"Every night makes somebody’s day…you asked me how I can do this and that’s how I can do this.”
This uncomplicated reflection amid a sea of dynamic writing stuck with me. I love its simplicity and also its magnitude.
For anyone who is familiar with working in foodservice, the television series The Bear captures every insane, magical, tormenting, tyrannical, tortuous, and beautiful aspect of the restaurant industry. Now, I have never worked in a place like Chicago’s Michelin-starred Ever Restaurant, but I did my fair share of serving and bartending during my college years.
The quote above is spoken by the restaurant’s expediter, Jessica, during episode seven of The Bear. This dialogue opens when Ritchie Jerimovich asks Jessica how she does what she does. Ritchie, the abrasive and struggling cousin of Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto—the protagonist and young fine-dining chef who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop, Beef—has been sent by Carmy to spend a week working at one of the best restaurants in the world.
While the storyline, dialogue, manic movement of scenes, and family dynamics keep me teetering on a razor’s edge, I am deeply drawn to this production. The pace, a familiar one.
When applied to our own storytelling work here at The Snack, “Every night makes somebody’s day” perfectly sums up one of the main reasons we do what we do.
We love making someone’s day. And, sometimes, when we have no juice left—when thousands of words have flown out of our fingers and minds—it is this idea that refills our creative tank. This taps the passion that we fear may end but never truly does.
I love it when I see a story our team has written or a press release we’ve reimagined posted or shared by someone who felt important, seen, heard, or even validated by it. Sometimes it is a buyer who sends it to the supplier, where the story’s journey concludes in a PO. Other times, it is a daughter sending it to her parents because her company has just been featured front and center for our audience.
We are an industry of heart. Of sweat equity and shared golden hours. Of risks without the promise of reward. Our team does what we do so that the people and companies in our stories matter. So that the industry matters—heart, heavy head, passion, and all.
That maybe, just maybe, each story we write may make someone’s day.
