Why Hire Us?

We Understand Restaurants and Resorts

Three months a year I live at Northland Lodge on Leech Lake—living and breathing your industry. And waterskiing.
Three months a year I live at Northland Lodge on Leech Lake—living and breathing your industry. And waterskiing.

You want to fill tables or get heads in beds. You need an agency that understands your industry. After working for 22 resorts and restaurants, we get it.

When an agency doesn’t specialize at all, or specializes in “coal mining, indie music, bike safety, restaurants, nuclear energy facilities, political causes, and resorts”, you have to wonder if they get where you’re coming from.

Restaurants and resort marketing is what we do. It’s what we know, and it’s what we’re good at. And we live the lifestyle—my brother and I own an upscale bakery in Duluth and I spend every summer at a resort on Leech Lake.

We Know Everyone

My friend and former Real Housewife of Miami Ana Quincoces shows off my book in between takes at NBC.
My friend and former Real Housewife of Miami Ana Quincoces shows off my book in between takes at NBC.

My family moved from Sicily to New York City in the height of the gangster era, started Progresso Foods, and lost it under circumstances I never quite understood. The picture looked a little sketchy to me.

“Grandma,” I asked once. “Are we in the Mafia?”

“Ha, no!” she said, suspiciously quick.

But while my own background is squeaky clean, I have inherited my family’s gift for connections. If your network is your net worth, we’ve hit the Powerball. Clients are astounded at all the people we know. From editors to TV producers to industry experts, we’ve got deep roots in Minnesota and a wide net across the country. When it comes to finding a source or pitching a story, that’s what you need.

We’re Tenacious

Michael Pollan Tweeted
4x NYT bestselling author Michael Pollan promoting my client. Making this happen took some persistence.

I’m 5’7 and 165 pounds, and I played men’s rugby. That’s a little hint as to the kind of tenacity you can expect from me and the rest of the team. To quote one of my mentors, who wrote and tabled two entire novels before cashing high six-figure advances, “the persistent get published”. With our help, so will you.

We Have Ideas

This is from a Duluth’s Best Bread commercial—we’ll think as creatively as we need to to fit your brand!
This is from a Duluth’s Best Bread commercial—we’ll think as creatively as we need to to fit your brand!

Day to day, this means we bring you the story ideas and angles that will resonate with the media or make good blog posts. One client told us “your article had things about my restaurant that even I didn’t know”—there’s no higher praise.

Target an outreach effort to chicken farmers with blogs? We’ve done it. Choreograph a fight scene for a commercial, complete with kicks to the head? We’ve done that too. Whether it’s setting up a local food tasting or asking a Real Housewife of Miami for an endorsement, we’re constantly thinking of new ways to make things happen for you.