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FEED Kitchens Selects Northgate for New Location

Posted on by Brian Lee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2012

Contact: Ellen Barnard
(608) 576-3734

FEED Kitchens Selects Northgate for New Location

(MADISON, Wis.) – Citing higher visibility and a decrease in fundraising needs, Food Enterprise and Economic Development (FEED) Kitchens selected the Northgate Shopping Center for the new location of its food business incubator, the organization announced today.

“The Northgate location has a lot of advantages, such as easy access by bus and the support of local businesses such as Food Fight Restaurant Group,” FEED Kitchens Chair Ellen Barnard said. “We are excited to begin supporting local food entrepreneurs in the upcoming year.”

Groundbreaking for the new location, which will take just under a half-acre of space in the shopping center’s parking lot, is slated for March 1, 2013, and the anticipated opening of the facility is August 2013, just in time to process next season’s harvest. Pankratz Road near the airport was the original site.

As previously announced, the FEED facility will include five commercial kitchens, with specialized equipment for baking; produce preparation and processing; and deli prep and meat processing. The space will be available for non-profit and for-profit use, with Madison College, REAP Food Group, local caterers and food cart vendors among the first groups to sign up to use FEED Kitchens.

The Food Enterprise and Economic Development (FEED) Kitchens will provide tools to help youth and adults who are disadvantaged, unemployed or underemployed develop skills that move them toward self-sufficiency. FEED will reduce hunger and increase the availability of healthy local food by providing organizations serving the hungry, gardeners and farmers a place to process excess produce that would otherwise end up in a landfill or compost pile. For more information, please visit www.feedkitchens.org.

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Resulting media coverage:

The end of election 2012, finally

Posted on by Emilie Buckman

In all honesty, I didn’t think this day would ever come! With a seemingly never ending election season, the today is finally here. To say I’m excited would a gross understatement.

And while others might reserve their excitement for tonight when the results come, my excitement comes tomorrow with the end of political ads!  For months it’s just been a steady stream of ads and social media chatter. So tomorrow I can turn on the television or login into and know no one will be trying to convince me how to vote, is a wonderful feeling.

Don’t mistake this excitement for apathy. I’ve already voted and I truly believe there are some important issues at hand. But there is only so much a person can take and I reached that limit probably four months ago.

I have to believe this over saturation of politics causes more damage than good. Just watch this video that’s circulated to different news outlets. Look what this election did to this poor child! But if was socially acceptable to cry about the election like this little girl, I would. All the news coverage, social media fodder, and attack ads have left me feeling less politically engaged than ever! And I know I can’t be the only person.

That being said, I hope everyone exercises their right to vote today! Just please, exercise some restraint and civility, as well! We can disagree without being disagreeable; my high school Civics teacher taught me that.

The explosion of K-Pop

Posted on by Brian Lee

YouTube has launched the careers of musical artists such as Justin Bieber and Arnel Pineda (current lead singer of Journey). Now’s it launching an entire genre of music called K-Pop.

I bet more people are familiar with K-Pop–which is pop music from South Korea–than they realize. Just turn on the radio or go online to hear/watch PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” which the New Yorker calls the “Macarena of the moment.”

These videos have high-quality production and dance choreography, which certainly helped them go viral worldwide (the No. 1 rule for viral marketing is to have good content). So far, “Gangnam Style” has more than 600 million views, Girls’ Generation’s “Gee” has 90 million and Super Junior’s “Mr. Simple” has 50 million.

K-Pop’s popularity is an example of the ever-evolving digital landscape. Previously, you typically discovered new music through the radio and/or by watching MTV/VH1. Now, by the time a song hits one of those media, you’re already familiar with the song through YouTube, Spotify or iTunes.

What does this mean for the notoriously greedy record industry? Besides using these new avenues, record executives need to remember it’s okay to give away something for free. Recent sold-out K-Pop concerts in the United States and huge record sales prove this.

And if something is worth sharing, people will share it.