Working to alleviate hunger in the communities it serves, Fazoli's rolls out its second nationwide Breadsticks for Hunger Tour May 30.

A specially equipped food truck will visit 22 cities in nine states, including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin. Fazoli’s is partnering with Feed the Children, a non-profit hunger-relief organization. Volunteers and truck staff will hand out free breadsticks, hot from the oven, and encourage the public to support Feed the Children.

Last year, Fazoli’s breadstick truck visited 15 cities, raising $50,000. This year’s tour includes the addition of franchised restaurants in Louisville, Ky. and Springfield, Mo.

The tour begins in Lexington, Ky. with a Feed the Children food distribution event. In addition to raising money and awareness for childhood hunger in the cities the truck will visit, participating Fazoli’s restaurants will sell a “Giving Grape” Lemon Ice. Feed the Children will receive $1 from Fazoli’s for every one sold.

The tour wraps up August 3 in Indianapolis, following a second food distribution there on July 30.

Following the inaugural tour, Feed the Children recognized Fazoli’s with its Community Excellence Award. Last year, the brand also raised $13,500 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation through the sale of a special Pink Lemon Ice.

Putting into practice the old adage that charity begins at home, Fazoli’s also helps its own employees through its Seeds of Compassion fund, which awards grants to associates needing financial assistance. The fund recently passed the $500,000 mark in grants. Fazoli’s manages the non-profit corporation, which is supported primarily by voluntary employee donations.

In recognition of its innovative workplace practices, Fazoli’s was recently honored by the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Workplace Innovation (iwin). The Dr Lee T. Todd Jr. Bridging the Gap Between Workplace Research and Practice Award, named after the retired President of UK, earns Fazoli’s a one-year grant to join 40 other Central Kentucky employers committed to advancing workforce development initiates throughout the Bluegrass.

Fazoli’s owns or franchises approximately 220 premium Italian quick-service restaurants nationwide.

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130508-916305.html

Christi Dallam opens the Raging Kitchen food truck for bussines in the parking lot of the Conway Park business center in Lake Forest. The truck, based in Mundelein, tours Lake County. | Rob Dicker ~ Sun-Times Media

The latest rage on Lake County roads comes in the form of veggie wraps and lobster rolls.

Raging Kitchen’s food truck rolled onto to the streets Lake County this fall, and is booked solid with office, school and other weekday site visits for the rest of spring. The 28-foot-long truck is operated by Mundelein-based Ruprecht Company, which sells meats to national stores like Costco and Trader Joe’s.

Company executives said they wanted to enter the hospitality industry ever since moving to Mundelein from Wheeling in January 2011.

“We found this to be better than opening a restaurant because it’s a smaller investment and we can go to our customers instead of worrying about driving traffic to a building,” Ruprecht executive Walter Berkowitz said.

Raging Kitchen sells pulled-pork tacos, teriyaki lobster rolls, moo shu wraps, jumbo shrimp and more. And the mobile kitchen can match the efficiency of a 120-seat restaurant at full capacity, officials said, adding that they pride themselves on upscale ingredients.

Raging Kitchen does not charge for requested visits. In most cases the employees or students pay for their own food; but some companies pay for a set amount of food and the cooks manage a tab. The truck also does catering for birthdays, graduations, retirement parties, car shows and more.

“There are not a lot of restaurants near the vital parts of Lake County,” food truck manager and cook Christi Dallam said. “People either spend a lot of money at nearby places or spend most of their lunch breaks driving somewhere. We offer a more fun, better quality alternative that’s still affordable.”

The truck spends most of its time in Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Libertyville, Lake Forest, Northbrook and Deerfield, and its schedule is posted on the company website, www.ragingkitchen.com. Over the winter, the truck carried an extra person who ran food from the truck to a building after patrons ordered and paid. Dallam said the idea was well received, even in the snow, but thinks unfamiliarity caused a slow start.

As the weather heats up, however, company officials said business should do the same. In addition to its solid spring bookings on weekdays, Raging Kitchen is booked for catering events every weekend from now through the end of summer.

If business continues at this pace, Berkowitz said, the company plans to invest in two more trucks.

The Ruprecht Company itself has seen success for several years. In recent months, the company requested permission from Mundelein to expand its meat processing facility by 50,000 square feet. Mundelein Village Administrator John Lobaito said Ruprecht already expanding its parking lot last summer in anticipation of hiring 100 more employees after construction is finished.

“We’re proud to have them in Mundelein and I guess all of Lake County is lucky we lured them here,” Lobaito said.

While talking to Ruprecht about its expansion Lobaito learned of the Raging Kitchen and its popularity and decided to book the truck for several community events this summer.

http://lincolnshire.suntimes.com/news/19595521-418/raging-kitchen-brings-restaurant-on-wheels-to-lake-county.html

Staff Photo— Jerry Larson
Anthony Tristan purchases two hot dogs from George Gaylord’s hot dog cart on Austin Avenue and South Seventh Street on the tile of the former Cox department store.

The sight of a food cart in downtown Waco stopped the woman in her tracks.

“I love this!” she said, studying a portable sign that lists a simple menu of hot dogs, chili dogs, chips and soda.

Behind the cart, under a blue-and-white umbrella, owner George Gaylord took notice.

“How you doing?” he asked.

The woman hesitated, then replied: “I think I want a hot dog.”

Her reaction — surprise, delight, sudden beef craving — is typical of what Gaylord has seen since opening the cart Monday on the blue-tiled grounds of the former Cox department store on Austin Avenue.

“I’ve always thought about doing this down here because I’ve never seen one,” Gaylord, a Connecticut native and 10-year Waco resident, says during a break between customers one recent afternoon. “Connecticut and New York, these (food carts) are on every street corner. So I told my wife, ‘You know, a hot dog cart would be good down here.’”

The result, G&K Hot Dogs Inc., is Gaylord’s first food-service venture after working in manufacturing and running a sports netting business. It could serve as a test case for whether food carts can thrive downtown, where the number of apartments and traditional restaurants has grown in recent years.

The city’s Imagine Waco plan envisions food carts sprouting from parking lots to serve lunchtime customers and boost foot traffic downtown. It sees the carts as a “placeholder” until property values and population density reach a critical mass to attract redevelopment.

“Those types of things create opportunities for people to exist out in the public realm,” said Chris McGowan, urban development director for the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. “It provides vibrancy. It’s also a pretty low barrier to entry for someone to start their own business. Rather than buy a whole building, a cart or a truck is a much easier way to get involved.”

Still, opening one isn’t easy. When a customer said Friday she wants to see more street vendors on Austin, Gaylord replied: “Well, if you knew the trouble it took to do this …”

Food cart and truck operators have to follow detailed state and local health codes to get a mobile vendor permit. For Gaylord, that meant buying the right equipment and submitting a complete site plan for city approval.

He also had to find an open location to lease and make a deal with a commissary, a licensed kitchen where he can prepare food and store supplies. By code, mobile food vendors can’t prepare food at home.

Many businesses offer commissary services in cities with vibrant food truck scenes, including Austin and Portland, Ore., but finding one in Waco wasn’t easy for Gaylord. Eventually, he found a nonprofit agency that let him use its licensed kitchen in exchange for feeding low-income kids each week.

Those hurdles keep some would-be operators out of the industry. Waco has 60 permitted mobile food vendors, a category that includes snow-cone stands, food trucks and catering vehicles, said David Litke of the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District.

Asked how many vendors regularly set up downtown besides Gaylord, Litke said: “Probably none.”

It took a year for Gaylord to clear the business and permitting hurdles, and it could have taken longer without a neighbor’s help.

Jake Black, who owns Jake’s Texas Tea House at 613 Austin Ave., agreed to let Gaylord set up at the former department store lot, even though he could have viewed him as competition. Gaylord needed Black’s permission by code because his cart is within 100 feet of the permanent restaurant.

“He was really great about everything,” Gaylord said. “I mean, without him I wouldn’t be able to be here.”

To Black, more foot traffic means more potential customers for all downtown merchants.

“Maybe every block or two, if there were some guy selling something, I think it would be great for downtown,” he said.

Black doesn’t see Gaylord as a direct competitor, since food carts and sit-down restaurants serve different customer needs.

“My wife and I have already bought hot dogs from them,” Black said. “He’s not our competition; he’s just someone trying to make it.”

Gaylord’s usual business hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays. He serves only Nathan’s Famous all-beef franks, which originated in New York’s Coney Island and passed his friends’ rigorous taste tests.

During a recent visit, Gaylord smiled when a passer-by said he’s bringing a touch of New York to Waco.

“The looks and the talk I get from everybody who walks by, just like that guy, ‘Yeah, New York in Waco!’” Gaylord said with a laugh. “So it’s been kind of funny to see it.”

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/hot-dog-cart-brings-touch-of-new-york-to-waco/article_7a40b43b-6d0f-53f6-b759-bfacdf88ced1.html

Chris Dorst
Bistro Black Truck Manager Brandon Aubrey said the food truck will serve “eclectic” food six days a week throughout Charleston. A phone application that Bridge Road Bistro created will show the location of the food truck at any given time

CHARLESTON, W.Va.–  Bridge Road Bistro has gone mobile.

The South Hills restaurant is unveiling its first food truck, which hungry patrons will be able to locate on a phone application.

The Bistro Black Truck will make its debut Monday night at the West Virginia Power game at Appalachian Power Park, although it won’t serve any food yet.

Bridge Road Bistro General Manager Sandy Call said restaurant workers applied for a city loading zone permit, which would allow them to park and serve food for 30 minutes on Charleston streets, Thursday. They are waiting for city approval — still weeks away, Call said — before they start serving food.

The phone app — where customers will be able to see where the food truck is, check the menu and give feedback — will be available in about three weeks, she said.

“We’re going to be very respectful and ask owners of parking lots if we can park there and, of course, we’ll pay. We want to respect the city and add to the vitality of the city,” Call said, “We’re not going to pull up in front of other eateries.”

The Bistro Black Truck will switch up its menu every two weeks so customers won’t see the same fare all the time, said Brandon Aubrey, manager of the food truck.

Some ideas Aubrey and Chef John Right are already tossing around include salads, wraps, fish tacos, empanadas, hot and cold soups, and a nacho of the day.

The menu will be displayed on the side of the truck next to the ordering window. Prices will range from $4 to $10.

Aubrey and one other Bistro employee will work inside the truck at a time.

He said he will prepare most of the food in the morning. By lunchtime, orders will go out in less than two minutes, he said.

“In the city, it’s great to be able to eat something that’s not fast food but delivered to you fast,” Aubrey said. “We’re used to doing 200 people [at the restaurant] in a couple hours, so this is nothing.”

Aubrey, who has traveled to California and Florida exploring food trucks, said this is a dream come true for him. They bought the 1984 Ford food truck from a man in Atlanta, who took the mobile business to NASCAR races.

“I get to do what I’ve dreamed about for years,” he said. “For a lot of us, it’s not just a job, it’s a passion.”

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones said the Bistro is opening new doors as a “premiere operation in the city of Charleston.”

“The Bistro will continue to expand because they attract the best customers, but they also attract the best people to work there,” Jones said.

Call said they are doing what the Bistro’s late owner, Robert Wong, wanted out of his restaurant. Wong died last May after collapsing on a tennis court.

“This past year has been really tough for us, losing Robert . . . but we embraced that philosophy behind Robert and Sherri’s beliefs in serving great food and meeting people, so there’s no stopping us,” Call said.

The food truck will travel all around Charleston every day except Sunday, but it isn’t restricted to city limits, she said. The restaurant already caters to numerous weddings in Lewisburg, and the St. Albans Armory has requested the Bistro Black Truck to serve its location.

Call said the truck will sit outside Charleston offices so that people looking for a quick, fresh bite to eat won’t have to walk far.

Festivals, including Live on the Levee and other Boulevard events, are location goals for the food truck, she said.

“We hope to grow and get another one,” Call said. “We got Morgantown tailgating, and more, to cater to.”

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201304050157

The Westlake High School Instrumental Music Department will host a spring Food Truck Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sun., April 14 at Conejo Creek Park North, just north of the Grant Brimhall Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks.

The event will feature a number of Southern California food trucks. The event is one of the department’s largest fundraisers. Westlake High School supports multiple wind, string and jazz orchestras, marching regiment, color guard and drum line.

Family events will include balloon tosses, a tug-of-war, and three-legged races. Several local bands will perform, including the Parent/Staff band.

http://www.theacorn.com/news/2013-04-04/Schools/School_festival_trucks_in_the_food.html

Lufkin Road Middle School technology teacher Jennifer Balgooyen turned a lesson about entrepreneurship into a tasty treat for her business marketing students. She took them to the Chirba Chirba Dumpling food truck at Centre Green in Cary on Friday.

As part of the business marketing unit of the entrepreneurship class at the Apex school, Balgooyen’s students researched and interviewed business owners about how they got started and how they market their companies. A trip to a food truck, which is a steadily growing business model in the Triangle, was a fun way to end the unit.

“Small businesses run this country,” Balgooyen said. “What I would like them to see is the attainability of starting their own business.”

http://www.carynews.com/2013/03/19/72185/food-trucks-and-business-lessons.html

The new Gourmet Catering Cart from Metal Gourmet™ is designed with the professional chef in mind to serve a wide range of catering venues in style. 

San Jose, Calif. -  Metal Gourmet, Inc., a San Jose-based builder of premium mobile food trailers and carts, has announced a new line of Gourmet Catering Carts. The carts are ideally suited for onsite cooking and showcasing gourmet food offerings on patios, at pool side and other guest locations on the properties of restaurants, wineries, and hotels, resorts and country clubs. These carts are also being used in the corporate campus environment for employee food service. Their cooking versatility makes them equally at home at off-site catering venues, such as private parties, sporting, lodge and community service events, or at charity fund-raisers.

“The quality and versatility of our Gourmet Catering Carts received rave reviews at the recent CaterSource show in Las Vegas. In particular, many caterers in the hospitality industry saw our carts as an affordable and practical way to support high-end catered events, or to expand their exposure by participating in local community food events,” said Bud Rogers, President of Metal Gourmet.

The Catering Cart can be configured to meet the particular needs of professional chefs, including a 4-burner grill, large griddle and steamer. The carts fit through a standard 32″ doorway and are built on a rugged welded tubular steel frame with easy-roll swiveled casters. Base priced at $8,000 (Model GCC-S64D), the handsome Gourmet Catering Carts represent a modest investment that allows caterers and catering companies to serve guests in style at just about any venue.

The Gourmet Catering Cart features 100% stainless steel enclosures and three stainless steel food cooking appliances-a 32″W x 30″D Griddle with removable ½”- stainless steel griddle plate; a 16″W x 30″ D Steamer and a 32″W x 30″ D Grill with 4 separate 35,000BTU burners. The cart (31″W x 87″L x 43″H) has built-in easy-clean grease trays, accommodates 4 propane tanks, two insulated roller drawers and a large storage compartment. It is has a tough stain-resistant power-coat finish available in many custom colors.

For more information on Metal Gourmet, please call the company at (408) 595-3360 or visit the web site at www.metalgourmet.com.

About Metal Gourmet:

Founded in 2011 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Airtronics Metal Products, Metal Gourmet™ designs, builds and distributes premium quality mobile food trailers and carts for the mobile food industry. Metal Gourmet trailers and carts comply with California health codes and feature NSF-approved components. Metal Gourmet trailers are manufactured by Airtronics, a licensed trailer manufacturer.

 We know that you can NEVER have a shortage of budget-stretching ideas. I previously gave you these recession-friendly wedding budget ideas, but let’s get food-specific in this installment, shall we?

1. Time is on your side

Have an afternoon wedding and stick to appetizers, serving heavy appetizers instead of a seated meal. Remember, appetizers don’t always have to be fancy! Think fresh fruit, gourmet cheeses and crackers, salsa bar, mini tea sandwiches, local veggies, or deli platters.

Alternately, consider a brunch wedding. Take it from Tasha and Andrew:

Our reception was a brunch with lots of music and dancing. We saved so much money having a brunch wedding.

 2. Potluck weddings!

Ah yes, the ever-controversial potluck wedding — Is it tacky? Is it the best idea ever? I’d say that depends on how well your friends and family members can cook. In Sarah & Chris’ case everything went wonderfully:

I handmade all of our invites and asked the guest to bring food instead of a gift, something home made, special to them — their favorite food. Everybody ate, and raved about each other’s recipes.

3. Rent a food truck.

I know MY favorite wedding reception dinner has been from the In and Out truck. But not all food trucks have to be um… not so great for your health. Food trucks are going gourmet these days, but the prices are staying reasonable. Try googling “food truck catering” in your area! Plus the photo ops are always fun:

4. Bake it yourself

Bake your own wedding dessert. You can always do cupcakes or make wedding cookies instead of a fancy wedding cake. Our combine the potluck idea with the cake baking idea and pull off a collaborative wedding cake quilt.

5. BBQ

If a potluck sounds like a lot of work (logistics and what-not) then a barbecue wedding might be right up your alley. Turn your wedding reception into a cookout with hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled veggies. (Ok, I’m getting hungry now.) If you don’t want to man the grill yourself, hire a local barbecue joint to cater a la Charla and Joel:

As graduate students, we had to do it on the cheap. The main cost was the catering — pulled pork, ribs, chicken, honey rolls and sides a la Slow Ride BBQ out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. At $11 a plate, the yummy food didn’t break the bank.

6. Skip fancy cocktails

Just serve beer and wine. You can always use our tutorial on how to use custom wine labels to save money on your wedding booze. Or, hell, save a bunch of dough and skip alcohol all together.

7. Friends are your friend!

Know one or several people who are culinary whizzes? Talk to them about whether they’d feel comfortable sharing their cooking skills as their wedding gift. I’ve seen this exchanged pulled off flawlessly at many a wedding.

Now I turn it over to you — what ways did you come up with to save money on your food and catering?

http://offbeatbride.com/2011/12/food-budget

By T. Ballard Lesemann | CharlestonCityPaper.com

Zac Brown Band's Mobile Kitchen

Grammy-winning songwriter Zac Brown may be known best for his heartfelt songs, country-rock style, and rapid-fire acoustic guitar solos, but he’s making his mark this year as a proponent of traditional Southern cooking and culture.

“Both sides of my family cooked a lot,” says Brown, who grew up in the northeast Georgia town of Dahlonega. “My grandparents on both sides were canners, and they canned peach preserves, fig preserves, candied sweet potatoes, and apple butter. They’d make homemade fried pies and salted hides and meats. It was the old-time putting-your-food-up thing.”

Brown has been a dedicated foodie for quite a while. In 2004, he opened a music club and restaurant called Zac’s Place with his father near Lake Oconee (northeast of Atlanta). He also released his own cookbook titled Southern Ground. So it’s natural for authentic country victuals and Southern cuisine to play a major role in Brown’s new concert venture, the Southern Ground Music & Food Festival. The name refers to Brown’s record label, Southern Ground Artists, which he launched in 2009.

“When I was growing up, you worked with what you got, whether it was salting it, dehydrating it, or whatever — even if was just shucking corn and putting the kernels in freezer bags for later,” says Brown. “Some of that plays into this event as well.”

This weekend, he brings his cleverly arranged multimedia festival to Daniel Island. It’s three full evenings of live rock, country, and alternative pop with a massive menu of award-winning fare. “This is something that’s still evolving, and we’re always figuring out new things,” Brown says of the festival. “We want to be able to roll in deep enough to be in a field and provide all the food, beverages, staging, and music for everyone.”

The Zac Brown Band will be the headlining act for all three nights of the festival. The group’s 2009 smash album The Foundation featured the foot-stomping, chart-topping single “Chicken Fried.” The disc sold more than a million copies. Their latest album, 2010′s You Get What You Give, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold millions as well. The album earned rave reviews and snagged the 2010 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

In his typical, non-showbiz, down-to-earth manner, Brown respectfully shrugs off the Grammy and the accolades. Instead, he prefers to express his gratitude to his listeners and supporters.

“This is the flagship rollout of hospitality for our fans,” says Brown. “This festival is really all about super-serving the fans,” he says. “It’s providing three days of music and three days of food with the full sensory experience. We’re doing our front-porch stage boxes where 200 people who sit on the stage with us for the nighttime sets have their own tables and servers. We’ve figured out new ways to present the food in a way where people and servers aren’t walking by with plates and everything. I’ve tried to be as crafty as possible in putting this festival together.”

For a ticket price of $275 per seat, the Porch Stage boxes feature elevated, stage-level seating, private restrooms, free booze, and a four-course gourmet meal.

Those servers he mentions will carefully handle a wild variety of traditional and contemporary cuisine. Some specialty dishes and sides will come from Southern Ground Executive Chef Rusty Hamlin. Three James Beard Award winners — RJ Cooper of Rogue 24 in Washington, D.C., Sean Brock of Husk and McCrady’s, and Mike Lata of FIG — will also be on hand to prepare their specialties.

“Those chefs have figured out how to bring their own flavor and flair to the food at this event,” says Brown. “The sounds, aromas, and setting at this will be like a perfect storm.”

Additional food and drinks will be available from Cookie, Brown’s customized tractor trailer mobile kitchen. Look for Brown’s famous Southern Ground Grub, Georgia Clay Spice Rub, and his own Brown Sauce.

“One thing about the South is that people do gather around food,” says Brown. “Sometimes, people forget how powerful a thing that food is. We’re musicians, and we’ve dedicated our lives to writing songs and playing, but we want to dedicate ourselves to the food as well.”

This big festival isn’t a new thing. The Zac Brown Band has already curated Southern Ground Music & Food Festival in a few other cities over the last two years.

“This is the full presentation of it, not the test running,” Brown says. “The duct tape is off of it.”

The bandleader is certainly more concerned about the audience’s overall experience at the festival than his own band’s performance. He emphasizes their intentions to create a welcoming, easy-going, great-sounding atmosphere.

There’s a keen sense of inclusion and camaraderie to the music side of the Southern Ground Music & Food Festival. The impressive roster doesn’t necessarily resemble the twangy country/Americana style the Zac Brown Band has championed. It’s a cool variety of acts, including My Morning Jacket, Train, Eric Church, Fitz and the Tantrums, and the Warren Haynes Band.

Unlike some of the self-important celebrities from the country music world, Brown’s not too full of himself. He vows he won’t be dodging fans or well-wishers by hiding out like a rock star in his big tour bus for three evenings. He and his bandmates plan to mingle, eat, drink, and get down with everyone on the field and in the stands.

“We’ll be hangin’, watching the other bands, eating the food, and being in it with them,” Brown says.

Among the more innovative aspects of the festival are the custom-designed video projection screen and the band’s new P.A. system. Brown claims a listener at the back of the field will be able to hear the music at the same tone and volume levels as one standing 50 feet from the stage.

Such planning, designing, and production is an awful lot of extra work for a popular musical artist on a national tour. For Brown, it’s like working three full-time jobs simultaneously. But he was inspired by some of his favorite major music festivals and was determined to put his spin on it all.

“I’ve tried to learn from every concert and festival I’ve been to,” he says. “I’ve tried to look at the presentation and go from that. Going to MerleFest [in N.C.] when I was younger with my brother, I noticed they always had great food tents with local vendors. The way the stage worked at MerleFest gave me a lot of insight in how to occupy an audience while you’re having a changeover.”

Outside of the South, Brown took cues from another popular festival in the Rocky Mountains.

“The Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado was great in the way the front-of-house stage was on one side, and all the recycling was right next to that, and all the food wrapped around in a circle,” he says. “You could watch the show, take a break and grab some food, and then get right back into the music.”

Brown’s main goal with the Southern Ground Festival is to create an overall experience that gives his fans more than they expected.

“We want to be known for blowing people away,” he says. “I want our audience to enjoy food and music that exceeds their expectations.”

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/zac-browns-festival-goes-beyond-chicken-fried-standards/Content?oid=3629573

By STAFF | SunHerald.com

KANSAS CITY — I am in the heart of the Midwest eating a meal with the Zac Brown Band and 200 of their closest fans.

I met Brown during a meal I served this summer and struck up an instant friendship as soon as he asked for seconds on White Chocolate Bread Pudding. He invited my family to a show, and I offered to provide dessert at his famous pre-show eat-and-greet.