Our biggest issue of the year is here — the annual Best of Memphis. In May, we asked you, our readers, to nominate your favorites in food, drink, retail, services, arts, and more. From those nominations, the ballot was created. This summer, our audience voted on their favorites among the many restaurants, salons, venues, parks, and so many things in between. And now … drumroll, please … the votes have been tallied and results can be found on the following pages.
There are some long-standing beloved Memphis institutions that pull the top spot in their respective categories year after year, but you’ll also notice some new names and faces among the 2023 winners. We hope you’ll enjoy browsing through these sections to see the people, places, and things that keep the Bluff City thriving, stylish, entertained, informed, and fed. These are the businesses, organizations, and service providers that make Memphis great, and we’re happy to feature them as the best among the best.
There are, of course, mom-and-pops, startups, and small businesses that you may not see here in BOM. That doesn’t at all lessen their value or quality. So many more folks are out there creating, cooking, and offering their time and skills to us day in and day out. If there’s something or someone you love but don’t see on the list this year, be sure to put their names in the running during the 2024 nomination season.
A lot goes into making this issue the biggest and best. Aside from all the outstanding nominees and winners, our staff spends countless hours working behind the scenes throughout the year to ensure the entire process goes smoothly. Kudos to our digital services director, Kristin Pawlowski, who works the website magic to build all of the BOM online components, including the massive task of managing nominations and voting; our art staff, Carrie Beasley, Christopher Myers, and Neil Williams, who design the promos, ads, layouts, and art elements that bring life to the many pages you see before you; the sales team, Kelli Dewitt, Chip Googe, and Kalon Ambrose, and our chief revenue officer Jeffrey Goldberg, who hit the ground running with our nomination and voting promotions and party sponsorships to engage clients along the way in the Best of Memphis fun; Margie Neal, our chief operating officer and woman of many, many hats, who handles much of the invaluable planning and organization backstage; our writers, Samuel X. Cicci, Michael Donahue, Alex Greene, Kailynn Johnson, Chris McCoy, Abigail Morici, Toby Sells, Jon W. Sparks, and Bruce VanWyngarden, who pen winner blurbs for the nearly 200 categories in the poll; and the copy editors, Cicci and Morici, who read these pages several times over to ensure no typos slip through the final printed version. Thanks, as well, to Molly Willmott, who plans the annual BOM event hosted for winners to make it the biggest and best party of the year. And finally, to Chet Hastings and our delivery drivers who get this and every other issue out into the world and on the racks for you to pick up and enjoy. (Please take a look at our masthead to see the names and roles of all the valued members of our team who bring the Flyer to you in print and online, all year.)
We love Best of Memphis, not only because we’re able to highlight so many of Memphis’ assets, but also because we have the opportunity to include our readers in what we do. Nearly 20,000 people took the time to nominate and vote — to make your voices heard by telling us your favorites among all things Memphis. As we celebrate the completion of the 2023 BOM issue, we celebrate not only the winners, but every person who reads the Memphis Flyer, every person whose talent contributes to the making of this fine publication, and every advertiser whose support keeps the Flyer free. We could not continue this dream without each and every one of you. Thank you all for being the Best of Memphis!
