Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

At Heritage Academy in Kentucky, Anthony Tringale’s baseball coach would call him in to pitch when his team neared getting mercy ruled. Nevertheless, Tringale had the optimistic mentality that he could change the direction of the game.

Like on the diamond, Tringale has learned through his business Eat Local New York that he can’t change the direction of a restaurant, but he can help them learn what they can do better.

The marketing company works for companies and campaigns, but mostly food businesses such as the Market Diner, Willow Rock Brewing Company and Carmelita’s Mexican Restaurant. It also works with over 145 restaurants in New York state that are a part of their Eat Local NY coupon program — customers who spend $25 or more at participating restaurants and have an Eat Local NY card get $5 off their purchase.

“When it comes to some of our marketing clients now, as a lot of these people are coming to us in their desperation, we don’t help turn things around for them,” Tringale said. “But we help them hopefully learn something or get more customers in there.”

Tringale grew up influenced by the hospitality industry. His father had worked just about every job in the industry he could think of: chef, manager and owner, and as the director of food and beverage for Holiday Inns in the Northeast region.

At home, Tringale’s dad embodies a giving quality through food. He always makes about double the amount of food — including prime rib steak and fettuccine alfredo — on Christmas than is needed for the 13 or so family members that celebrate together.

“Growing up, my mom and dad were always in the hospitality and hosting people and stuff like that,” Tringale said. “And so we were kind of raised with the same ethic of making people feel comfortable.”

He originally started an Instagram account in 2016 named Eat Local CNY to highlight the restaurant community in the region, but he now has his eyes set on the entire Empire State. Tringale said he started the Instagram account just to promote locally owned businesses.

Tringale works in the restaurant industry for Gerharz Restaurant Equipment & Supplies — which supplies restaurant equipment such as stoves and refrigerators — as its marketing manager. Through Gerharz, Tringale has formed relationships with restaurant owners and chefs, learning about what they needed for marketing along the way.

Part of what makes Tringale’s work for Eat Local NY so impactful is that he puts his heart and soul into his clients’ companies, said Zach Cavallo, a chef in the Syracuse area and co-host of Eat Local NY’s YouTube show Hoagies Heros.

Some of the companies that Eat Local NY works for are Market Diner, Willow Rock Brewing Company and Carmelita’s Mexican Restaurant. Meghan Hendricks | Staff Photographer

The friends started Hoagies Heros to find the best options for certain foods in central New York, like cannolis and tacos, and hopefully present their content to a large audience.

The show tries to emulate Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy’s “One Bite Pizza Review” style of ranking food, but they don’t try to pull punches at places they think are bad, Cavallo said. Despite not being able to take videos of them trying the food on location because of the pandemic, they hope that at some point — hopefully over the summer — they can meet with chefs and owners for the videos, too. Cavallo believes that will give their reviews more credibility.

He added that Hoagies Heros is still evolving and finding its final format, but the end goal is to have a show that people watch and want to go visit that local restaurant.

“It’ll be huge when we hear for the first time from a restaurant that somebody was like, ‘Hey, we came here because we saw you on Hoagies Heros,’” Cavallo said. “That’s kind of like what we’re going for is to be able to help these places.”

Eat Local NY also offers a yearly reusable coupon program, where customers with the card who spend $25 or more at participating restaurants get $5 off their bill. Meghan Hendricks | Staff Photographer

Eat Local NY doesn’t try to recruit restaurants from its card program to do their marketing, but the company will reach out to restaurants on their card program to see if they need any marketing assistance too.

Amanda Miles, Eat Local NY’s community manager, reaches out to member restaurant’s regularly through social media, email and phone to assist with marketing and promotions. She said that even reaching out to say “Hey, we are thinking of you,” can go a long way.

“90% of this business, especially when you’re in food services, is relationships, especially when you’re kind of in the local community,” Tringale said. “It’s about knowing the person, knowing their restaurant, knowing their struggles, talking to them about new ideas all the time.”

Published on May 2, 2021 at 11:16 pm

Contact Louis: louis@dailyorange.com | @JBL__98