Artisano Breakfast Tweetup

Twitter is good for a lot of things, the best being if you want to go check out a restaurant there is no shortage of Twitter people who will want to join you. Putting this theory to the test I decided to organize my own Tweetup (a chance for Twitter people to meet in real life) at one of my favourite places, Artisano Bakery and Cafe.

If you’re a regular reader of mine, and I know you are, you’ll remember my post from last year “The Art of Sandwiches”. I still visit Artisano on a regular basis for sandwiches and pizza but I really, really wanted to go there for breakfast. I didn’t want to go and pick up food and bring it home to eat which is what I usually do. I wanted to sit in the restaurant with a bunch of fun people, hang out on a weekend morning with them and a scrumptious breakfast. I created an invite using twtvite, sent out a few tweets on Twitter, and lo and behold, people actually wanted to come! That is how we came to be a group of 16 people, most of whom have met through Twitter, sitting at Artisano’s Toronto location on Islington Avenue yesterday morning, to eat breakfast, drink coffee, meet some cool people and have a few good laughs. People came from as far away as Pickering, Hamilton, Richmond Hill and across the city on TTC. Most of them made it on time too!

Before Saturday, there were many tweets flying around as people tried to decide what they were going to order. I already knew what I wanted! I was dying to try the Breakfast Pizza. My Mom had ordered it on a previous trip and I was in envy the entire time she ate it. It did not disappoint yesterday morning and there were a few others who chose this as well. The other popular item of the morning was “Eggs in my Pocket”, interesting name. French toast was also ordered, the consensus was it was ok, the other dishes looked much better. Lots of coffee accompanied most meals. We discovered some talented coffee gofers which was a pleasant surprise. People tweeted as they ate, tweeted photos of their breakfast, and tweeted in general. I’m trying to get a count of the hash tag used. It’s not easy to do, needless to say there were a lot of tweets with the tag #Artisano.

 I was so happy others love this cafe as much as I do. I’ve never had a bad meal there and it’s a great place to hang out, eat, work, chat, whatever you want. Not only was it fun for us, we got to support a local business which is always a good thing. Artisano is expanding with new locations in Mississauga and North York. Hopefully there will be one in your neighbourhood soon.

A big thank you to all the Twitter people (tweeps) for joining me this morning. Some of you came from faraway places and I appreciate your efforts to get there, as well as the time you had to get up to do that. Also a thank you to Lyndon, General Manager of Artisano for helping to reserve a section for us. I don’t think he believed me when I said I was going to bring a bunch of Twitter people to his restaurant. At least now he knows I’m not a liar! From what I can tell, we generated a few hundred tweets, had #Artisano trending on Four Square, posted photos of the food, and those tweets were seen by thousands of people Saturday morning. 

There were some people who could not make it today and have requested another Tweetup be scheduled. I will look into doing that and post details once it is arranged. I am thrilled there has been this much interest in a place I love going to and have been going to for a few years.


If you’re interested in seeing the tweets from the event, you can search hash tag #Artisano. See you there next time.

Twitter people out for breakfast at Artisano Bakery and Cafe.

 Thanks to all the Twitter folks who took photos of their food. Without you I would not have had any photos for my blog.