50 on Fire will bring together D.C.'s best and brightest to recognize the disruptors, luminaries and visionaries that are pushing our city forward. Buy your tickets now and join us on Dec. 1 at Howard Theatre for the celebration and winners reveal.
The 50 on Fire Lifestyle category might be the most fun one. From flowers to beer to clothing, these innovators are making D.C. a city of world-class food and drink, classic style and vibrant community. Check out this year's finalists:
Michael Lastoria - &pizza&pizza has had quite a year. In addition to opening several new stores in the District, developing a cocktail program for their Chinatown location and announcing new markets in Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York, the homegrown pizza chain just announced a $25 million funding round to boost its expansion. Under CEO Michael Lastoria, the local brand has built a loyal "Tribe" of workers, many of whom have taken &pizza up on the offer of a free ampersand tattoo. The CEO of the fast casual pizza company has also been a prominent voice in advocating for raising D.C.'s minimum wage to $15/hour, and joined Mayor Bowser at the bill signing earlier in the year.
Andrew Kelley, Kai Leszkowicz, and Richard Thompson - Aslin Beer Co.
In just over a year since they started brewing and selling beer, Aslin has taken the local beer world by storm. Despite the fact that the tiny brewery in Reston only sells their beer from their tasting room, and that you won't find it on tap at any restaurant, the beer has gained national attention. Three brews from Aslin currently appear on the BeerAdvocate list of the world's top 250 beers. No other brewery in the DMV even makes the list. After a whirlwind 2016, Aslin has been working to boost their production capacity with new equipment, so maybe, just maybe, you'll get a taste of their delicious suds in 2017.
Justin Cox - Atlas Brew Works
Making beer takes a lot of energy. Atlas Brew Works, a brewery with a commitment to sustainability, decided to find a way to reduce their impact. So earlier this year, Atlas completed a project to install solar panels on their brewery roof. Their partnership with D.C.-based Solar Solutions now offsets the energy used to brew their beer. And that wasn't all that Atlas CEO Justin Cox had going for him this year. The brewery hosted Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who poured drafts of some of the brewery's "Homerule" India Pale Lager to support D.C.'s statehood initiative. And they inked a deal with Nationals Park to have Nats fans sipping their brews at home games this season.
Farrah Skeiky - Dim Sum Media
In the age of social media, the way a restaurant appears online is almost as important as their food. Luckily for D.C. establishments like Dolcezza, Bad Saint and Daikaya, they have Farrah Skeiky. Skeiky's Dim Sum Media takes her background as a photographer and leverages it into digital storytelling for D.C. lifestyle brands.
Ryan Costello - Event Farm
Ryan Costello fell backward into event management. He graduated with a degree in computer science and then swiftly realized he didn't want to be a coder. That's when he stumbled into politics and fundraising, then decided to make the jump from politics to event technology. Event Farm is known for its innovative event planning and marketing technology. This includes new approaches to registration services, such as nontransferable invitations, and experiential technology, like hologram selfies or virtual golf. The D.C.-based startup closed a $6.1M funding round and acquired Boston-based startup, Attend, in September, and it has offices in D.C., L.A. and Boston.
Alan Clifford - Galley
Galley, a homegrown food production and delivery startup, has been growing rapidly and bringing its fresh-made meals to hungry consumers in a larger area than ever this year. Co-founder Alan Clifford told DC Inno earlier in the year that the company was delivering around 500 dinners every day, and was on pace to finish the year delivering around 2,000 per day. The last several months have seen Galley expand service into Northern Virginia and introduce earlier delivery times.
Erik Bruner-Yang - Maketto/Toki Underground
Erik Bruner-Yang is the celebrated chef and businessman behind H St.'s favorite ramen shop, Toki Underground, and the coffeeshop/restaurant/urbanwear shop Maketto. Building on the 2015 success of Maketto, Bruner-Yang has partnered with collaboration meals at local outlets of sweetgreen and Shake Shack. But the biggest news of this year is that D.C. is getting two new spots from the acclaimed chef. Bruner-Yang will open two restaurants in the new Line Hotel in Adams Morgan: Brothers and Sisters, a lobby restaurant and bar, and Spoken English, a tasting menu concept.
Ayeshah Abuelhiga - Mason Dixie Biscuit Co.
Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. has made big steps in the last two years. The two year old company, led by CEO Ayeshah Abuelhiga, has moved from pop up shop, to Kickstarter fundraiser, to production in food incubator Mess Hall. The biscuit company now occupies a spot at Union Market, dishing out delicious sandwiches to hungry crowds, and you can now find their packaged biscuits for sales in grocery stores across the region.
Ann Yang and Phil Wong - Misfit Juicery
Misfit Juicery was founded by two Georgetown alumni who saw potential in that fruit that no one wants. The company turns misshapen or bruised, but totally edible, fruit and vegetables into cold-pressed juice. The duo has grown their brand locally in 2016, and was recently accepted into the first class of entrepreneurs in the food business incubator run by Chobani. Misfit is in the process of raising a $750,000 seed round.
Pia Carusone - Republic Restoratives
Nothing goes together like crowdfunding and whiskey. Okay, whiskey goes with everything, but Republic Restoratives is serving theirs up with the help of Indiegogo crowdfunding supporters who helped them get up and running. The Ivy City distillery opened earlier this year and is producing vodka and bourbon for D.C.'s thirsty imbibers. Republic Restoratives prides itself on being a female-owned venture and strongly dedicated to the community. And in the spirit of community support, were selected into Indiegogo's first-ever equity crowdfunding initiative, allowing those who want to contribute to help grow the business to actually get equity in the business for a low-level investment.
Ariel Pasternak - Stumptown Coffee/Pineapple DC
Ariel Pasternak began her career helping to open and operate Chaia, the vegetarian taco joint in Georgetown. And her passion for food led her to start Pineapple DC, a community organization for women in food in the District. Pineapple organizes gatherings of influential women in the local culinary community and highlights the efforts of female food leaders with the aim of fostering better collaboration and relationships. Pasternak now is the regional sales rep for Stumptown Coffee, helping keep customers caffeinated at local coffee shops like Baked and Wired and Dolcezza, who brew Stumptown Coffee.
Rosy and Donna Khalife - Surprise Ride
Surprise Ride, the D.C.-based subscription box for children's toys, games and education tools, rose to prominence after an appearance on Shark Tank in 2013. While they didn't initially take funding from the show, one shark, Kevin O'Leary, circled back with the startup in the last year and offered then funding. Now, with so-called "Mr. Wonderful" on as an investor and advisor, Surprise Rise has continued to grow.
Jose Andres - ThinkFoodGroup
Jose Andres was in the news perhaps more than any other chef in the world this year. The Spanish-born chef who has built a culinary empire from D.C. had a highly publicized spat with presidential candidate Donald Trump after the chef withdrew from plans to open a new restaurant in D.C.'s Trump Hotel. But Andres' busy year was far from over after the dust from that fight settled. In October, the chef's molecular gastronomy concept, Minibar, became one of three D.C. restaurants to earn two Michelin stars. Meanwhile, his fast casual restaurant Beefsteak opened a new Tenleytown location and ventured in to Philadelphia.
Jocelyn Gailliot - Tuckernuck
Four years ago, Jocelyn Gailliot co-founded Tuckernuck as a preppy clothing and accessory e-commerce business. Now, Tuckernuck has ventured into the in-real-life world, with a brick and mortar store in Georgetown that opened earlier this year. Selling classic, all-American clothing, Tuckernuck capitalizes on the experiential retail model, selling products as part of curated lifestyle, that has seen success in recent years.
Cullen Gilchrist and Jonas Singer - Union Kitchen
Union Kitchen is a local food incubator, giving food entrepreneurs access to commercial kitchen space, distribution and business advice to help them grow and scale. Now, in addition to the two kitchen spaces they operate, Union Kitchen also sells members' products out of Union Kitchen Grocery, a shop on Capitol Hill. They plan to open a second Union Kitchen Grocery location soon in Shaw.
Ajay Kori - UrbanStems
UrbanStems, the two year old flower delivery startup, made news in April when they announced a $6.8 million Series A round, and expansion to Baltimore and Philadelphia. The startup has been growing rapidly, adding at least eight team members to the company of 20 this year. Ajay Kori said in an interview earlier this year that the company's growth rate is 500-600 percent year over year and accelerating. That's a lot of flowers.
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