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For Starters is a weekly newsletter for the next-gen of small business owners. It’s written by Danny Giacopelli, former editor of Courier mag and host of Monocle’s The Entrepreneurs podcast.
Hey, starter! Read on for…
Inspiration ➠ Local treasures 💎
Advice ➠ The magic of Malik Acid
Ideas ➠ Let me tell you a secret…
Tools ➠ Cool stuff on the internet
Community ➠ FS wins & shoutouts
➠ Get inspired
Credit | tresorspublics.com
01. Made right here. Every city deserves a place like Trésors Publics. It’s a warm little shop hidden down a street in Nice’s old town, which I visit whenever I’m passing through (I was there last week and bought this beautiful made-in-France desk pad). The store is packed with soaps, candles, clothes, fabrics, toys — all produced in France by local businesses that actually care about what they’re making. No cheap stuff, no fridge magnets (to be fair I love a fridge magnet). Just good products with good stories. 🇫🇷 → More cities should steal this idea: think The Locavore in NYC, which we mentioned a few weeks ago. Visitors walk away with something they actually want to keep, and local businesses find customers and champions beyond their shores. Win-win.
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02. A new Rome? Speaking of France, have you been following these crazy French guys touring America who say they’re the last classical sculpture foundry in France and want to build a new Statue of Liberty out of titanium so it stands for millions of years? No? Read more – and, uh, get ready… 🗽
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03. Chew on this. 18 years ago, when Cathy Olmedillas didn’t see a kids magazine she thought was worth her own kids reading, she created one – called Anorak. In 2015 she and her team launched Dot, a title for kids younger than five. And now they’ve done it again, with Chew — a beautiful new mag for kids, all about food. Each issue zooms in on an ingredient (oranges, bread, etc) with stories, games and recipes that feel fun, not worthy. Small indie publishing at its best. 📚️
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04. Fresh & clean. When Barbara Thomas couldn’t find soap she loved, she did what all good starters do and made her own. The now founder of Artifact Soapworks used her MIT chemical engineering education to craft vegan bars with organic, biodegradable ingredients – and in hand‑poured molds shaped like goddesses and gargoyles. The Black‑owned company just got recognized as one of the most environmentally conscious small businesses in Massachusetts. Bravo. → Speaking of soap, what happens to leftover hotel soap? Read about the orgs collecting, upcycling, and giving them to people in need. 🧼
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➠ Starter wisdom
Missy Malik-Flynn and Cameron Malik-Flynn are building Malik Acid – a London-based hospitality company at the intersection of flavour and design. Missy, who runs the beloved restaurant Rita’s, and Cameron, a veteran of BAO and The Standard, also happen to be siblings. Below, they share what they’re cooking up.
What’s the inspiration behind Malik Acid?
MF: Cameron and I have worked in hospitality for our whole working careers. I’m slightly older than him, so that means between us we have many years experience and we’ve seen a whole spectrum of things. Most of this time I’ve owned and operated my restaurants Rita’s, while Cameron has had a different experience of working within larger businesses and brands.
The inspiration came from seeing each other working creatively but with credibility, always with focus fixed on quality and the quest to do things differently and in our own way. We clearly have shared references and ideas, but also many differences, which makes a good creative partnership.
We wanted to make a space for our work to combine, using mixed drinks, cocktails, beverage design and drinking experiences as a focal point for cross-cultural, multidisciplinary and collaborative work. We now do lots of event catering, bespoke beverage design for brands and events, strategy, styling, and also personal projects such as the Mango Listening Room and bespoke glassware design.
Food seems like a fertile ground for genre-bending companies. Do you agree?
MF: I agree, because food is by nature multifaceted. It’s sensorial in all meanings of the word. And now more than ever it lives equally in real-life tangible experiences and also online. So translating the power and value of food across mediums requires new ways of seeing. We want to work with the visual in a way that is contemporary and exciting, but always with our hospitality roots in mind. It has to be something you want to reach out and touch or consume, whether you encounter the work online or in person. Another thing we’re mindful of as food becomes ever more multi-disciplinary is that we always see it as something special – that we never treat it as a commodity or something to be wasted.
Your manifesto says REJECT MID-DILUTION. Tell us more…
CF: I think this mantra can be applied to any practice. It’s a reminder for both us and our audience to always push ourselves, and the creative where possible, within our means.
Tell us about some memorable projects or collabs you’ve done.
MF: Here are a few…
Theaster Gates. We were invited on request of the artist and gallery to produce a 100-person dinner in response to Theaster Gates’ Afro-Mingei show at White Cube, exploring cultural hybridity between Japanese philosophy and Black identity. My restaurant Rita’s led on the food and Malik Acid took care of the drinks. Gabriel Pryce, the chef and my co-founder at Rita’s, developed a menu that traced a line from the American South to Japan through shared ingredients and culinary practice – from making a Japanese goma-ae for collard greens with benne seed from South Carolina, to grits with braised okra and strawberry shortcake. Theaster has a complexity and depth to his work and research that is exactly how we think about food and drink. Our Malik Acid drinks traced this same line, looking at American classic whisky cocktails and bartending technique, introducing small batch Suntory whiskies and carefully selected wines. What was special about this was being able to design and produce every element, even to the point where guests went home with a warm buckwheat tea. It felt complete.
Water cooler. We’re still developing the ‘water cooler moment’ as a drinking experience, but we debuted it at Brompton Design District with our friends Andu Masebo and Mikey Krzyzanowski. Simply, it's ready-to-serve cocktails in a water cooler, self-service and self-garnish. The point is to question the notion of service and conviviality, particularly as the office and other shared space culture is in decline. It was a revisiting of the water cooler moment trope, reimagining this functional and somewhat wasteful piece of equipment as somewhere social moments can happen. Most special about this was being invited by Andu, Mikey and the team at Making Room to do what we do in a designated design practical space; not where you might expect to find a beverage design project, but it felt truly collaborative and we appreciate it!
TBA. A glassware project with Pia Glassworks, which demonstrated to us how easy it can be to work and collaborate with some of your favourite makers via the power of social media.
What are you working on right now?
CF: Our attention right now is focused on our one-year anniversary celebrations and pop-up: The Mango Listening Bar in partnership with Lost Explorer Mezcal and Friendly Pressure, who create the most amazing sound systems. It coincides with the end of the South Asian mango season and is inspired by the question of what if we (loosely) applied the Japanese listening bar culture and aesthetic, which we both love, to a single fruit that we also both love.
Tomorrow
What’s it like building a company as siblings? Were you destined to be starters together?
MF: I wouldn’t say destined at all, but it makes complete sense given the similar background we have. And I believe in our capacity to deliver something unique and of good quality. In this way Cameron is really my co-founder and a peer that I work with and admire the work of. The same is also true with my restaurant Rita’s, which I run with my partner. I learnt a long time ago that you have to create new working relationships that can override your personal ones if you want to have success working with people close to you.
Who do you want to collaborate with? Dream client? Shoot your shot…
CF: I would love to work on something with Shygirl (SHY BAR?) & maybe a hospitality business somewhere warmer. Hotel Corazon in Majorca or Yeshi in Vietnam…
MF: I’d love to do more international work. Hotels are interesting to me because of the sustained amount of time people spend in them. I’d also love to work with more galleries and art institutions, places where slowness and thoughtfulness is allowed and encouraged.
What else have you learned setting up this company?
CF: Surround yourself with people who believe in what you do (even if just a little bit). And you will need to properly learn about tax!
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➠ Here’s an idea…
Credit | Fratelli Branca Distillery
Secret loyalty → Fernet Branca’s bartender coin is a low-key badge of honour – you only get one if you’re in the know. Flash it at a bar and you might (emphasis on might) score a free drink. It’s basically a clever way to turn a simple token into something more fun. Over here in London, Indian restaurant chain Dishoom has got a secret (well, not so secret) ‘Matka token’ game, where loyal customers can roll a single die on a special wooden board – if you roll a six, your whole table's bill is free. (I know this from experience) → What could your small biz version be? A pin, a sticker, or a weirder keepsake that says “I’m part of this club.” We all know your For Starters cap falls into this category… 🧢
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➠ Toolbox
🛠️ Resources
Link Lowdown, a place to “find interesting stuff across the web”
📚️ Reads
The Future of Retail is Offline. Highsnobiety
Influencing Without the Influencers. Instead of relying on celebrities, brands are controlling the message by making their own social media videos. You may not even realize they’re selling you something. NYT
The dos and don’ts of rebranding in 2025 Modern Retail
When in Doubt, Go For a Walk. Fabián's Journal
In Pasadena, a community comes together for a 14-year-old street vendor. LA Times
“Fun fatigue – is formality returning in branding?” Design Week
A New Mayor is Good Business for Bed-Stuy’s Mom-&-Pops. The NYC mayoral election could have a massive impact on the hopes, concerns, and challenges small businesses face. BK Mag
The State of American Manufacturing, According to 10 Companies. What’s the reality like for U.S. brands making blankets, furniture, cookware and watches? We asked them. Inside Hook
🧠 Findings
7.6% → The predicted annual growth rate of sustainable packaging from now until 2030, when the market might be worth $353.78 billion. Gen Z are probs the culprits here: 25% of high-income Gen Zs (in 🇩🇪 to be fair) say they’d pay “a lot more” for sustainable packaging. High income Gen X? Only 1% (!)
14 hours → How long it took this 3D printer project on Kickstarter to raise $10m, breaking records. It ended up raising north of $46m (not a typo) 🤯
🙃 Fun
Billy McFarland is auctioning off Fyre Fest – like, the actual brand – on eBay. Bids are hovering around $205K. If you’ve got the stomach and funds to revitalize this highly respected American event, godspeed… 💀
And here’s bread-themed wrapping paper from Japan. Turn any gift into sourdough.
Credit | Bakermee
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➠ Our community
→ For Starters subscriber Vinnie Sauvan, a designer, is launching a free monthly meetup in London for people who have personal projects/ideas they need help getting off the ground. “I feel like these type of events are getting harder and harder to find, so I just decided to just do it myself,” Vinnie says. Love it. First one’s on July 29th. Check it out 🔥
→ And eagle-eyed subscriber Lena Tavitian was in Antibes recently and says that this magical store — the only English language bookstore in the city — is for sale. Any takers?! 👀
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