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Restaurateur Brooks Reitz started a food and beverage newsletter. It costs $5 a month to subscribe. File/Lauren Petracca/Staff

Chris Rollins, a part-time Graft Wine Shop employee who is opening his own wine bar called Bar Rollins later this year, started an email newsletter as a joke. 

Rollins made an Instagram post in February asking followers to subscribe to his upcoming newsletter by sending an email to barrollinslovesyou@gmail.com, an address he made in jest.

The next morning, he checked the account and had more than 40 subscribers. That number kept growing. 

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Chris Rollins (center) goes by @barrollins on Instagram and started a free newsletter on Substack. Indie Film Lab/Provided

"I was really surprised that people wanted to read a newsletter from us, since our Instagram captions are pretty confusing and vague," Rollins said. "But we made one, and it's become a huge success for us. We get significantly more subscribers, visitors and interaction from the newsletter than any other social media pages or the website."

He posts inconsistent, quick-to-read snippets with a lot of personality that include phrases like "Hello cuties" and "Welcome lovers," along with updates on the wine bar, some wine and book recommendations, and an embedded Spotify playlist with his latest listens.

It reads more like a tongue-in-cheek blog post than traditional marketing material. 

"Our goal for each newsletter is to make people laugh, be a little confused and want more," he said. 

The platform he uses is Substack, a popular publishing platform and email newsletter monetizer, though Rollins' newsletter is free. 

Substack publications every month attract more than 12 million visitors, and some folks who charge $5 a month for readers to subscribe earn full-time salaries from their newsletter alone. According to Substack, there are 500,000 paying subscribers on its rolls.

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Chris Rollins' newsletter was started as a joke but has actually turned into an accidental brand-builder. Chris Rollins/Provided

It's less a sales pitch and more pulling back a curtain on your world for people who might care, said Rollins. 

"I think most people can tell when something is sponsored, and I feel that is the case with most social media websites these days," Rollins offered. "Newsletters, as a whole, aren't ruined by algorithms and sponsored posts."

Brooks Reitz, a restauranteur behind Little Jack's Tavern, Leon's Oyster Shop, Melfi's and Jack Rudy Cocktail Co., started his Substack newsletter in January. 

He charges $5 a month for the weekly edition, called A Small Simple Thing, though that's mostly to keep him on target for meeting his deadline and creating quality content, he said. 

He now has more than 300 subscribers.

It mostly consists of food and drink musings, though Reitz has had fun incorporating his other interests like fashion, architecture, fitness and movies.

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Brooks Reitz releases his newsletter weekly on Substack and has around 300 paid subscribers. Brooks Reitz/Provided

The former English and drama double major, a playwright who has contributed to Southern Living, Bon Appetit and Conde Nast Traveler, has found joy in returning to his writing roots. 

"I have interests all over the place and have just found writing is a great way to make sense of all those notions in my head," Reitz said. 

Reitz himself subscribes to around eight newsletters that have replaced his traditional news diet, including a daily deep dive on various subjects by two friends called Why Is This Interesting? and a food-and-beverage news aggregator paired with easy-to-digest context called Family Meal. 

Reitz said he imagines in a year or two, there will be no reason any Charleston bartender or sommelier wouldn't have a newsletter discussing cocktails or suggesting wines. He just caught on to the trend early. 

We publish our free Food & Dining newsletter every Wednesday at 10 a.m. to keep you informed on everything happening in the Charleston culinary scene. Sign up today!


Reach Kalyn Oyer at 843-371-4469. Follow her on Twitter @sound_wavves.

Kalyn Oyer is a Charleston native and the features editor for The Post and Courier. She's a music festival and concert photographer and avid showgoer who used to write about music for the Charleston City Paper as well as national publications.

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