't even host a weekly food truck event like we do. We very quickly
- saw that there was a demand for an event like this when we started it at the Old Chocolate Moose. And
- over the years, we have seen so many new food trucks open knowing that they can rely on consistent great
- sales at a weekly event. I'm very proud of what Food Truck Friday has become over the past 11 years.
- Where else can you go and support so many local businesses and musicians all in one place while also
- seeing Bloomington's beautiful $34 million Switchyard Park being utilized in a way that benefits so
- many? Through my work with Food Truck Friday, I've unintentionally become the main point of contact
- for many event organizers looking for food vendors. This has led to organizing food trucks for IU Athletics,
- the IU Arts and Humanities Grand Faloon Festival, and the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, and many others.
- It was through these experiences that I thought maybe I would be the person best suited to bring back
- the beloved Taste of Bloomington event, which had failed to come back since the pandemic, the last one
- occurring in 2019. So in November of 2023, I met with some of the old organizers, Talisha Coppock with
- Downtown Bloomington, Inc., Ron Stanhouse with the Crazy Horse, Dave Kubiak of the Bluebird, to ask
- for their blessing to bring back the taste. Fortunately for me, they were ready to call it a day.
- as they had poured countless volunteer hours over many years working on the taste, and after two attempts
- to bring it back, filled through in 2022 and 2023, they were happy to pass it over. With that being
- said, they had dissolved their 501C3, and there was no money left for any future events. So with a binder
- full of papers from 2019, meeting minutes, spreadsheets, all that stuff, and their blessing to use the
- name, I set out to figure out how I can make this thing happen.
- I approached Justin Loveless, the owner of the Chocolamousse, and asked if Chocolamousse would be willing
- to financially back the event, allowing us to plow ahead with the certainty that the event would happen
- no matter how much sponsorship money was raised. He agreed, as he had seen how much taste of Bloomington
- had meant to the community since its inception in 1982. The old event had happened most recently in
- the Showers Plaza, required a ticket to attend, and gave the food vendors freedom on portion size and
- pricing. But I wanted to re-envision what it looked like.
- I ultimately settled on Kirkwood as the ideal location. The energy of other events on Kirkwood was something
- that I felt was hard to match. The sample gates, the lit up Busker Chumley sign, the streets filled
- with people. An opportunity to showcase vendors, but also our downtown and surrounding businesses. One
- of the things I was really excited about was putting the stage right in front of the sample gates, because
- I hadn't seen one done like that. I'd heard maybe in the 80s or 90s. But that picture alone brings me
- just so much joy seeing the sample gates with the stage.
- The other feedback I had heard over the years was that the event had become fairly expensive to attend,
- and many portions were too large to try as many different places as people really wanted to. So we went
- ahead with a free to attend model and capped all the food at $5 or less. Historically, the event was
- a Saturday before Father's Day. But with Grand Faloon now occurring on Kirkwood at the beginning of
- June, I wanted to space it out, eventually deciding on the last Saturday before MCCSE, the local school
- system, started back up.
- So after nailing down the vision, I began to form a committee. When it was all said and done, a 19-person
- committee was formed with everyone broken down into specific subcommittees with specific focuses. Restaurant
- vendors, entertainment, infrastructure, alcohol, volunteers, sponsorship, and marketing and branding.
- We had full committee meetings and frequent subcommittee meetings beginning in the December of 2024.
- I was a part of every subcommittee meeting to ensure that I had a full understanding of what was being
- accomplished and what we had left to do.
- Leading up to the event, or really quick, I want to just recognize all these people because taste doesn't
- happen without all of them. I'm sure you know a lot of them, but they busted their butts with nothing
- expected in return. So I'm really glad that we got to put their picture up here, list out their names.
- They're with a lot of great local organizations as well. But leading up to the event, I did a full-blown
- media tour with appearances on Wish TV, RTV6, Fox 59, and just about every local radio station. We put
- up a billboard and we ran an ad in Evansville Living.
- There was a buzz about the town the week of, and we couldn't have asked for a better weather forecast
- this year. We knew Saturday was going to be one hell of a day, but we had no idea what was in store.
- In 2019, Taste had approximately 10,000 attendees, and we thought, best case scenario, we would match
- that or maybe exceed it by a couple thousand. We were wrong.
- It was estimated that we had attendance of over 20,000, and I'll also get to how we got the 30,000 number
- that Sam mentioned. So without ticket sales, it was a little tough to figure out attendance numbers,
- but we took two different approaches. First, I took a number of photos for different times throughout
- the day, different locations, and gave those to my friend, Pat East. He used five different AI tools
- that I'm not versed in, or well versed in, and knew what prompts to give it.
- And that got us a wide variety of numbers, right around that 20,000 number, some a little lower, some
- a little higher. The other method we used was the city has something called Placer AI. It uses cell
- phone location data. You have to opt into it. But it takes that number and then extrapolates it out.
- And it eliminates anyone that lives or works in the area. That showed for the time of the event, on
- August 2 this year, from 3 to 10 PM, 4th Street to 6th Street, Walnut to Indiana, that there was 35,000 people.
- So we went with the 20,000 number. We felt good with that. The 35 also includes people in restaurants
- on 4th Street, 6th Street. But regardless, we were very happy with the turnout. The 50 food vendors,
- which was a new record for how many food vendors participated, and the eight alcohol vendors combined
- for over $225,000 in revenue over a seven-hour period. The Chocolate Mousse was able to make a profit,
- and we were able to show that this free-to-attend model was likely sustainable.
- But most importantly, the number one feedback we received was that Bloomington was back. For so many
- people, this was the first time since the pandemic that they thought things had finally completely returned
- to normal. It was a reunion. It was an opportunity to take pride in our city. The food vendors were
- able to showcase their offerings to potential new customers for their stores and make some money at
- the same time. Our incredible breweries, wineries, and distilleries were all included, something that
- hasn't always been the case.
- The chocolate mousse will once again be behind taste for 2026, but I'm currently working on forming
- a new 501C3, which will take the reins after next year's event using a percentage of the profits that
- it hopefully generates. I think Mayor Thompson put it very well when she spoke to the crowd and referred
- to taste as the crowning jewel of county summer. We hope this is the case for many years to come.
- When I had Mayor Thompson on my podcast just before she took office, she had mentioned retention and
- attraction of young professionals as the second biggest challenge she had ahead behind working out solutions
- for our homeless neighbors. I'm confident that events like taste, a strong culinary scene, and a fun
- post-grad nightlife are integral parts of achieving that goal. When the pandemic hit, my friend Sadie
- Clark, who was a huge part of the taste marketing, started a restaurant bingo game where you would get
- get carry out from local restaurants, and post a picture of your food next to a bingo card with that
- restaurant marked off. Once you got a bingo, Sadie would give you a gift card from one of the many local
- spots that donated. As someone that is constantly on the go, many people quickly figured out just how
- much I ate out. As I had blacked out my bingo card before most people got a regular bingo, when I made
- my post, I started writing little reviews with silly jokes, and they quickly garnered a following
- with many chiming in to say I should start a podcast. So with my extensive dining out experience, 15
- plus years of working in the restaurant industry at the time, and a hate for doing dishes, I started
- the No Dishes podcast back in the summer of 2020, naming it after the best part about going out to eat,
- No Dishes. This was an opportunity to highlight the stories of those behind your favorite culinary hotspots
- and your favorite dishes.
- We also have covered local events, nonprofits, bars, and from time to time, just people that I found
- interesting, like Mayor Thompson and Angelo Pizzo. Initially, I'd guess come on to my 500 square foot
- apartment that was underneath the Uptown Cafe. It was a little bit of a challenge, making sure I always
- kept it clean. Didn't do a great job, but we made it work. Fortunately, now we have our own studio.
- We've built a set, and we have a three camera operation, thanks to my business partner, Garrett Portinga,
- with Green Hat Media, who's here today.
- Since its inception, No Dishes has garnered over half a million views and listens and has had a major
- positive impact on many of the businesses that we have featured. The stories I've heard are incredible.
- We recently had Anwar Naderpour, the owner of Samira, on the podcast, and he shared how he fled Afghanistan
- when Russia invaded in 1979, and he made his way to Pakistan. Then through very fortunate circumstances,
- he made his way to France, then Virginia, then Indianapolis, and then down here where he opened Samira in 1998,
- and named it after his first daughter. Or Ed from Buffalo East, I'm sure everyone in this room probably
- knows Ed. He shared about his unwavering mission to spread his son's music after his son had taken his
- own life at a young age. There's countless other stories of guests we feature that make you gain a newfound
- appreciation for them, their businesses, and what they serve. That's what makes Bloomington so special,
- the people. And so many of these incredible people tell their stories through their food. So next time
- you're dining out,
- Be sure to take the time and think about the story being told. Appreciate what we have. The restaurant
- business is one of the hardest businesses to make it in, and I can tell you it certainly is not getting
- easier. When I started at the Chocolate Mousse in the spring of 2014, I was incredibly fortunate to
- inherit a brand with generational loyalty and a cult following. While that was a lot of pressure and
- a task that I did not take lightly, it was something many local restaurants don't have the luxury of
- having. Despite growing revenue over 600% in my time with the mousse,
- Every year is an uphill battle to be profitable. Transient labor force, rising food costs, increased
- competition, it doesn't let up. And I'm not asking for your sympathy. I know how lucky I am to get to
- work with ice cream every day. They don't tell you when you're a kid that that's a career, that you
- can make money working in ice cream. And that is not lost on me. I tell you all this to say, if the
- choco mousse, which dates back to 1933 and has a loyal following, has to scratch and claw to make a profit,
- Think about how difficult it is for these newer restaurants opening up, the ones that have little to
- no brand recognition, who have yet to build up a following. So please, when you're dining out next,
- please try something new. Try something local. Reach out to local restaurant owners and managers and
- see if there's a way for you or your businesses that may be able to help collaborate with them. Because
- if there's one thing that I've learned while I've been in Bloomington, it's that collaboration is key.
- The taste of Bloomington doesn't happen without collaboration.
- Master rental agreeing to do a huge in-kind sponsorship before there was any buzz about its return.
- All the vendors agreed to participate. All the volunteers that worked that day, the sponsors, the committee,
- the city, it was a team effort. Collaboration is the answer to the question I had asked at the beginning.
- How do we keep people focused on the, oh, that's me when I started the chocolate mousse. I forgot that
- was in there. There we go. Collaboration is the answer to the questions I asked at the beginning.
- How do we keep people focused on the importance of a vibrant restaurant scene? Collaboration. How do
- we create these gathering spaces where we can share food and ideas? Collaboration. How do we activate
- our public spaces and continue to embrace Bloomington's unique identity through the universal need for
- sustenance? Collaboration. So please go out, continue to do the amazing work I know you are all doing
- in our community, and collaborate with one another in new ways so we can continue to be proud to call
- Bloomington home through our breaking of bread with one another.
- Thank you again for asking me to be here today. I'm incredibly grateful for all the work that you all
- have done as individuals and this group has done to make Bloomington the gym that it is. Thank you so
- much and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. Who gave you the recipes for your initial
- I think they had chocolate mousse. Yeah, so the May family, who I'm sure many of you know, we owe a
- lot to the May family. They started the chocolate mousse in 1933 as May's Cafe, and then they built
- the old stand in 55. It was called the Penguin. It was in the Jack and Diane music video when he says,
- sucking on a chili dog outside the Tasty Freeze. That's the old chocolate mousse stand in the music
- video. But yeah, we have a lot of recipes from the May family. We still do a homemade chili sauce. The
- guy that makes the ice cream, we have one guy.
- makes all the ice cream for all of our stores, everything we do. It's incredible. He's the only one
- that's been there longer than I have, other than our owner. But yeah, we've inherited a lot of stuff
- from the May family, and we try to uphold that tradition as best we can. I'm curious, because you had
- such a successful model this year with Chocolate Moose as the main sponsor. Yeah. Why do you need a 501C3?
- not-for-profit status? Yeah, it's a great question. So we were very fortunate. Part of the collaboration
- that helped make it happen this year was the Chamber agreed to be a fiscal sponsor for us, because there's
- certain organizations that will only give money to a 501c3. Also, Taste isn't about making money for
- us. We were very happy, because ChocoMoose took a huge risk. Two months before the event, it looked
- like we were probably going to lose 20 grand. We got very lucky with weather. A lot of things fell into
- place to where it was profitable. But that's not what Taste is about. So we're hoping that it is going
- to be a nonprofit.
- Or I'm sorry, it will be for sure. And then that also might make it easier for other people to help
- support us, knowing that it's not just going to try to help make the Choc-O-Mousse money. So I was sad
- when Cafe Pizzeria closed after, what, 60 years. But I've been surprised that you talk about startups
- and getting the name out. I mean, certainly a restaurant that was known in the community. Any thoughts
- on why I believe that location remains vacant?
- Yeah, well, I think they're asking like $5 million or something for the building. So I think there was
- stuff going on in the family as far as why they closed. I can't speak on it. I don't know too much about
- it. But yeah, it's just tough when you have these businesses that have been around for decades and they
- get passed down throughout the family.
- You know, does the next generation, is that what they want to do? Do they still want to run it? Food
- costs are just through the roof. I wish we could charge so much less for ice cream than what we do.
- So my heart goes out to everyone out there struggling in the restaurant business. And I don't know.
- We'll see. My guess is they're waiting for someone to come along that will shell out that amount of
- money. And I'm sure they'll, unfortunately, probably build on top of it. But maybe that's not a bad
- thing to have some density. Yeah.
- Loved the Penguin. I was there all the time with Ms. Pacman. But the constellation, the thing I look
- forward to at Constellation is the coupon. Yeah, of course. That's great. Are you mostly townies or
- gownies when you think of your customers? What's the breakout? Yeah, so we're in a unique situation
- where I think, I don't know the exact percentage breakdown, but it's both. And we're lucky that when
- everyone else dies in the summer because all the IU leaves, it's perfect ice cream weather.
- It is tough, though, because one of the things that makes the ice cream business difficult
- is the seasonality. So even though you have all these students here, not too many people want ice cream
- or as frequently in the winter. So I would honestly, I'd probably say 50-50 if I had to put a number
- on what the breakdown is, which we're lucky. We're local.
- give to every silent auction that reaches out. I can't tell you the last time I said no to donating
- a gift card or something like that. So it's very important for us to be good community partners and
- be involved in the community. And again, realize that there's these generational people just coming
- through. One of the fun stories I like to tell when I first started the chocolate mousse at the old
- stand, I had a couple come through and they're like, it's our 50th anniversary. Well, that's incredible.
- And they go, our first date was here.
- And that kind of blew my mind. So very quickly put into perspective for me how much the chocolate mousse,
- the penguin, meant to a lot of people in the community. And then for the gown side of things, we sell
- at the football stadium. We do a lot of stuff with IU Athletics. We've had a chocolate mousse here in
- the union. So I don't know. We look at it from all angles and just want to serve everyone some good
- ice cream. My friends and I had a mobile penguin club
- Oh, nice. In the 1950s. Anyway, I wanted to ask you, what was some feedback you got from this event?
- And are you planning any modifications or changes? Yeah, thank you so much. So one of the number one
- feedback we knew would be an issue going into it, the hardest, the biggest hurdle we had to make this
- thing happen on Kirkwood was power. Getting power for these 50 restaurant vendors, which some of them
- were food trucks, so maybe not 50, but just getting power. Fortunately, the graduate hopped in and let
- us tap into their power grid.
- Which is extremely nice, especially they're owned by Hilton. So it's a massive company. But Andrew Harris,
- who's the GM at the graduate, serves on the Visit Bloomington board with me, realized the importance
- of the event, let us tap into that. Cassidy Electric was able to run it all out there. But that created
- all of the food vendors together. So it was kind of a bottleneck on the 200 block. Didn't know where
- lines were going to, things like that. So I'm going to try to continue to explore our power options
- so we can spread the food vendors out.
- So it's not all clustered together. The other thing was the intersections. We had asked, and I'm very
- grateful to BPD and FIRE for everything they did to help make this event happen, but we had asked ahead
- of time, can we close down some of these north-south streets? It's going to be a lot of people. They
- want to leave them open so emergency vehicles can get through, and plus you can't just like close down
- Lincoln and people can't get to the graduate parking garage or things of that nature.
- So those were the two biggest takeaways. Also, we want to put menus up higher so people can see them
- through the crowds of people. But those are the two biggest takeaways. Try to spread out the food vendors,
- which is, again, something we knew we needed to do, but we're going to try harder this year now that
- we kind of have the format nailed down. And then seeing what we can do as far as closing the intersection
- so it's safe for everyone walking through. Thank you.
- So I wondered like how many flavors of ice cream you can have at any one time, ready to serve. And then
- also what might be your most successful flavor cell. Oh man, okay. This is fun. I did, I spoke to the
- project school recently. Every question was about flavors of ice cream. And that was, that was fun.
- I could do that all day. We could probably do, I think 20 at any given time, maybe a little bit more
- than that. You know, so we have our regular ice cream that's made with 14% butterfat.
- Your typical sauce serve is four or 5% just to kind of put it into perspective. It's not easy to scoop.
- My right forearm is larger than my left just from scooping ice cream so much over the years. I think
- grasshopper, you know, the mint Oreo. People are very fond of that one. It's very popular. Cookie dough
- is up there. It's had years where it's been the most popular. Obviously the chocolate flavors, the moose
- chocolate, which is just plain, and then the moose dream chocolate Reese's cup. People love those. And
- then recently the one we've had the most success with has been our banana pudding.
- So we had that as a seasonal we kind of teased it like the McRib would give it to you take it back a
- little bit. And now I think we brought it back for good because we're not jerks. The chef what his favorite
- food in the whole world was and he said ice cream and one of the reasons was it's so hard to get perfect
- that smoothness and just the process of getting it right would you agree.
- Yeah, 100%. You know, I know Lynn Swartzberg who's not here today. She's had notes for me as I'm sure
- it doesn't surprise many of you on how we could get it to finish a little cleaner. But you know, I think
- we've had the same guy making the ice cream for 15 years. You know, he learned from guys that had been
- making it for decades before him. And it's the one thing in the company I don't know how to do in my
- 11 years because he just handles it. But yeah, so I have a lot of respect for what he does and how consistent
- he gets that product out.
- And ice cream is so good, but I've always had advice for baked goods. That's always been my, uh,
- what gets me. Uh, I have a question. If you can give one advice for someone who is trying to start a
- podcast, cause we're thinking about doing a disability podcast awareness. What would you give to us?
- Yeah, find someone to partner with. Garrett and please chat with Garrett and I afterwards. Garrett's
- the producer and really the brains behind all of it. I just go and get to have fun conversations with
- people. He does all the hard stuff. But when I initially started, I found a producer that believed in
- what we were doing, and so I wasn't paying out of pocket. So if you can get someone that can do the
- technical side, or if you just do audio only, even though we've added the cameras,
- So many people I run into are like, hey, I listen to it when I'm on a run. I listen to it. So so many
- people, even though you have the video, are still listening to it. So honestly, you could probably order
- the equipment you need, teach yourself just how to do it, and just get the ball rolling. I think the
- biggest thing is consistency, getting content put out. We try to do every Tuesday. We have some breaks
- in there. But we do 40 episodes a year. So we put out one a week for 20 weeks and then have a little break.
- one a week for 20 weeks, but consistency and just start, start creating content and just start going.
- Yeah. Thanks. What, um, uh, if somebody were coming out of town guests, friends of yours, and they said,
- Hey, we're coming in for the weekend and, uh, take us to a couple of your favorite places that you want
- to go for restaurants. What would you, what would you say? Oh man, I don't want to alienate anybody.
- Um, I'm, uh, I'm a huge fan of, uh, Osteria Rego. Um,
- probably the best Italian in town. I love what they do there. D'Angelo's is also great on the Italian
- front. But love Osteria, the Elm, depending on what my bank account looks like. I love going to the
- Elm. Chef Dan Thomas is incredible, really smart, knows what he's doing. It's such an incredible aesthetic
- that they have in there. The level of service is fantastic. The number one place that gets mentioned
- on the podcast is Uptown and they deserve
- all of that credit, because they're, when you think of running a restaurant as like a production as
- a show, I think Uptown really epitomizes that, the way they all work together in unison, work together
- as a team, and it's really fun to watch that stuff when you're dining out and see the little ins and
- outs of how people are doing things. But my favorite comfort meals, like Taste of India, butter chicken,
- veggie pakora, garlic naan, love some, who's your soulmate to get the Korean fix? I mean, I could go
- on and on, so I don't know how much time we have.
- Any questions online? There are not, Michael. So today in the Washington Post, Tom Sitesima, who stepped
- down as a food critic after 25 years at the Washington Post, and you sort of started to tell us things
- that you wish people would think about when they are thinking about going to restaurants. He did a whole
- list, which I'll share with you afterwards.
- So you touch on one, you said, try something new. What are some other tips to get people to, you know,
- be a little bit more bold and try different things? And what do you do to encourage people to to get
- out there and eat out and enjoy it? Yeah, I think I would say when you go to places, especially those
- on 4th Street, but tons of others ask, ask
- get to know their story, get to know the why, why they get into doing restaurants, why do they care
- about food? You know, I am also saying this to myself about trying to be adventurous and ordering. Once
- you know you like something, it's hard to get away from it, because especially it's more expensive than
- ever to dine out. You don't want to waste that money and get something you don't like, but I think it's
- worth the risk, because then you'll find new favorites. And the other thing maybe isn't so much as to
- your question, but just having understanding when you're going out to eat, especially with the ebbs
- and flows of the university calendar.
- knowing that, okay, it's graduation weekend. They're going to be getting their butts kicked. Maybe I
- need to make a reservation or go a little out of town. I think that's just something that's very courteous
- and helpful for the restaurants themselves, knowing what they're going through at any given time. The
- taste was wonderful, and I want to commend you for all you've said and done. But you have a
- good understanding of the downtown area. I spoke earlier of the Christian Church, and a lot of people
- there were opposed
- to closing off Kirkwood. What is your opinion on how that has worked out for the restaurants and others?
- Yeah, I go back and forth on it. If you would have asked me a couple years ago, I probably would have
- had a different answer. I think it's great to close Kirkwood for these special events. I love all of
- the people at Uptown and Farm and Lenny's and Nick's. I'm close with all of them.
- but it does seem potentially that the closure benefits those four and maybe not anyone else. But I know
- they also do pay money to do that outdoor seating. I would say either let's leave it open or let's just
- close it permanently, brick it out, make it a beautiful pedestrian walkway all the time, similar to
- Pearl Street, I think in Denver or Boulder.
- And so that would be my thought is let's leave it open unless we want to do something a little more
- drastic. But I'm happy to see Uptown and Farm and Lenny's and Nick's all thrive with it.
- But yeah, fortunately, I'm not in a situation where I have to be the one to make that call. If you could
- bring back two or three restaurants that no longer exist in Bloomington, which ones would they be? Yeah.
- So I moved here in 2009. So I don't know if I'll date back to some of the ones that other people would
- like to see. No Coast Reserve.
- On the square, the last seafood restaurant we had, and it was incredible, Chef Seth Elger, where Inkwell
- is now, and then it was Oliver in between. No Coast Reserve, I miss a lot. Love No Coast. Man, Darn
- Good Soup is one that I hear mentioned a lot, and I miss.
- And then I don't know if Petite Cafe, they closed for a while. I know they still do the window service,
- but I don't know if they still do the dinner services. They do. Yeah, because I used to enjoy doing
- the dinner service, and I think they got away from that. But yeah, I'd say that's it. And I know we're
- going to get done today. I'm going to think of 10 more that I wish I said. Yeah, Irish Lion, some Blarney
- Puffballs, 100%.
- I know I've seen I've seen pictures, but it was before my time. So one of the things the old taste of
- Bloomington had was competitions between the restaurants on waitstaff and things like that. Are you
- thinking about doing and having worked Sweeney's I
- did that. And it was competitive with my father at the union, I'll just say. But are there any competitions
- you all are looking at doing? Yeah, so that was floated, you know, for this year. But we were like,
- let's just focus on the basics. It's our first year organizing it. Let's get down the food, the booze,
- the music, you know. But now we're like, okay, we've kind of shown that now let's build on top of it.
- So that's one of the things we've discussed.
- And even though I haven't waited tables or bartending in years, I kind of want to just see if I still
- got it, hop in there with everyone else. But no, I met with Steve, the executive director at the Buskirk,
- recently. And as of now, it's looking like we'll be adding that as a third kind of stage. Because also,
- again, we got so lucky with the weather, it's probably going to be 90 degrees next year. So to have
- an area that people can get out of the heat, and again, the Buskirk is a huge part of Kirkwood. So if
- we get Buskirk in there, we might maybe do some stuff like that in there.
- So Jordan, you shared ahead of the meeting that you're used to podcasting and what you do with a live
- audience. And yet, boy, your enthusiasm really resonates with this audience. And whether the number
- was 20,000 or whether it was 35,000, it's still really impressive and so good for Bloomington. So in
- honor of your talk, a donation will be made this quarter to the Lake Monroe Water Fund. I'd like to
- thank the volunteers for today.
- Diana Hoffman, Tracy Yovanovich, Sam Udak, Joy Harder, Judy Schroeder, Michael Shermis, Jeff Richardson,
- Sarah Loughlin, and Joy Harder, I think I may have mentioned you twice now, Joy Harder online, but you're
- doing a really good job. Our next meeting will be on October 14th here in the Georgian Room. Brian Williams
- will be speaking about generative artificial intelligence.
- I know a little bit about what AI is. The whole generative part will be new to me, so it should be very
- interesting. Tyler, if you could put up the graphic for the four-way test. Please stand if you're able.
- Of the things we think, say, or do, first, is it the truth? Second, is it fair to all concern?
- Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned?
- And fifth, is it fun?