Pot and Box, and tons of food

Last night, I went to a cool little foodie event in Ann Arbor put on by the folks at Tracklements. The event, which brought together a number of budding local food businesses, like Farrell Fruit, EAT, The Brinery, and the new Zingerman’s endeavor San Street, was held at the Pot and Box flower shop. As proceeds went toward one of our favorite local non-profits, FLY Children’s Art Center, and as unlimited beer was promised, I was enthusiastic about attending. What’s more, it gave me a chance to finally check out Pot and Box, which is owned by my friend Lisa Waud. I’d met Lisa about a year ago, when she took a class on blogging that I was giving for 826 Michigan. She hadn’t opened her storefront yet, and was thinking about ways to use social media to get the word out about her company. I promised her that, at some point in the future, once the shop was open, I’d come out with my video camera and shoot an interview. Well, that’s what I did last night, after filling up on buffalo sliders and steamed pork buns. Here’s the result.

And, yeah, I mentioned the unlimited beer, right? (Linette was driving.) Oh, and the woman we joke around about firing at the end is my friend Beth, who works for Lisa. And, as far as I know, Lisa didn’t let her go.

Anyway, if you want to deal with a great florist, I can’t say enough about the work that Lisa, Beth, and others on the Pot and Box team do. Not only are the great with plants and flowers, but they’ve got a really good sense of what it takes to be successful in this economy. By using the web, and by actively building relationships with the local foodie folks, they’ve accomplished more in their first year than I ever thought possible. It’s really incredible to see what they’ve done, and to watch the way they creatively leverage their space on Felch Street to host cool events such as this one. We could use a few dozen more entrepreneurs like Lisa.

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13 Comments

  1. Posted October 17, 2010 at 8:44 pm | Permalink

    Oh man! I wish I’d known about that event–glad it went so well :) How was the beer??? :)

  2. Knox
    Posted October 18, 2010 at 5:50 am | Permalink

    What’s going on in Ann Arbor relative to food culture and business is the one bright spot there. Hopefully it continues to grow.

  3. Edward
    Posted October 18, 2010 at 9:01 am | Permalink

    I like the idea of having local employers firing their people live, online.

    Fire Beth!

  4. flower lover
    Posted October 18, 2010 at 9:49 am | Permalink

    In related news, the Ken Nielsen flower shop is going out of business.

    http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/kens-nielsen-flowers-closes-store-but-still-smelling-like-a-rose/index.php

  5. Alice
    Posted October 18, 2010 at 1:30 pm | Permalink

    I hear San Street is starting as a food cart. Any idea where they’ll be located?

  6. Ted
    Posted October 18, 2010 at 3:16 pm | Permalink

    You should interview people drunk all the time.

  7. b
    Posted October 19, 2010 at 7:22 am | Permalink

    how about quitting online…..

  8. Edward
    Posted October 19, 2010 at 8:15 am | Permalink

    I wonder if it would work as a concept for a reality show to fire people live on TV. It could be called You’re Fired, and Trump could produce it. It could be half an hour long, and it could be followed by Take this Job and Shove It, a show in which temps are pushed to their breaking point by actors pretending to bosses. So much potential.

  9. Rex
    Posted October 19, 2010 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    any idea what San Street is?
    that noodle shop blog doesn’t have any information linking it to zingerman’s.
    at least, not on that front page.

  10. Tim
    Posted October 19, 2010 at 9:17 am | Permalink

    San Street is Asian street food. It may evolve into a store, but, for the time being, it’s going to be served from a cart. And it’s being started by some people within the Zingerman’s organization.

  11. Posted October 19, 2010 at 7:36 pm | Permalink

    Beth, if that’s you posting as “b”, it was really great seeing you the other night. We should try to get together again before you take off for the west coast.

  12. b
    Posted October 21, 2010 at 6:55 am | Permalink

    got me, mark….i will call you guys soon…..

  13. Dudley
    Posted October 26, 2010 at 9:48 pm | Permalink

    Good I hate flowers. Why do u call it a foodie event. That’s a weird word…foodie.. Not manly. Call it a trough n brew or grub devour event or scratch n sniff. Were there women there?

3 Trackbacks

  1. […] folks at EAT, and, for what it’s worth, I agree with his assessment. I sampled their stuff at an event at Pot and Box in October, and it was […]

  2. […] Two of my friends, Joe Posch and Lisa Waud are in the running for a $50,000 prize in a competition called Hatch Detroit. The ultimate objective of the project, according to organizers Ted Balowski and Nick Gorga, is to get entrepreneurs moving into downtown Detroit, and trying new things. And, toward that end, both of these friends of mine submitted ideas concerning what they’d do in downtown Detroit if given the $50,000 grand prize. The ultimate decision as to who wins will be in the hands of panel of business experts, but, at this stage, people like you and I can still play a role. We, through our online votes, will help pare today’s ten semi-finalists down to four finalists, who will then face the judges. (Online voting ends Friday, October 14 as 11:59 PM EST, and, from what I’m told, you can vote every day between now and then.) So, even though I don’t know the first thing about Hatch Detroit (I don’t think there’s any connection to the Hamtramck artists’ collective Hatch), I thought that I’d mention the competition here in hopes that the money is real, and that it might make it possible for either Lisa or Joe to do great, inspiring things in the City. (I have the utmost confidence in both of them, and don’t doubt for a minute that they’d be inspirational, revolutionary forces in whatever community they found themselves in.) Here, in case you don’t know them, are links to interviews I’ve done with both of them in the past: Joe & Lisa. […]

  3. […] as we were turning to go to the bar, who should pop out of Astro and grab us than our old friend Lisa Waud, the owner of Ann Arbor’s most lovely little garden and flower shop Pot & Box . She’d seen […]

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