Work for Food

In NYC, dining out is an art form. To gain a firm foothold in a cutthroat entrepreneurial landscape, owners of thousands of trendy eateries attempt to create aesthetic and gastronomic perfection. Therefore, when the Food Network hosted its 7th Annual Wine and Food Festival from October 9-12, 2008, the Big Apple provided the ideal backdrop. The festival featured such culinary personalities as Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (authors of the Skinny Bitch book series), and Alton Brown, among others, discussing, teaching and inspiring audiences to embrace food as a passion rather than a necessity.

Though the event may seem decadent, it serves a greater purpose. All proceeds from the event benefit the Food Bank of New York City, a 25-year-old organization that administers hundreds of emergency and community food programs that serve more than one million New Yorkers, and Share our Strength, which raises funds to support programs that feed malnourished children.

In the spirit of this benevolence, NYC-based Fuel Outdoor, which operates more than 4,000 out-of-home advertising locations, donated advertising space on three billboards and six “metro-light” shelters, which are akin to private-property bus shelters, in Manhattan’s posh Meatpacking District, SoHo and TriBeCa areas – a contribution of approximately 3,000 sq. ft. of advertising space valued at $125,000 per month. According to Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, Fuel Outdoor’s founder, the company made the donations as part of its philosophy of a “triple bottom line” – a term coined by author and business adviser Andrew Savitz for an economic approach that benefits “people, profits and planet.”

Kroma Printing (NYC) printed the billboards on vinyl or mesh material with one of the shop’s UV-ink printers and similarly printed directly on Opaline plastic sheet for the shelter graphics. Kroma president Steve Warren also donated his shop’s work. North Shore Neon (NYC) installed the graphics.

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