OF NOTE- People In The News: Monday, December 16
As online shopping flourishes in Brooklyn, package theft continues to flourish along with it. In fact, a recent New York Times report estimates that a whopping 90,000 packages disappear each day in New York City. A new Williamsburg-based startup is hoping to solve that problem. Twenty-three-year-old GABRIEL CEPEDA founded Pickups to pair online shoppers with neighbors willing to receive and hold packages until the rightful owner can pick them up. The service costs $5.99 per order and uses a shopping extension app to match vetted neighbors — mostly work-at-home freelancers and retired people — with online shoppers who require the service. Cepeda is focusing on Williamsburg to start but has plans to expand into Bedford-Stuyvesant and Greenpoint soon.
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Bushwick-based chef LISA FERNANDES is returning to TV this spring for a new season of Top Chef. Fernandes, the brains behind Sweet Chili along with business partner SEAN FLAHERTY, was first on the show in 2008, having been “discovered” by Bravo producers thanks to her standout work at some of the city’s top restaurants, including Asia de Cuba, Rain and Public. Her Sweet Chili venture started as a “Thaietnamese” food truck, which she ran for five years before opening a brick-and-mortar spot of her own in November. There, the cocktail lineup includes a “Liquid Pad Thai,” a savory drink with peanut butter whiskey, tamarind, orange bitters, basil and sriracha, along with other inventive delicacies. She hopes to bring that adventurous palate to the next season of Top Chef, which begins March 19 on Bravo.