It was the Thursday before Halloween, 2015. The music reverberated majestically as a group of fashionable millennials gathered over booze and cocktails, their sprite bodies swaying to the beat. Federal employees by day, party-goers by night, this eclectic group knew each other like one’s own flesh and blood. They were frequent attendees of meetups and networking events that transpired nightly in cosmopolitan DC and like a pack of wolves gathered to bond over a meal and spirits.
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Meetup attendees intermingling at Manor DC
The Manor, a restaurant and lounge by day, transformed into a sleek cabaret by night – sprawling, quirky with a unique mezzanine overlooking the bustling bebop with towering windows facing the nonstop ruckus of Connecticut Ave. Other guests were hanging out in the VIP section adjacent to the antique fireplace, lounging on weathered ottomans. Relaxing on a sofa with red high heels nursing a glass of bubbly was Zahera, my tenant at Lebaum St. She attended virtually all my events, and she didn’t come to catch up on rent.
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Plenty of free food at our meetups
In the middle of the club, a large dance floor with a wild strobe light and hot bodies gyrating to the beat from one of DC’s premier DJ’s.
“Another rad event under your belt,” Quentin Cummings, my neighbor in Anacostia shouted over the music. A fellow runner and military vet, he had gone on long runs with me at nearby Joint Base Anacostia Bolling and by now we were overdue for another ultra run.
“Had a fantastic time,” Wayne Manigo, a ubiquitous stand-up comedian, remarked as he patted me firmly on the back. “Next time we need to host another comedy show together.”
“Yeah, there’s too much love in the air right now. Comedy could be the right medicine to cool things down,” Jason Morenz, the preeminent photographer and marketer added.
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Comedy show at RFD
“Couldn’t have done it without you all, and thanks for inviting your friends,” as I raised my pint of Guinness. “Attendance was through the roof and the booze flowed like the Potomac.”
“So what does RUNIN stand for?” Quentin asked.
“Researching, Understanding, Negotiating, Innovating, Navigating,” I said. “It’s how I carry myself and make decisions in life.”
Then I took a huge gulp of my brew, large enough to break through the creamy head, embracing the milky froth that created an adorable foamstache over my lips.
Meanwhile Jason was shooting high-speed dance floor photos, both stills and GIFs. Photography was essential because many of the pictures were posted on the company’s website and social media portfolios. We operated by the mantra: “Pics or it didn’t happen.”
Tonight over 100 attendees gathered from near and far, some were free loaders who bounced from one meetup to another, bonding over food and drinks. But most were foodies and socialites, including some movers and shakers. Even restaurant owners such as Ryan Gordon from the Queen Vic and Armin Armin from Chaplin’s were in attendance.
“Hey Ryan, will you be bringing your double decker bus back to the H Street Fest this year?” I asked. Ryan nodded giving me a high five.
Armin Armin, all 6’4” of him was a gentle giant with a huge heart. He had an open ear for anyone willing to make small talk and a gin and tonic on the house. He did this regularly at Chaplin’s, a high-end ramen house and cocktail bar in Shaw as well at numerous networking events throughout the city.
“Last week at Chaplin’s a jovial guy with deep pockets walks in and ordered Green Tea Shots for everyone,” Armin said. “Suffice it to say, everyone had a splendid time.”
“Oh yeah, what do they taste like,” I responded. “And do they get you drunk faster than Dragon Soop?”
“We shall see,” he added. “Be right back.” Wayne muttered under his breath, “It’s Jameson mixed with Peach Schnapps. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.”
He returned with half a dozen shots of Green Tea, and the group immediately started chasing it down like it was club soda.
“Mmm, delicious!” I exclaimed. “And quite filling. Thanks for adding another tasty drink to my overflowing repertoire.”
For the last 24 months, we had hosted well over 50 events, sometimes as often as a couple times a week. In a town with so much going on, we were always able to attract a large gathering. And we cast a wide net to reach out to a wide demographics from different tastes and cultures.
We often co-hosted events with the DC Food Bloggers and virtually all of our events offered complimentary food.
We were also able to raise funds for charity such as Special Love and for the Philippines typhoon and the Nepal earthquake relief efforts.
We co-hosted several political events with Network for Progress such as a fundraiser for the Fisher House Foundation, a program that provides free or low cost lodging to veterans and families receiving medical treatment.
Our events sometimes included live music with local talents such as Flo Anito. We organized events with the DC Capital Striders running group where joggers would happily gather at a local pub after running around town. We swore to the fact that DC Brau Corruption was the perfect post-exercise recovery drink.
And we also attended startup fairs hosted by George Washington University and by other groups in the DMV (DC-MD-VA).
As an avid sports fan and a University of Florida alumni, we co-hosted a ton of sports viewing events. And we hosted a food crawl in Clarendon where we visited several different local restaurants in one afternoon.
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Food tasting @ Jake’s American Grill
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A fundraiser for Special Love on the rooftop of Cambria Hotel
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Communicators Happy Hour @ Alba Osteria
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Flo Anito performing at James Hoban’s Irish Pub
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Showcasing RUNINOut at a startup fair
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Florida Gators alumni celebrate a winning season (for a change) at McFadden’s Bar, DC
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Clarendon Food Crawl
So how were we able to achieve stellar attendance at most of our events. We simply didn’t act like an events management company. Instead, we were multi-dimensional. Often we maintained the websites and social media profiles for our proprietors. Our goal was to showcase their amenities, food and drinks and photograph guests enjoying them which were then posted online to promote their offerings. So the restauranteurs were happy to provide complimentary tastings to our guests. On RUNINOut’s social media profiles we would then advertise free food, good networking, prime sports games or even live music which definitely received a lot of attention. Eventually word got out, that our events were fun with lots of free food, and restaurants received feedback that we were the ticket to punch.
Almost every type of cuisine, category and location in the Beltway was covered, every single notch in my belt, worn and weathered like Buffalo leather.
“Maybe you should host a truckeroo next time,” Jason suggested out of the blue.
“Food trucks — no way. I have no interest in dealing with noisy trucks or those screaming generators.”
“Don’t dis ‘em trucks. If it wasn’t for 18-wheelers, you wouldn’t be able to get all the booze and grub delivered to all your events on time,” Jason added.
I hated to admit it, but he was right. Hosting events was a lot of work, and pulling them off with the right food, drinks, atmosphere and attendance was no easy task. This was quite an operation and everything had come together like clockwork. And that was noteworthy for a city entrenched in bureaucracy and congestion. It was fulfilling and a tremendous learning experience, and I was starting to feel a bit burned out
“Running a startup is tough, but living on the road requires sacrifice,” Jason continued. “I have a friend from Pueblo, CO who has been trucking for years, and he loves it.”
But at the end of the day, events weren’t our business model. RUNINOut was about discovering restaurants online, not hosting meetups for the DC staffers and millennials.
And now that the website was saturated with DC locations, it was imperative to get outside of the Beltway, navigating new communities and expanding the restaurant search to the burbs and beyond. Maybe even to the foothills of Virginia.
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Upstairs of Ben’s Chili Bowl, H Street looking at the western sky
