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Dear @Jack.   A cheesy love  / game show letter

4/4/2018

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Dear Jack,

I was going to keep this short like 140 characters short but then you know…..things changed. You let guys like us get to say more than we probably should.  But i’ll try my best to make this worth it. ;)
You see, I am writing you because you (@Square) and I (@GrilledCheezGuy) are celebrating 9 brieutiful years together as a business.  Small businesses that have blossomed into bigger and breadder things that have touched the hearts and stomachs of countless people since 2009.
What you might not remember are all the fun parallels we have experienced together and I thought I might share with you and everyone else on our nine year anniversary.   What you might not see is how many ways your company has truly been the key fromagy factor to our growth and success. So here are some fun memories and ways you have been a big slice of our cheesy game.  
Member when you and I met for the first time? I do.  You were that cute little startup in the SF Chronicle building and I was that cute little caterer that showed up with his griddles and bricks to serve you those grilled cheeses you loved*?
Member me chatting with your staff about the cool events I was doing like ForageSF and the Oakland Art Murmur?  I do. Your staff gave me those ziploc bags full of hundreds of Square readers to hand out like high tech crack to the masses.  Granted it wasn’t crack, it was practical genius in digital candy form for all us small businesses at that moment in time. I was sold from my first pitch about what you were doing.
Member when we kept catering for you all and you moved offices faster than we could keep up? I do.  One of those times you tweeted about me. If you made a twittergraphic of my twitter/website the day you tweeted me is still a heart attack blip on the scale of coolness.
Member when you rolled out Square Payroll or Square Capital I honestly forget which one? I do.  Because I’ve been somewhat of a secret Beta bitch if you don’t know I’m sure there is a better term for it and my mom is going to not like me writing that but shit happens**. Anyway, you all asked me a lot of fun questions and I had a lot of good angles which you all appreciated.  Then I went on Twitter to talk about how cool I thought this new program was and………
Member when you all literally somehow called me 1.2 minutes later to tell me to take that tweet down.  I do. It was the most Orwellian or high tech moment of my life. Send tweet. Get call. Take it down #GCG.  Please. Or else***. I did it. Because I got nothing but love for y’all.
Member when you called me to do a commercial and got me all excited? I do.  Because after all the planning and talking about coming to Off the Grid Presidio Picnic to do a breuiftul outdoor bay area shoot y’all called me to cancel.  Too complicated. I understood. I saw all those chic stores you show on your commercials. So I kept on swiping and Squaring……
Member the times I just needed some capital to get that new small van and you all gave me a loan offer right then? I do.  Remember when that van got totalled shortly after getting it? I do. :/
Member the thousands of offices and events and parties and weddings (and funerals) and wineries and breweries that I have been to and been able to give them access to credit cards thanks to you.  I kinda do. Many involved wine and beer and liquor and me.
Member all the hundreds of homeless and street people and people that couldn’t swipe with a Square I have been able to feed in between.  I do.
So there’s nine memories of how Square (and Twitter) and I have been together on this journey of life.  Hell, I am releasing this fun filled story on the day I Guest Chef at Twitter HQ to show how close we still are.  And the closeness continues with my small little restaurant I was able to open at 529 Stevenson in SF.
So on this anniversary, I thought I would do a fun little turning of the tables and offer you one of those three button deals**** you have been offering me over the years.  Since I’m now open only a mere three blocks I thought I would give a similar offer to an old friend*****. And here it is:
Box 1            
$10,000 Investment
10% off all Twitter/Square
staff for 1 year!

Box 2            
$25,000 Investment
25% off all Twitter/Square
staff for 1 year!

Box 3            
$50,000 Investment
50% off all Twitter/Square
staff for 1 year!
Consolation Prize?: No transaction fees for 9 years.  You name a sandwich.

I know there is a good chance you will never read this and a slim chance you will play my game.  Nevertheless, let this letter serve as a true cheesy testament to my love for the 9 grate gruyeres we have had together.  May we have 9 more and make sure you try the grilled cheese nachos today. I hear they are grate. Just like you Jack. Tweet me which box you choose bud.
Congrats & Happy Grilled Cheese Month,
Michael The GCG

*not sure if you loved them, but your staff or someone sure did.  
**just rolling out the dice there.  I mean she’s already fucking pissed at this point.
***there were no threats.
****Buttons and then sliding scale thing that didn’t last long.
*****we technically aren’t friends.  But we could be. I also have a billion dollar app idea.  No really. I do.

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WAIT WAIT THEY KNOW ME? ???!

2/11/2017

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So I was on Wait Wait Don't Tell me Today. 

Technically Thursday and technically you are on the show but calling in.  So technically hundreds of people were in NY, NY while I was huddled in the corner of my local Savemore Market in Oakland, CA.  Huddled with a phone that was handed over with the warning that it is really hard to hear.  Huddled not trusting it's strength so staying near the front window near the rain and pushing my other ear in as hard as possible.  Huddled hearing what was definitely Mo Racca and some other familiar voices including a guest host.  

When it was my turn I was ready to say my occupation was GrilledCheezGuy and not caterer or chef or whatever I am supposed to say.  And I did.  And before I say what happened (or better you listen) let me that before my segment there just happened to be a lot of talk about cheese and sex and pizza (I think) that I wrote down a line I was ready to say.  It was along the lines of "Cheese and Sex are very fluid in my life if you know what i mean." It is funny but like George and his shrimp joke I focused on it too much and missed the landing which I assume (and maybe hope) did not make the final cut. 

In any case, WHAT DID HAPPEN both humbled me and shocked me yet again.  And to not ruin a very fun show I will say that the man who shocked me is Glynn Washington and I hope to meet him someday in the near future, like April, at our shop. 

Sincerely,
Michael GrilledCheezGuy Davidson

NPR: WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME: ​http://www.npr.org/2017/02/11/514683514/limericks
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A BlOGGED NOVEL: Week 1: The cheese stands alone

1/12/2017

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I know we all thought 2016 was rough but 2017 has not been any prettier for us here at GrilledCheezGuy.  ADA & Permitting issues, waiting for TV news, truck accidents AND break-in's in Berkeley, Donald Trump Donald Trumping, the list goes on and on.  One non-food goal of 2017 is to start sharing my story of how I got to this moment as GrilledCheezGuy.  I think the story behind the business will be englightening for those curious of starting a small food biz, entertaining for those who want to know what truly goes on behind the scenes, and downright scandalous at points for many of us actually in the food scene of the bay area.  To do this, I will be writing and releasing a chapter a week on my blog for you to enjoy.  

I hope each week's will be just short enough to read on your subway ride or lunch break or in bed while you gram & tweet & stuff.  Please leave comments or share stories of your own if you were at any of the events or memories and want to add your own. 

THE CHEESE STANDS ALONE. A FOOD CART LOVE STORY.
BY: GRILLEDCHEEZGUY
TO: TT, MOM, DAD, MATTY, RIPLEY, MY FRIENDS, AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE BAY AREA FOOD SCENE & BRIEYOND!
The story will be shared in small bite chapters online and hopefully one day as a real book! For the purposes of this autobiographical recounting of the GrilledCheezGuy, my primary sources will be my brain, my friends & corworker's brains, articles & blog posts, and most importantly the all-important leather bound calendars I started carrying in 2012. The story is going to start in 2009 with the first entry into the Grilled Cheese Invitational (GCI from now on folks) world and go from there. Well, maybe a little prologue first.
PROLOGUE: BEFORE ME BECAME BRIE
As mentioned, I don't have my fun little calendars filled with journals and notes and gigs to reference for how exactly this story started. Therefore, I used the next best thing which is Facebook. I went back to 2008 to see how life was, and if there was any yet mention of cheese & grilling. The posts and pictures were all gleeful and gay and one literally said "MY LIFE IS PERFECT!" so things in 2008 from what I see and remember were good. Those are the BC years. Before Cheese. Life was simpler. I had hobbies like being a shark naturalist, white water rafting, camping, throwing dinner parties and the like. I didn't know that a call to cheesy arms would soon lead me to go from the labs to the commissary and how much of my life it would briecome.
Food and cooking have always been a part of my life. What has become my most told story of stories because once you are in the food scene and people write, talk, or tape you is this...."So how did this all start for YOU?????!?? Who was your insipiration???!" Granted I love grandma and all that but after a while it just becomes a part of the drill that you can't really change too much. "This is my grandma. There are many like it, but this one is mine.......Without my grandma, I am useless" True statement. With two working parents growing up in a small beach town of West Palm Beach, FL, the classically trained french cook & babysitter of my brother & I made sure most every meal was made from scratch. Even after school treats weren't some packaged good, they were something made in a pan or the oven. The curiosity side of me always watched on to notice the tricks and techniques she used in the kitchen. Meals truly were the place that brought the family together every night to catch up on school and stories and everything in between. That power to bring busy people together was not lost on me, but actually implemented into dinner parties and sit down meals with friend's in college. Dinner parties really did mean a college like party with drinks, drugs, and all that jazz combined with seriously fancy side dishes. Coca cola chicken friend chicken? Sure. Kingfish Fish Tacos? Yup. One of my favorite semesters involved mastering the outdoor grill pit and BBQ'ing Costco steaks & killing purple bags of Crown Royal weekly. Nevertheless, college was still a low period in culinary prowess and epicurean adventures but I made up for it with my decision of where to move to after college.
At this point my life was a combo of Florida & New Jersey. I was born extra-warm blooded in sunny FL but was lucky enough to get trained in the tri-state area attitude as well. I saw Florida as a great place to visit the family and take advantage of the beaches and fishing but that was about it. The state lacked in too many other departments to make it somewhere I wanted to try out in my 20's, despite many college friends keeping in place there. New Jersey friends were all parlaying to neighboring major cities to give it a try: Philly, NYC, Boston. I voted all those down because I didn't want to continue the trend of suffering through snow storms in my life when I had the choice not to. My move to New Jersey was not of my own doing but my father's loss of a job and career change. This was my time to shine and I wanted it shining a lot. Two other friends & I decided to go West like those before us and make a stake at California. For me, my motivating factors were the following in order or importance: Liberal lifestyle being a gay American, lots of outdoors of various types, and a place where food & the food scene was happening (also sharks as mentioned above). So we decided on San Francisco & the bay area. A place I had never visited and actually knew very little about. After a LOT of google and wikipedia I learned it met my requirements and the science company I was working for had a large division in the area in case I wanted to continue with them. And I did, for almost 8 more years before giving it all up and going full time GrilledCheezGuy. But before we get to that year, we have many more to cover in between starting at Family Night(s) and the first Bay Area Regional GCI Contest of 2009.
Next week:
CHAPTER 1. FAMILY NIGHT.  LAUGHING SQUIDS.  COOKING WHILE DRINKING (OR VISE VERSA)

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2nd place in #thomasbreakfastbattle, 1st place in heart and stomach of kron4

11/2/2016

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After 5 weeks battling it out with 50 other food trucks across these great United States, we came in 2nd place.  2nd place after being the last minute entry and only having 1 week to prepare as prepared to 4+ months.  2nd place being only one of two competitors who were NOT food trucks. 

So if anyone else was going to win, I am glad it is the non-food truck, homeless feeding and supporting, fellow Southern gent that is Ken's All Star Cart from Columbia, SC.  I knew from week 1 that if he made it to the end we were going to have a serious breakfast battle on our heads.  He did, and he won.  It just so happened that Vicki Liviakis from KRON 4 called me up to have me on her "Dine & Dash" segment to talk about the contest and try my entry.  After a hearty bite she declared me a winner which is good enough for me!  Check out the clip here to see me and my GrilledCheezGuy van in sunny San Francisco.

Now that the bread dust has settled I'm excited to say the NorCal Nook was a huge hit and we hope to serve it as breakfast once we open GrilledCheezGuy SF!  If you live or work in the area, start walking by as you will see a LOT is about to go down. 

With love and cheese, 
Michael 


 
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eat with your eyes.

10/24/2016

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M ichael jeong came by and took some photos of our food.  they are beautiful  so I thought i would share with you.   these photos end yet another great year at off the grid: presidio Picnic.  it really has become our little pop-up home in sf and we love each and every one of you fans and first timers!  hope to see you all again next year.....#OTG17

holiday catering is coming up.  reach now to get our cheezy dated saved!  

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eat real festival 2016.  shit got real.

9/29/2016

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After many years hiatus from the Eat Real Festival, we were finally invited back to our neighborhood nosh fest.  At Year 8 I honestly expected a well vegetable oiled machine but what I found was a lot of crude unfortunately.  Although there were a lot of my favorite vendors & friends, the organization and locations and set-up were frustrating for all. 

That didn't mean that a woman came after all these years b/c she remembered having our grilled cheese at Eat Real Festival.  It didn't mean we didn't have a chunk of cheesy fans find us and eat with us during the non-Cali like heat we experienced.  And for that, I thank you all who came out and enjoyed Classics & Nacho's with us.  Despite the issues, we truly hope to come back to this event it is an important and effective way for us to engage with our fans and communities about eating right and eating real!

My friends from Oishii Moments included us in their Top 12 Food Vendors blog.  Check it out for photos of us and the others.  They will make you hungry!  

Also keep voting at WWW.THOMASBREAKFASTBATTLE.COM
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another cheezy podcast....about getting the monies. 

9/28/2016

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So I was recently interviewed by Brett of FoodTruckEmpire about my little grilled cheese empire and it's growth in the bay area.  The podcasts was focused on the new ways small businesses like me can get no interest loans like Kiva to free money like Kickstarter. 

Speaking of FREE MONEY, we are now in the TOP 10 for Thomas Breakfast Battle. Please keep VOTING everyday so we score the $25,000 prize and open you the most cheesiest cheese stand the Brie Area has ever seen. 

Until then, enjoy the podcast and see you around town. 

PODCAST HERE. 

VOTE HERE. 

Michael the GCG
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Thomas's breakfast battle: Round 1.  vote!

9/12/2016

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about 3 years ago i was chosen to be in the bull's eye bbq sauce national competition. 
i left as the boldest man in america and won $20,000.  That is more that anyone gets on chopped or that alton brown hands out after all the evil sabotaging. (sabostaging?)

last week I was chosen to be a part of thomas english muffin's 2016 breakfast battle. Needless to say I accepted the challenge, and today marks day 1. 

how does this work? what does it mean to me? How long will you brie talking about this gcg?  great questions.  Here are the answers:

1. go to http://thomasbreakfastbattle.com/recipes/norcal-nook-aka-california-cranny#

​
2. vote for us once per day per email! round 1 starts today (sept 12) and goes till monday.  there will brie 5 rounds!  we must survive each round and be #1 in the end.  votes start over each week. 

3.  go on facebook, twitter, instagram, etc and share this link.  post it.  tell friends about it. 

4. repeat daily until it is over. 

what do you get out of this? how about an even breadder sf grilledcheezguy location that will be fully funded and owned by me still?! talk about a dream come true!

when does this end.  here is the official timeline.  

we have done this before together.  I only won because of you all. the fans.  the fanatics. 

so thank you in advance and welcome to the breakfast battle.  let's bring home the bacon for the bay area!

thanks,
​gcg

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50 Grillmasters: you are looking at one.

9/9/2016

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Just got an email saying I was published in this following article: 

Grilling on Twitter: 50 Grillmasters to Follow in Time for Labor Day 
www.garagecabinets.com/garagetalk/grilling-on-twitter/
Fitting timing considering the last time I was declared a GrillMaster it was during the Bull's Eye BBQ Contest for Boldest Man in America. 

Once again I have been called to attempt to become a champion, this time for Thomas English Muffins and Bagels.  The contest starts Monday and it will require all you fans to vote for us everyday!  Stay tuned for complete details but in the meantime, enjoy the article and thanks to Garagecabinets.com.
​
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A new website? this is nuts!

8/16/2016

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A HUGE thanks to the talented Nick Lai and the entire team for building us this new and beautiful website.  We hope it will be easier for everyone to navigate and find us at our soon-to-brie many locations in the Bay Area!

In the meantime, I decided to enter a contest from Nuts.com.  To enter the contest I had to pick 2 ingredients from a list, and I chose nuts and candy.  When I am wilderness camping in Yosemite or hitting the highlands of Point Reyes here is my go to mix to make for the trails. 

The California Crunch recipe: 
​Roasted Almonds
M&Ms (regular)
Freeze dried organic blueberries/raspberries  
Crushed granola 
Raisins 
Peanuts

What do you think? I go nuts for that stuff.  That being said, I hope to keep this page as nutty as possible as I use it as my personal blog and a glimpse into catering life & the food scene going on in the bay area.  Grilled Cheese Wars?  Forged Kitchens? Bowl To Bowl dinner walks? Yes, yes and more yes.  In the meantime, let me know what you think of the new website and thanks again for all the love and support, especially our newest lOAKal friends over at Hack the Hood!

GrilledCheezGuy
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