This Is TASTE 735: Tiny but Loud, Caper Has Arrived with Emma Orlow
Feb 23, 2026
Emma Orlow, founding journalist at Caper who covers restaurants and the business of hospitality. She explains why she helped start Caper and how it aims for deeper, trade-adjacent reporting. They trade recent restaurant tales, dissect notable food stories like an AI dining stunt and an eight-hour waffle craze, and tease reporting on distributors, supply chains, and underground food scenes.
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Restaurants As Business Ecosystems
- Caper treats restaurants as business ecosystems rather than just food recommendations.
- Emma Orlow says Caper will profile distributors, cheesemongers, and suppliers to explain how plates reach diners.
Follow Up Not Just Openings
- Focus coverage on deeper follow-ups rather than nonstop opening notices to reveal how businesses actually evolve.
- Emma suggests revisiting restaurants months after opening to report on changes and sustainability of the concept.
Broaden Sources Beyond Food Media
- Broaden sourcing beyond traditional food writers to include real estate and media reporters for richer context.
- Emma highlights hiring an arts reporter and using non-food networks to break wider cultural stories.