sweetriot blog - cacao | culture | cool!

Alex Steffen's World Changing

If you want some holiday reading over the holidays, look no further.  Alex Steffen's book, World Changing has launched. 

Alex and I met a few years ago at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin and spoke about his book at the Green Drinks Holiday Party.  He is a known leader in the green movement and is someone to follow for his innovative ideas. 

The book is described as "groundbreaking compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions emerging today for building a sustainable, livable, prosperous future."

In fact, you can purchase the book so easily right here.

Happy Holidays from sweetriot!

Here are some photos from our 2 sweetriot holiday gatherings this December.   You'll see the full-time team (Nina, Matt, and I) with our beautiful new Latin hats, and the rest of the part-time gang (Jon, Liz, Joe) with their new Pez dispensers.

You'll also see a photo of us with my good friend, Gregory, the proud owner of the well-received new restaurant in NYC, Varietal. 

sweetriot is so lucky to have great people, and the holidays is a time to tell them again THANK YOU for being so SPECIAL.   Happy Holidays to you and your family!  Thank you for all of your support. 

PS - Did I mention that Matt even stayed out past midnight with Nina and me?

Patricia Field

If you ever watched Sex and The City, you have seen the fabulous work of Patricia Field.  Patricia is a thought leader in the fashion industry and opened up her home for a great party for new designers to show off their goods during the holidays. 

sweetriot was of course there with yummy cacao too!  Our super-cool fashion friend, Nicole Romano from the Chocolate Show, was nearby too.

One of the highlights of the party was actually Patricia's siamese kitten running around and her crazy little poodles who perched themselves on the bar for the entire night!  As you can see in the photos, a great time was had by all.  More scoop can be found here. 

EDGE Design NYC

EDGE is called the 'future of retail'  for good reason.  My friend and fellow entrepreneur, Alex, has created a special space in NYC which creates an affordable space for emerging designers. 

With rents always skyrocketing in NYC, it's important for new designers to have a home and Alex has created it.  Every designer signs on to an area and then has his/her own display room on a weekly basis.

sweetriot was excited to dish out cacao at the Holiday event for EDGE.

Karim Rashid

sweetriot was once again the featured treat at Karim Rashid's holiday party in Chelsea. You should visit Soraya and his beautiful store.   Karim has been of sweetriot since the very beginning, and we appreciate his support.

Karim is one of the world's most renowned designers -- the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has many of his items on display as a clear indication.  One of my favorite things about Karim is his spirit and global perspective.  He never thinks in small frames.  Check out his amazing bio here.

David Wolfe & cacao!

David Wolfe of Sun Foods was in town this past weekend from San Diego and stopped by to visit the riot. 

David was hosting an event for the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and sweetriot also donated cacao towards the cause.

David is a leader in the Raw Foods movement and a huge believer in cacao.  As David would say, "Cacao Beans are truly the food of the gods, the best food ever!''

Green Drinks.

Thanks to Margaret, Green Drinks is alive and well in NYC today.  Green Drinks started as a way to bring together cool folks in NYC who believe in eco issues.  My friend, Josh, from the Lazy Environmentalist was there as well as many others.

sweetriot was happy to be featured as a 'green product' at their Holiday event as we passed cacao out among the crowd.

 

Whole Foods Columbus Circle.

Whole Foods Columbus Circle was our very first Whole Foods store and it is near and dear to our hearts.  They have always been committed to sharing the sweetriot story and making sure that customers know about our special product.

We spent some time there this past weekend sampling cacao and will be back again this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  If you're in town, please stop by.  You'll see here our friend, Alfredo, and even an extra sign holder. 

MoMa Design Store.

sweetriot spent this past weekend rioting at the MoMA Design Store in Soho.  This store is truly one of the best places to find unique gifts in NYC if not the world!  From small gadgets to contemporary furniture, they have a wide and innovative selection.

We were happy to see our old friends at the MoMA including Fatima and Olin.  Many current customers stopped to visit and some Parson's design students noted they had seen sweetriot around school - cool!  Even Matt Lewis from Baked/Chocolate Bar stopped by. 

Riot in Union Square?!

Just when you thought Union Square was calm with a red and white Christmas Market, those crazy rioters show up. 

Rather than ringing bells and asking for money, we rang bells yesterday and gave out free cacao!  There were many curious onlookers, friends and friends of friends who found us on the street, and current customers who pulled sweetriot straight out of their bags.  A great time was had by all. :)

Thanks to Robyn, Lauren, Courtney, Danny, Matt, and Nina for making it a great, sweet, holiday riot!