Rachel’s project, “Behind the Menu,” will invite viewers into the kitchens of some of Akron’s favorite restaurants and food businesses as a video series.

The YouTube series—produced by Everyday Akron—will take viewers behind the scenes to see how the sausage is made (and whatever else is on the menu) while meeting the people who make it all happen.

The focus is the @everydayakron Instagram account, where a different Akronite shares their side of the city weekly. The secondary location is the website, with blog posts on niche topics, local guides to explore the city better, and features on small businesses and nonprofits.

The Everyday Akron team and Rachel have been brainstorming the businesses to feature and planning how the episodes will tell their stories. They have also been developing a marketing plan to launch and share the series digitally and in person via a premier showing.

Due to scheduling conflicts (some team members transitioned into new jobs in the fall) and winter weather (the wet, gray environment is not dynamic to film), filming has been halted until the spring. They are also looking into additional ways to fund the project to make it a success.

In the coming months, Ray and team will reach out to their curated selection of restaurants and food businesses to schedule a filming time, followed by editing, scheduling launch dates for each episode, rolling out the marketing plan and hosting a premier event/launch party.

A Year in Reflection

In my year of being a Knight Emerging City Champion, I have learned a lot from my fellow champions, my Everyday Akron team who’s helping with the project, and myself. The champions and the people I’ve been introduced to through my experience with 8 80 Cities have shown me new ways to see various aspects of my project and expanded my ideas of collaboration.

People who have great ideas and ambition are some of the more interesting and inspiring folks around.

“Behind the Menu” is still in process as our featured businesses are filming their content, and we’re beginning to edit their stories together. The Everyday Akron team and I had planned on filming everything ourselves, but due to budget restrictions and scheduling issues, we pivoted. We felt that having the businesses do the filming would not only help on our end but also provide a more intimate look behind the scenes. We built a filming kit with all the gear and information they need to capture their stories, and they have a full week to film interviews and b-roll from a list of questions and visuals we gave them. We see that this approach creates a more relaxed and thoughtful raw product versus a jam-packed half-day filming.

The five featured businesses include a brunch/music venue, Thai restaurant, BBQ food truck, Nigerian catering company and – fellow Champion – Erica Banks’ mobile bartending business. I strived to select a variety of offerings, locations throughout the city, and a number of years in business.

We are in the process of working with a local designer to create a logo for this project. It will be featured in the intro of the videos, on project-specific merch, our website, and more. When it comes to launching the videos to the public, we want to premiere all five of them with a local independent movie theater we’re talking with. (Hopefully in late September or early October.) Then, the videos will premiere over five weeks on our YouTube channel.

To coincide with the video launch, we’re looking into hosting meetups at each food business to bring more people in the door and experience what they offer. Everyday Akron is really good at telling personal stories, which is what the videos align with. But we’re also great at bringing people together to form connections. These meet-ups will help prove that. We want our viewers to learn about the businesses and then support them in person to keep the momentum.

Finally, to help create additional funding, we launched a Ko-Fi page for donations, merchandise and exclusive “rewards,” like what you’d find on a Kickstarter project.

My goal with this project is to not only produce five high-quality videos that are impactful to the businesses and viewers but to also gain enough interest for a second season so we can keep making positive changes in Akron, Ohio.

The first episode of Behind the Menu has been launched since this last update. Watch here: Best Damn Smoked Meats

Stay tuned via the @everydayakron Instagram account and our Substack.

About Rachel Whinnery

Rachel Whinnery is the creator of Everyday Akron, an online community hub showcasing local stories and businesses. A storyteller at heart, Rachel is dedicated to illuminating the spirit of her adopted hometown. Her passion for Akron extends beyond digital spaces to community involvement with organizations like Friends of the Goodyear Branch Library.

Follow Rachel on TikTOk, IG & YouTube @everydayakron
Visit the project website.

Additional links:

• Everyday Akron website – Rachel continues to share stories and small business features highlighting the people who make Akron an interesting, vibrant place to live.
• Everyday Akron newsletter
• Around Akron with Blue Green interview Getting to the heart of what Everyday Akron strives to achieve.
• Rachel hosted the @everydayakron Instagram account in November, and a couple of the posts were related to new businesses, hidden gems and things people should know more about in the city. It was a sly way to get some insight into potential businesses to feature.
• Video – asked what’s new and happening in Akron
• Post – asked for suggestions on places to eat