Daily Inspiration: Meet Kip Wilson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kip Wilson. 

Hi Kip, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I moved to Colorado in 2011 looking for a change from living in the Southeast my whole life. After a few years working in healthcare, I started working with a sports blog company, Hash Sports, about 5ish years ago? I was blogging & hosting a podcast centered around sports & humor. Obviously, there was some cannabis connotation as you can see from the name, but it wasn’t a main pillar of our content. Then myself, my friend Sam & the founder of the company started a secondary podcast, that highlighted the local scene in Denver. After the sports website went away, I kept the concept of “Stoned Appetit” formerly known as the “Transplants & the Native” and started to doing it on my own.

So, in 2018, Stoned Appetit came to fruition and became my full-fledged baby. A podcast & social media company that highlights local companies primarily in the culinary & cannabis industries. Since that time, it has evolved into an epic adventure!!! My cohost, Chris Byard, is one of my best friends and is a wizard in the kitchen himself… He has experience in the fine dining industry and also worked in the CO dining scene when he originally moved west. Combo that with our love for catching a fade & we realized we were on to something…. What we learned about the passion project is when you get to do something like this (create a profession out of thin air about something you enjoy) you just kinda go with the flow and see where the current will take ya…

Now in 2021, we’re about 20,000 followers on social media & have a few thousand listeners that tune in weekly to hear stories from our guests, who often are SBO’s or local entities & to hear our stupid antics about dinosaurs and Chris Farley movie quotes.

In 2022, we are set to launch our new dinner club, “The Stoned Appetit Dinner Series” that will highlight local chefs that are infusing cannabis into their dining experiences as well as those who want to treat cannabis just like wine, a perfect pairing with food! As well as take our podcast to YouTube & other video streaming platforms. We’re building out a studio where we will get guests to come join us, smoke & talk all things life!! We’re fired up about adding the video aspect & also getting our hands dirtier in the kitchen!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course, there are always bumps along the road… especially with starting your own business and trying to navigate the normal ebbs n flows of that… What our biggest hurdle to date would be, was/is Covid19…. and we weren’t alone in that issue as we all know. Our podcast/company is meant to help celebrate & promote local restaurants, bars, concerts, parties… NONE OF WHICH WERE HAPPENING OR OPEN. We tried Zoom episodes to help showcase the takeout plans for restaurants but it wasn’t really doing it… so we took a few months off to regroup and figure out how we can be most helpful, especially to the restaurants & families that lost their livelihood… So now, that is our mission – be an ally for small businesses in our community.

And that’s when we focused more heavily in the outreach, supporting like-minded individuals & not just saying yes to every free taco and coffee that comes in our emails. We changed how we wanted to be perceived in the community, we won’t be the sluts and sell our pride/brand to some large entity that wants to exchange a free meal for helping them put the local SBO out of business. 

We also vowed not to take money from restaurants until the world returned to normal. Margins are always thin in the restaurant industry & when they’re trying to bounce back, hire staff & pay bills… Instagram likes aren’t gonna f*cking do it. So, we try to make sure we’re being a part of the community, instead of sucking from the tit of the community, just for some free milk. 

So, while we have faced our own basic challenges, I think the biggest was how can we be better allies & resources to our community when the dust settles from covid. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m known for being a talker. I love having conversations with people. Whether it’s the rando that is also sitting at a bar for happy hour or a guest on the podcast… I love hearing other people’s stories. 

I think in the larger scheme of things, I’m probably known for being the guy to ask “where the best eats are in town?” 

What am I proud of? I’m proud of the community Stoned Appetit has built. We try and do giveaways with our sponsors & share the love with our following/listenership to let ’em know we appreciate ’em, but that has become a two-way street. Meeting folks at restaurants & taking shots in bars, having weed given to us to sample or review online & of course the invites to dine with top Chefs in our city is great, but the relationships & camaraderie we’ve built with our 20,000 friends is something I’m quite proud of. 

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
First, I’d say – Be Yourself, Be Different. No one wants some person just faking it for free food. Everyone and their mom are taking pictures of their food & beverages these days… you gotta set yourself apart in some capacity, and you won’t do that being a sheep that just takes the same pictures at group hangouts. 

Secondly, ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE! you see these folks with a few thousand people following ’em, or they get 50 comments & now they think they’re too cool for ’em? GTFOH. Social media is about engaging with others… don’t just be that guy who buys likes, followers & comments. Engage, converse, build relationships. 

Lastly – Maybe don’t start a podcast haha start a TikTok or YT page. Video is taking the audio aspect to new heights, one we hope to get more entrenched in, so do a video series or at least film the podcast if you do haha 

Contact Info:

• Email: Kip@stoned-appetit.com
• Website: www.stoned-appetit.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoned_appetit/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stoned-Appe%CC%81tit-107417811168344
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/StonedAppetit
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOLei2e8TKsxqry3UwxJmCw

Image Credits
Jonny Creative