Frankel Ventures

Sharz Cafe & Wine Bar’s updated delivery and twilight dinner menus have been posted.

Since I started SpecialsByZip.com, people have asked me how I thought of the idea.  I’d like to take a moment to share the story with you now.

One night, I was planning on going to dinner with my parents. We spent (wasted!) a whole hour discussing where to go, as we were bored of the same places.

We finally settled on one of our usual restaurants and, as we walked in, we saw a special of grilled salmon with sauteed artichokes. I love artichokes, as does my mother. Basically, we’ll try any dish with artichokes in it, so had we known that one of our favorite restaurants had such a special, we wouldn’t have had to spend 60 minutes discussing where to go eat. Our decision would have been made.

From there, I just began thinking about it all. Everybody’s been there. You have a few local restaurants you like, and you pretty much know the menus by heart, but every once in a while you just get bored of them all. You’ve tried the other local spots and just don’t like them. At the same time, you really like the food in the spots you frequent (that’s why you go so often!).

I thought about it some more and realized that being able know nightly specials before being in the restaurant could be really useful. For example, I could follow the restaurants I like to see what new things they have that I’d be interested in trying. Or, I could see specials of other restaurants for when they have dishes with things I really like (artichokes!).

And from there, the idea was born. I spoke with some restaurateurs (Stu at Sharz Cafe was one of the first people I spoke with about it, and he couldn’t have been nicer) to gauge interest.

When all signs pointed to going for it, I did. Now, as SpecialsByZip.com nears its two-year anniversary, I must admit that I still feel a great sense of pride with each new subscriber and with each new client.