Thirty businesses participated in this year’s Taste of Thayer event, offering food samples and retail discounts to ticketed attendees in an effort to draw attention to Thayer’s businesses while supporting the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. This year, 20% of revenue from ticket sales went directly to supporting the food bank’s mission.
Beyond their support for the R.I. Food Bank, the Thayer Street District Management Authority sought to more broadly expand and improve the event, which is now in its third year. This year’s Taste of Thayer featured live music from Brown student artists, an “early bird” discounted ticket sale and a notably larger number of participating businesses than in previous years.
Den Den Fried Chicken was a new participant in the event. “We wanted to participate throughout the years, but each time we had some incidents,” said store owner Min Cheung. “This year, finally, everything settled down and we are very happy to participate.”
For their inaugural year at the event, Den Den served their signature spicy and soy garlic chicken.“In Korea, this is actually soul food. It’s not a Westernized food at all, it’s a very traditional Korean food,” Cheung said. “We want people to understand what Korean fried chicken is.”
Aroma Joe’s — one of the event’s sponsors — participates primarily to help bring the Thayer community together, said Regional Manager Meredith Williams. “We are big on doing events and trying to involve the community.”
“It’s been a very good experience,” said Chris Vanderpool ’24, who came to the event for the first time this year. “It’s fun to see everyone here (and) have the space open to walk through.”
Anna Ryu ’25 and Vanderpool sampled everything from samosas to apple cider sangria, and said they both loved getting a taste of new places. “I’ve been able to try things that I don’t want to buy otherwise,” Ryu said. “It’s been nice.”
Tickets cost $15 for students this year, while adult and children’s tickets were $23 and $7, respectively. “The discounts were pretty substantial, especially with the student discount,” said Donna Personeus, executive director of the TSDMA. “What we found with last year's event (was) a lot of students came, but they came (at the) last minute.” Personeus noted that students have seemed “receptive to the percentage of their ticket going to the food bank.”
First-time event attendee and Rhode Island resident Kim Nikolaidis said she came to help fundraise for the food bank. “I worked in the (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance) program,” she said. “Food insecurity is a very important thing in Rhode Island.”
For the R.I. Food Bank, the funds raised from Taste of Thayer will make a difference. “We rely on the support of our donors to ensure we can meet the growing need for food assistance,” wrote R.I. Food Bank Director of Communications Kate MacDonald in an email to The Herald. With one out of every three households in Rhode Island being classified as food insecure, the R.I. Food Bank is needed now more than ever.
“Rhode Islanders are experiencing food insecurity at a higher rate than even at the height of the pandemic,” MacDonald wrote. “Currently, the Food Bank distributes food to over 75,000 people per month. Last fiscal year, we donated 16.2 million pounds of food.”
To Personeus, collaborating with the food bank was a natural extension of the TSDMA’s work. “We wanted to do something different,” she said. “We thought because the event was food-based, what better way to bring awareness to the issue of hunger in Rhode Island.”
Aroma Joe’s has participated in Taste of Thayer for three years but said there was added appeal to the event this year due to the food bank partnership. “We like that it's doing some good and donating. We also try to donate products from our store” with food drives and more, Williams said.
While this year has had a special focus on the food bank, the awareness brought by the event also helps Thayer’s local businesses. “What this allows you to do is have a taste at some establishments you wouldn't have had a taste at before,” said Personeus. “It comes down to exposure and an opportunity to engage with customers.”
By the time this year’s “early bird” window closed, the event had already nearly matched its total ticket sales from last year. Personeus said Taste of Thayer is “definitely growing,” offering bigger and better opportunities for businesses and the community as a whole.
Ciara Meyer is a Senior Staff Writer covering the Beyond Brown beat. She is from Saratoga Springs, New York and plans on concentrating in Statistics and English nonfiction. In her free time, she loves scrapbooking and building lego flowers.
