Today’s letter is free for all readers. It contains sponsored content in partnership with OpenTable. All opinions are our own.
Good morning everyone.
Yesterday I tweeted that Feed Me is an example of a perfect media company. It wasn’t really a joke. As someone who doesn’t plan, when everything goes to plan, it feels miraculous.
Last night, hundreds of Feed Me readers came to Time Again on Canal Street to celebrate New York Smashion Week (which I invented three weeks ago). The point of the party was simply to eat Shy’s Burgers and participate in the lost art of hanging out. You will notice in the photos below — shot by Friend of the Letter Dev Bowman — that there are very few phones in sight. That is because Feed Me readers understand living in the moment. It’s also hard to hold a burger and a cocktail and a cigarette and a Feed Me keychain and a phone at the same time. Something has to give.
Thank you everyone for coming last night. There will be more parties and burgers and keychains as long as you keep subscribing.
Today’s letter includes: My favorite ad of the week was on Substack, an SF members’ club with five kinds of martinis, Vanity Fair’s Fanning sister cover story has me bullish on GWYN, and cool news for any of you who are teachers who want your students to read more!
📱 Have a story you think I should look into? Text the anonymous Feed Me Hotline: (646) 494-3916
Christmas is in 99 days — do you know where your company holiday party will be? Private dining rooms have become a recurring topic in Feed Me. These rooms are where some of the best brand dinners, networking events and bachelorette parties happen. As anyone who has ever planned one of these dinners knows, the experience is something akin to a treasure hunt that can either lead to treasure or… disappointment. It can take days of emails, calls, and group texts to find out if a dining room is a) available, b) in your budget, and c) the place where you’d want to close a deal. By the time you send your second follow-up email, you wonder if the party is worth it at all. This week, OpenTable launched a new all-in-one marketplace for private and group dining. Diners can browse private dining rooms, semi-private spaces, and large group tables, alongside transparent pricing, menus, ambiance details, capacity and imagery. For restaurants, this will help them generate more revenue and maximize underutilized space. OpenTable’s research found that organizers take an average of 17 hours to find and book the right venue. Nearly half (42%) of respondents said they’ve abandoned booking altogether due to the hassle. It took me about 12 minutes to play around with this new tool and find venues for upcoming work events… some of which you might get an invite to.
The New York Times launched a new newsletter about spirituality called “Believing.” The first one covers Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and says “faith is present in nearly every detail of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.” Religion is a category of news I had no idea I cared about, but the stories they include are pretty interesting. There’s a news roundup section featuring articles about a 15-year-old saint and backlash surrounding a Long Island mosque’s expansion plans.
Dakota and Elle Fanning both showed up to their separate Vanity Fair interviews in head-to-toe The Row (Elle also wore trousers from Goop).
Maison Passerelle, the restaurant in Printemps, is now open for lunch.
Really cool news for all the teachers and admins reading today: The Atlantic is offering every public high school in the United States free digital access to its journalism and 168-year archive.
The leather jackets and flannels that will be on display on Bond Street on Sunday…
Amador, a private social club in San Francisco, opened a new semi-private space “with its own membership tier” called The Bank. I’m going to need some help from my SF readers to get a better understanding of what role Amador (which used to be called Wingtip) plays in the city’s social life, and if anyone is excited about the new $50/month membership to The Bank. The space was designed by Winston Studios, whose clients include Gjelina and Cafe Stella. Their press release says there’s a signature caviar cart. And the SF Standard wrote that the club has five types of martinis.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has quit the ice cream brand amid a dispute with parent company Unilever. “It’s with a broken heart that I’ve decided I can no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s,” he said in a statement. Last year, Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit against Unilever accusing them of an “ongoing silencing” of the brand's “social mission,” including its support for Palestinian refugees. (Magnum, which is being spun off from Unilever, said in a statement that they “disagree with his perspective” and “have sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation.”)
- secured a butter sponsor – Plugrà – for their latest issue, “Forbidden Fruit.” I heard that they’re going above and beyond on the desserts at their party tomorrow night, which I hope to stop by.
Wellness retreats exist on a spectrum. There are Sky Ting’s dreamy yoga retreats that, according to my Instagram feed, involve a lot of dancing and spaghetti in seaside towns. There are silent meditation retreats that I’ve heard of friends going on in the Catskills. And then there are places like The Ranch (originally in Malibu, but now also in the Hudson Valley) that focus on hiking and spa treatments, but which people mostly visit to kickstart weight loss. Bloomberg published a story today about how, in a post-Ozempic world, these sorts of detox-focused resorts are rethinking how they attract customers. In 2021, a fitness and weight-loss retreat called Movara in the red rocks of Utah was sold out for 18 weeks straight. But with the ubiquitous use of GLP-1s, there’s been a dip in attendance at some of these weight-loss-centric retreats. In response, they’re refocusing on longevity, menopause, and weight maintenance.
Jeff Rubenstein (former President & Chief Growth Officer at Poppi) joined Khloe Kardashian’s protein popcorn company Khloud as CEO. I spoke to him this morning about the move:
Khloud is still in its early days (I think I see it more on Instagram than in stores). Do you think you will focus more on retail/distribution or product expansion in your first year?
The brand launched nationally at Target and Sprouts earlier this year with industry-leading velocities, and Walmart, Albertsons, Kroger, and Ahold launches are coming this fall. We’re just unlocking New York, so you’ll start to see us more on shelves there along with the strong presence we already have on Instagram. Right now, the focus is on scaling distribution so more consumers can access our functional, protein-packed snacks.
What move from the Poppi playbook will you bring to Khloud, and what's something that you don't think you will be repeating?
The biggest learning from Poppi is the power of community. At Khloud, we’re focused on building strong relationships with advocates, influencers, and creators who love the brand and want to be part of what we’re building rather than relying solely on ads. That’s how you create something lasting.
See you tomorrow!
There is something, I don't know, inherently masterful and why I love this newsletter so damn much. You are building a loud and proud COMPANY. You've told us what you are doing, we support you, and in return, we all want to party with you. Not one stupid mention of the word community.
On the flip side, canned answers about building community through Khloe Kardashian popcorn makes me want to barf.
I quit smoking a decade ago but light me up, girl.
i’m thinking we might need an aliza & tanya guest lecture