Members abounding

Red White and Food has always been a campaign for the people who want wine in retail food stores. To date, we have more than 3,500 members who have joined the cause.

We will soon add 150 more names to that list. These are people who stopped by our display at Kroger Green Hills last Saturday during our in-store membership drive. This was the largest one-day increase in membership since the early days of the campaign last year. We are excited to have these new members and thank them for joining the campaign.

That’s not the only member news. Our Facebook group has grown more than 20% since early January. If you’re on Facebook, we encourage you to join the group. We are planning some online events soon that you don’t want to miss.

Thanks to all our members. Please continue to tell your friends and family about Red White and Food.

Playing the liberal card in a red state

Tennessee is a red state. The last election proved that.

The liquor retailers who testified at the Nov. 17 ABC subcommittee hearing repeatedly referred to the proposal to sell wine in retail food stores as a “liberalization of Tennessee liquor laws.”

Did we miss something? When did a more open market that gives consumers more choices become a liberal ideal?

A liberalization of the laws would be lowering the drinking age, which no one in the retail food store industry is advocating. In fact, the industry pushed for the Responsible Vendor Act and its mandatory carding provision that is the biggest deterrent to underage people trying to buy beer. The same standards would apply to wine sales. No other state has laws as strict as Tennessee. Tennessee liquor stores don’t even follow a similar standard.

Red, White & Food is not a political platform. It is a consumer platform. Our members, who number in the thousands, want the option of picking up a bottle of wine they like where the buy food.

Consumer choice is not red, blue, or purple. It’s black and white.

1,500 members

Another 500 Tennesseans have joined the Red White and Food campaign since last Saturday. Our total membership is more than 1,500.

Comments coming for legislators and Capitol Hill prove that our members are having an impact on the debate.

The Red White and Food team is working double time to take advantage of this great momentum and do everything we can to make wine sales in retail food stores a reality.

Thanks for your support. Keep it up.

A toast to success!

P.S. In case you are wondering if this is really a statewide issue, here’s a list of the cities where our members live.

Allons, Antioch, Arlington, Arlington , Ashland City, Bartlett, Baxter, Bell Buckle, Bon Aqua, Brentwood, Brownsville, Brush Creek, Burns, Camden, Carthage, Cedar Hill, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Clarksville, College Grove, Collierville, Columbia, Cookeville, Cordova, Cornersville, Corryton, Crossville, Dandridge, Dickson, Dixon Springs, Dresden, Dyersburg, Eads, Fairview, Fayetteville, Franklin, Gallatin, Germantown, Goodlettsville, Greenbrier, Harriman, Hartsville, Hendersonville, Hermitage, Hixson, Hohenwald, Jackson, Jefferson City, Joelton, Kenton, Kingsport, Kingston, Kingston Springs, Knoxville, La Vergne, Lafayette, Lavergne, Lebanon, Lexington, Livingston, Loretto, Lynchburg, Madison, Manchester, Maryville, Mascot, McMinnville, Memphis, Millington, Mt. Juliet, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Nolensville, Old Hickory, Paris, Pegram, Pleasant View, Portland, Pulaski, Rentwood, Ridgetop, Rock Island, Rockford, Rugby, Sevierville, Sharon, Shelbyville, Smithville, Smyrna, South Fulton, Sparta, Spring Hill, Springfield, Surgoinsville, Tazewell, Thompsons Station, Tullahoma, Union City, Vonore, Watertown, Waverly, Westmoreland, White Bluff, White House, Whites Creek, Williamsport, Williston, and Winchester

Red White and Food bumper stickers

Are in development and should be available soon. Click to see a larger version.

If you want to be among the first to get one, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Red White and Food

c/o TGCSA

1838 Elm Hill Pike

Suite 136

Nashville, TN 37210-3726

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Who crashed the server?

We had to suspend the Red White and Food member registration function today because the website could not process the requests. One of two things must have happened:

1. So many people wanted to register as members because they believe Tennesseans should have the choice of buying wine in retail food stores.
2. The opposition organized a sophisticated denial of service attack because they don’t like the success of Red White and Food.
   

We don’t believe either really happened. We do apologize to those people who wanted to register today and could not. We are also sorry to that one person who got 10 e-mails from us by accident.

The registration function will be back on Tuesday, March 11, and ready to sign up new members.

Thanks again for the overwhelming response.

Our inbox runneth over

We have obviously struck a chord — a good one — with Tennesseans who want to buy wine in retail food stores.

More than 1,000 of you have signed up as members of the Red White and Food campaign.

How fast can we make it to 2,000?

Thank you to everyone. And keep it up.

500 members and counting

The Red White and Food campaign signed up its 500th member a few hours ago, judging from the e-mails that we have been receiving.  Please continue to tell your friends, family members, and co-workers about the campaign so that we can demonstrate to the Tennessee General Assembly how much consumers want this choice of wine in retail food stores.