Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Richardson.
Hi Amanda, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
As a child, I always loved cooking. My Christmas gifts include cooking utensils, aprons, and a Kitchen Aid Mixer that I still have to this day. In high school, I walked over to the Applied Technology Center several times a week to study Culinary Arts which led to working in a Country Club’s kitchen during the summer of my Junior year. My first job was in a restaurant putting together salads and desserts, and I planned to attend Johnson and Wales University until it moved from in-state to out of state. Needless to say, food has always been one of my passions.
In early 2016 I could see the writing on the wall – Spartanburg’s food scene was growing, and quickly. I found myself forgetting the options that were readily becoming available, so I had the idea to put together a database of sorts where locals and visitors alike could search for places to eat. That database came in the form of a website, HubCityBites.com, along with an Instagram account, @hubcitybites, where I detailed my experiences of eating and drinking around Spartanburg and beyond.
For those that don’t know, Spartanburg is known as the Hub City because back when it was a booming textile town, there were so many railroad lines coming from downtown that from above, it looks like the hub of a wheel.
Now, my platform has grown to both photography and video, as well as blog posts, to truly give folks a peek into what they might experience at a particular restaurant. Eating is my favorite hobby, and I’m honored to get to share that with so many!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I started this project in early 2016 when I was pregnant with my first child who was born that year in September. I remember taking her in her stroller into restaurants with me and having to leave, to-go cartons in tow, because she was crying. Clearly, continuing Hub City Bites was difficult during that time. I continued at a steady pace until having my second child in July of 2018 put a halt to things again. As any parent knows, having kids changes everything, and one of the first things to go is your hobbies!
But it remained a passion of mine, so I continued posting sporadically on Instagram throughout that time, and then in March 2020, we all know what happened. Aside from being quarantined with my husband and our 1 and 3-year-olds, our restaurants were taking a major hit. I was astounded at their resiliency, creating new ways to serve the community like family meal kits that you pick up in your trunk. I posted as much as I could to drum up support and keep as many of them open as possible.
Now, it is mid-2022. The pandemic still rages, and restaurants still continue to close, but the support has been resounding and new places are beginning to pop up again. My passion has been reignited, and I’ve begun writing full blog posts again. I’m dabbling in a video on Instagram and finding a new passion there as well. And I’ve recommitted to honing my photography skills.
Hub City Bites started as a place to document my “bites”, and the side hobbies of photography, videography, and writing have become true passions as well.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Hub City Bites is first and foremost about highlighting the bars and restaurants in Spartanburg, SC, and it has become so much more since its founding. For one, I don’t just eat in Spartanburg, SC, so Hub City Bites has evolved in meaning from “bites from the Hub City” to “bites from someone who lives in the Hub City.”
What I never expected in starting this project are the opportunities that would arise. My first blog post was in April of 2016, and four short months later, I received a message from Betsy Teter at the Hub City Writer’s Project offering me a cup of coffee so I could hear about a project she was working on. Over the next year, I spent time with Spartanburg’s chefs, interviewing, listening, and writing about their lives and their work. Those stories became a part of a book published in November of 2017: A Taste of Spartanburg. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought my name would be on the front of a book, but here we are.
While many restaurant influencers exist in the world, I pride myself on telling the stories of what makes these restaurants special, through photography, video, and the written word. I believe these passions are what have given me opportunities beyond Hub City Bites.
What does success mean to you?
One of the lines I like the most is, “It is not happy people who are grateful, it’s grateful people who are happy.” Success in this line of work means putting something out into the world that I am proud of, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share it with others. Social media can pull you down quickly, so I remind myself that this is a hobby for me that I hope others find joyful and useful, and if I feel good about what I’ve created, I feel successful!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hubcitybites.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hubcitybites/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hubcitybites
Image Credits
Amanda Richardson
