It’s launch week at FOUND, with our London edition launching yesterday, followed by the debut of Paris tomorrow. We’re celebrating the new frontiers from our home offices, having officially spoken our plans to build a GLOBAL MEDIA BRAND into an inbox near you.
Last decade, when we were launching a series of blogs in more than two dozen North American cities under the Curbed, Eater, and Racked banners, we would celebrate each launch with a special lunch at Curbed HQ in Manhattan’s East Village. I went back and checked the tape (i.e., emails to the team from Curbed ops czar Jackie Goldstein) on a handful of these lunches, which peaked during the release frenzy of 2011-2013. It’s a study in the power of pushing the ball forward and the ’10s downtown NYC lunch scene (Torrisi/Parm turkey hero, legendary).
Date: Sept 7, 2011
Sites: Curbed Atlanta & Detroit; Eater New Orleans
Lunch: Torrisi
Date: Jan 25, 2012
Sites: Eater Philly & Vegas
Lunch: “Unfortunately due to the NYT review of Parm we do not think they'll be able to cater to our large order on short notice so we're going to try NO. 7 SUB.”
Date: Nov 15, 2012
Sites: Eater Louisville, San Diego & Minneapolis
Lunch: Rubirosa
Date: Dec 5, 2012
Sites: Racked Boston, Philly & SF
Lunch: Parm
Date: June 27, 2013
Sites: Eater Detroit & Nashville
Lunch: “Parm recently started delivering and is amazingly on Seamless now.”
Date: Sept 24, 2013
Site: Racked TK (Which Racked??)
Lunch: “Amazing newish salad spot Sweetgreen… They don't actually do catering but are doing us a favor, so we have to get them the order today.”
Date: Oct 2, 2013
Sites: Eater Toronto, Montreal, & Vancouver; Curbed Toronto & Vancouver
Lunch: Mile End
Jan 2, 2014 (!)
Sites: Racked Dallas & Miami
Lunch: Parm
Here’s to more lunches in 2025 for all who launch. –Josh Albertson