Elite Event: Style & Scavenge at Room & Board

great event! scavenger hunt was awesome. thanks for a good time.

Yikes this is quite belated. It looks like I’m running a little behind on my reviews.
I was excited to be able to be a part of this event and bring one of my friends with me! I was stuck in traffic though, and ended up being 30 minutes late, as was my friend. As a result, we missed out on the introduction and a lot of the food. However, we snagged some pretzel chips and some booze (Spodee wine and some New Belgium brews).
The event itself was fun, we got a chance to walk around the store, which I have passed by SO many times and have never ventured inside of. Room & Board hosted a scavenger hunt via Instagram, and we were given the opportunity to explore the American-​made items in the store. After finding three items, we took pictures of them, posted them to Instagram, and got the chance to win a $ 200 gift card to Room & Board. Even though we didn’t win, it was still fun!
Hope to be back to really shop one day when I get my own place and need some expensive furniture ;)

Very cool venue for an event — I’ve shopped at that Room and Board a few times (both of my couches are from there), but it was really fun to be there after hours, with time to browse while enjoying food and drinks. (And while we didn’t win the instagram contest, it gave my sister-​in-​law a chance to finally download the app and figure out how to use it!)

As much as I love food, I was really excited by this event and it’s focus on something other than food. Thanks to Ben and Room & Board for putting something new and different together!
Between the charcuterie from Spotted Trotter (local meats and cheeses!), wine from Spodee, beer from New Belgium, and Honest Tea, it was still a pretty nice spread for not being about food. And being able to enjoy the treats as we wondered made it feel more like I was over at someone’s house than in a show room.
I’d never been to Room & Board, and though I’m not in the market for furniture right now (need my sons to get through the color and paint everything stage…), I was impressed enough to add it to my list. The focus of the event was to say that 90% of their products are American made, and for us to take a look around at everything. It was a great social media idea — getting us all to post about our favorite products on Instagram in the hope of winning the $ 200 gift card. It was also cool to learn that some of the chairs and the raffled bird house were constructed with recycled milk jugs.
Thanks to Julie and the staff at Room & Board, Ben, JJ, Keaton, Heidi, Spodee, New Belgium, and Spotted Trotter!

Such a fun event!
I love going to Unilocal events held in alternative venues. These events usually focus less on the food and more on what the business has to offer and you always end up leaving impressed! This is how Unilocal improves your life!
Being new to Atlanta, I had no idea the Westside Provisions District even existed other than driving by Yeah! Burger a few times and wondering if it was good. This was such a neat area with all the businesses housed in historic red brick buildings, straddling a train track and connected by a pedestrian bridge. Every business was funky and unique, and I found myself planning a future visit with the hubs as we walked around.
Room & Board was so cool! I love love loved walking around the showroom oohing and aahing over each room set up. Room & Board is exactly my style of furnishing, and I don’t think there was a couch or table in the building that I didn’t just love. During part of the event, we learned that Room & Board used to be a slaughter house (creepy chills here), but they certainly did a fantastic job of turning it into a cool eclectic showroom.
The light bites by The Spotted Trotter were delicious! The combination of the tangy and bitter cheese with the pistachios and dried cranberries was especially good. After trying New Belgium Brewery’s Skinny Dip, I have decided it’s a new favorite of mine. Super yummy. I’m not a huge moonshine drinker, I thought the concept and history of Spodee was cool (depression era hooch mixture of red wine, chocolate and moonshine). My friend is a huge sangria fan and gave it a thumbs up!
My friend Rosie and I had a lot of fun during the Instagram Scavenger Hunt! What a clever idea on their part to get lots of cool pictures of their American made products out on the interwebs. I was determined to win and tried to give myself the creative edge by hiding a thumbs up sticker in each photo. No dice. Bummer. We still had a great time exploring the three floors and I definitely got some great ideas!
Afterwards, Rosie and I made our way to Ben’s UYE at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Shop for some heavenly scratch made ice cream. We shared Dark Chocolate and Wildberry Lavender, which was like nothing I’ve ever tasted before but would like to eat every day for the rest of my life.
Thanks for another FANTASTIC event Ben, JJ, Heidi and Room & Board!

A unique Elite Event indeed, we did it up at Room & Board. We Elites were wooed with a large charcuterie from The Spotted Trotter which I thoroughly enjoyed. There was wine with a chocolate flavor from Spodee Wine, and beverages from Honest Tea. Very nice to be sure.
We got to look through three floors of very nice furnishings via an Instagram scavenger hunt. We took pics of our three favorite pieces and whomever took the best pic of an American made piece won a $ 200 gift card to Room & Board. Really fun activity. Also, I loved a lot of the pieces they sale here.
We learned about the history of the space (it was a meat processing center) and the background information of Room & Board.
I enjoyed this event. Thanks to the staff of Room and Board, along with Ben, Heidi (who manned the beverage area like a champion), and Keaton.

Truthfully, with the abundant, detailed reviews, I don’t think I can add anything extra of value.
I really enjoyed this Elite Event and thought that the space was fabulous. I had been in Room & Board once before and remembered how much I loved their pieces (though they are currently absolutely out of my price range). Learning about the Westside Provisions District’s history was fascinating and the scavenger hunt was a fun and interactive game to get all of the attendees’ to participate in the evening’s festivities.
Good charcuterie from the Spotted Trotter and my sister (my +1) and I downed some teas from Honest Tea, which were yummy in our tummies.
The Room & Board staff were so attentive and helpful, which made the night go even more smoothly. The bag that they gave each of us as we left was such a nice touch and a great way to wrap up the fun and informative evening.
Thank you to Ben and all those who made this event such a success.

This was truly one of my favorite Elite events. High five Ben!
First of all Room + Board is amazing. I had seen the impressive outside of the store tons of times, but I had never been in. The inside is even better. Hearing about the company philosophy of American made, local production made me feel a serious affinity for the brand. Room + Board seems to have a great track record of going into developing, yet historical areas of cities and restoring old buildings rather than knocking them down and starting from scratch. Hearing about the history of the building and the area was great.
I would love to see more Elite events at businesses like Room + Board. While I love exploring new restaurants, there was something really refreshing about visiting a business. The instagram contest was a really clever way to get some advertising for Room + Board and also a great way for us to explore the store. Also for a $ 200 gift card, there was a serious incentive to step up our instagame.
The Spotted Trotter in Edgewood provided some delicious charcuterie and cheese. My + 1 and I were the first two to dig into the board and everything was quite tasty. Also, good call with the Honest Tea, Flat Tire and Spodee wine selection.
Love my Unilocal koozie! Thanks to everyone who made this event happen!

Honestly, I’ve never heard of Room & Board. My bff +1 did. She says her boss orders from them all the time and loves them so I was even more curious to check it out. Surprisingly enough, I’ve been to Ormsby’s not too long ago with my team at work. Room & Board is located directly above Ormsby’s!
From the outside, I would’ve never thought how big Room & Board was. I said the same thing about Ormsby’s too. I like how styish and modern Room & Board looked. I was surprised about the history, it’s over 100 years old and used to be a slaughter house? What???
I’m one of the few people in the world who do not drink alcohol and almost anything caffeinated so no coffee or tea for me (I do drink Thai tea & green tea though). Since I drink green tea, I took the Honest Tea green tea, it was good! My +1 had the wine and liked it. The appetizers of charcuterie and cheese spread was a delight.
For someone who use Instagram like me, I sure am not a pro at it, thanks to Lindy F. who helped me with the tag and hashtags. I loved the IG Scavenger hunt contest. I had fun checking out all the furniture for American Made Products. Honestly, I was in love with the lamps but 99% of them were either made from China, Italy, or Hungary.
Room and Board’s headquarters is in Minneapolis, MN. I joked with my +1 that most are probably made by Hmong people (I’m Hmong and MN’s third largest language after English & Spanish is Hmong, huge population up there).
There are three levels and I am very impress with all three. My future investment in furniture will be from here.
Thanks to Ben & Heidi for another wonderful experience. My +1 had so much fun too.

What can I say about Elite events that hasn’t already been said? They’re cool? Nope — been done. They’re fun? No, someone got that too. Great food? Nada — always mentioned. How about they’re unique? Yeah, let’s go with that — at least for this particular event hosted, not at a restaurant, but at a super swanky furniture store, Room & Board!
Our awesome CM Ben G. took the typical Unilocal Elite event and turned it sideways the latest time. Instead of noshing and chatting and learning more about an awesome local eatery in Atlanta, he decided to give us some culture and learning with a big dose of fun and games.
That’s how I and at least thirty other Elites ended up on the West Side of town at Room & Board, a very cool furniture store located in a warehouse that was previously a slaughterhouse. While we chowed down on Spotted Trotter charcuterie (great cheeses, meats, breads, nuts and fruits) and sipped Bodee wine and Honest Tea, we learned from Room & Board’s manager Julie about what makes the place so unique. The secret? Every piece of furniture right down to the rugs is made in America. The even better part, each price tag tells you exactly which state it came from. Pretty darn cool to know your coffee table came from Minnesota, am I right?
To encourage us to really explore every inch of Room & Board, which would have been easy to skip as those couches were super comfy to stay parked on, we were sent on an Instagram scavenger hunt throughout the store. Take three pics of your favorite things, keep your fingers crossed and hope you’re a lucky winner of a $ 200 gift card to R&B. Sadly, I didn’t win the contest, but I did find some stuff I’d love to put hands on — most specifically, a beautiful, dark wood, four poster bed. Just gorgeous!
This was a really fun Elite event and it was cool to learn more about a store I’d only been in to once before. Thanks so much for hosting us Room & Board, and thanks to Ben G. for never failing to make Elite events fun and interactive!

Love how different this event was. I work nearby and drive passed Room and Board on the regular, and I always tell myself I need to check it out. This was a wonderful excuse to make my way over to see what they are all about.
Spotted Trotter provided a lovely charcuterie for us to snack on, however I was a bit late, so I only sampled the Black Pepper Salumi (i believe that’s what it was). Beverages were provided by Honest Tea, New Belgium Brewing and Spodee Wine. I end straight for the wine. Any time there is moonshine or «a kick» in something, I want to try it. Always. And it was so good. Definitely a different kind of flavor with the hint of moonshine and chocolate. Yum.
Now to the main event: Room and Board is such an impressive space. The building has such history, and they have beautifully filled all three levels of the showroom with gorgeous, locally sourced (when possible) American-​made furnishings. I definitely fell in love with more than a few pieces. I loved the idea of the scavenger hunt. We were asked to go around and find three american made pieces we loved, then post a picture with #yelpamericanmade to be entered into a drawing for a $ 200 gift card. Not too shabby. Congrats to Debby for winning that prize. Can’t wait to see what she finds for herself.
I think the thing that was most impressive was when I fist walked in, a few minutes late, ad saw all these familiar fees lounging on this lovely furniture, sitting, chatting and enjoying themselves. What a nice thing for Room and Board to host us in their space. Looking at al that furniture with a drink in my hand and while among friends was a great experience. I’m looking forward to visiting again soon, hopefully with my parents in tow (I found lots of items that I think they’d love for their new place).
Thanks Ben, Heidi, Keaton, JJ and R&B!

What a great location for an Elite Event.
First, we got to check out some cool furniture from Room and Board. The style looks modern and chic. It looks like something a cool, rich bachelor would have in his pad.
Manning the beer and tea station was our OTP CM Heidi. She did a great job. She didn’t even need tips! That’s what I call dedication.
On the other side, we had Spodee Wine with blogger Malika. I liked that wine. It had a distinct chocolate flavor to it.
Of course, it wouldn’t be an Elite event without something to snack on. And we were provided with Spotted Trotter charcuterie. I love Spotted Trotter; their meat/​cheese plates always taste good. This was no exception. The bread provided was good as well.
Near the end, we had a scavenger hunt to instagram all the american made furniture. It made us bring out our creative side. It was fun seeing what people took pics of.
Afterwards, since Room & Board was in such a great location, we had great places to go to eat like Jeni’s and Yeah! Burger. It was a fun surprise to find other Unilocalers who didn’t make it to the event at Jeni’s.
A big good job goes to Ben and his ITP Unilocal crew (and the OTP CM) for this Elite event.

Another great Elite event by Ben. Atlanta Unilocalers really know how to do this! I have yet to go to a mediocre event and this one definitely did not disappoint. The creativity and hospitality provided were all accounted for and I left a happy girl!
The best part of having an event in a Room & Board… lots of seating, tables, and lounge areas everywhere!!!
SPOTTED TROTTER
had a charcuterie and cheese platter out on one of the tables. The cheeses were all good, but I think the baked brie melted by the time I got to it. I think it was more a soupy cheese by then! The pistachios and dried cranberries always are good, and the salami deli cuts were so yummy.
Heidi P. manned the drinks table with Honest Tea and New Belgium Brewing.
NEW BELGIUM BREWING
iced cold good beer. Comes with a Unilocal drink holder too… which I’m kind of obsessed about. We use it at home when sitting on the balcony.
HONEST TEA
supplied us with some yummy cold drinks. I had the Half and Half and it was very good.
SPODEE WINE
served fruit cocktails and red wine.
SCAVENGER HUNT
An instagram photo scavenger hunt went underway for about 45 minutes. Everyone scattered over the 3 floors of Room and Board, and were supposed to take 3 photos of American made things in the store, and then hashtag the following: #yelpamericanmade #yelpatlanta and #roomandboard. Amine M. and I decided to take this fun activity on together as we love photography and wanted to be more creative. We took one individual photo each of something we loved in the store, and the others, we incorporated ourselves into the image to make it more personal. I ended up winning the hunt and for the $ 200 gift card prize… which is awesome because we just moved to Atlanta and furnishing our new home!
FURNITURE
is to die for here. The Murphy green chairs caught my eye and became one of the Instagram pictures I posted. The cowhide rug [made in Brazil] was like… omg. The Eames chairs [particularly the Embody] is going to be in my office one day… when I can justify $ 1100 for it. The wood dining tables will be in my home after I buy a home.
Afterwards, Ben urged us over to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Shop and I ended the night with 2 scoops of Wildberry Lavender and Brown Butter Almond Brittle.

I live a stone’s throw away from Room & Board, but for years never had any reason to go there until last night. Our latest Elite Event was held, yes, at a high-​end furniture store. This event was a great marketing opportunity for Room & Board because, like other venues that have hosted a Unilocal event, it brought a lot of folks into the store who otherwise may have never gone.
Light bites and drinks were provided. They consisted of a large charcuterie and cheese spread from The Spotted Trotter, alcoholic beverages such as Spodee wine, and non-​alcoholic beverages such as organic Honest Tea (assorted flavors, Peach White FTW).
Room & Board had a full staff on-​hand ready to assist us. We got a brief rundown and history of the store/​company and then were started on the evening’s main activity: a 45-​minute Instagram photo «scavenger» hunt. This was a smart advertising effort for Room & Board. The Unilocaler (or +1) who took the best photo of an American-​made product inside the store would win the single prize, a $ 200 gift card to the store.
The pictures had to be hashtagged with #yelpamericanmade, #yelpatlanta, and #roomandboard. In a sense, Room & Board spent $ 200 into having several people collectively post hundreds of photos of the store’s products on Instagram and other social media. Very clever and a worthwhile investment. The contest also encouraged each of us to explore all three levels of the store.
The winner was new-​to-​Atlanta Unilocaler Debby L, who coincidentally also won the Instagram/​Twitter photo contest (IIRC) at the Elite Event at the Microsoft Store Perimeter Mall a couple weeks ago. What a nice introduction to Unilocal ATL for her. Congratulations, Debby!
Here are the photos I took:
(my favorite)
(art direction by Brittany Wages)
A personal thank you to Room & Board employee Sharon who showed and explained several pieces to me.
This was a fun and different event. I enjoyed seeing some new faces along with some old ones I hadn’t seen at a Unilocal event in more than a year. There were even a couple food bloggers in the house.
Thank you:
Ben G. — Unilocal ATL CM
JJ G. — Unilocal ATL CM’s Better Half
Keaton M. — Unilocal ATL Marketing Intern
Heidi P. — Unilocal OTP CM
Brittany W. — Unilocal ATL & OTP Photographer
Everyone at Room & Board Westside Provisions
The Spotted Trotter, Spodee Wine, Honest Tea, & other vendors
As we left the event, we were handed Room & Board cloth bags with Room & Board catalogs inside.

Tonight’s event has to be one of — if not the most beautiful space we’ve been to yet. Room & Board is located in the Westside Provisions District, so you know it’s swanky; the furniture and décor items carried are absolutely stunning — I’m talking dream mansion esque material. Being that these items are so beautifully crafted, I half-​expected the staff to be snooty and anal about the slightest touch — but it was the complete opposite! The staff was super sweet and they let us lounge on the couches/​chairs and even eat on the tables — but still, we tried our best to be delicate!
In addition to being able to «experience» the furniture first hand, a lovely (and delicious) charcuterie was provided by The Spotted Trotter, as well as libations from Fat Tire and Spodee (vino with moonshine and chocolate — sounds bad, but I think I’ve finally found the vino for me), and non-​alcoholic beverages provided by Honest Tea (my favorite).
About thirty minutes or so into the event, Ben introduced Julie who gave us background on Room & Board and the space itself — a former slaughterhouse, you’d never believe it walking through the space. We were then enticed by an Instagram contest for a $ 200 gift card to Room & Board — the premise of the contest was to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the store to find items made in the US, and to of course, Instagram it. While Room & Board have items from across the world, the majority of their pieces are American made, and again, they’re absolutely stunning!
Thank you so much to Ben, Heidi, Keaton, and JJ for putting together yet another amazing, fun-​filled — annnd informative event! Of course a huge thanks to Room & Board and their staff for being such wonderful hosts!

Thanks so much Room and Board for hosting us tonight! Sorry about drooling on all your beautiful furniture.
The scavenger hunt was such a fun and unique idea!
I loved the Spotted Trotter charcuterie and New Belgium beer. I really appreciated that R&B let us eat and drink in the store.
Thanks to Ben and Heidi, too!

What a clever way to get Unilocalers to tour all three floors of Room & Board — by offering a $ 200 gift card to the Unilocaler with the best Instagram photo! Congrats to Debbie L :) I loved the activity but I really appreciated Julie from Room & Board sharing history of the Room & Board building — apparently it used to be a slaughterhouse, where beef was on one side of the railroad tracks and pork on the other side. She also mentioned that West Egg Café was the former location of the locker room where employees would go to shower before heading home on the train.
The other great story is their furniture. I had no idea that everything here is American-​made. In fact they even have the name of the state where the furniture was made on all their price tags! I don’t think I’d ever seen any «Made in USA» product call out the state name. I loved that! We also got cool tote bags «Made in America with American Hands.» :)
Food-​wise, the highlight for me was trying the Bodee Wine — it’s chocolate wine and moonshine. Honestly dangerous b/​c it’s the kind of drink where you really can’t taste the alcohol :) I loved the taste — kinda reminded me of a chocolate martini. The charcuterie from The Spotted Trotter was a nice surprise too!
Thanks again to the Room & Board staff — you guys were great hosts and I loved that everyone on each floor was genuinely very nice to explain the furniture pieces. Also huge props to Ben G and his crew Keaton, JJ, Heidi P for planning these awesome events for the Elite team.

Another great event, this time in a fantastic space hosted by Room and Board!
Heidi manned the bottled drink table with several selections provided by New Belgium Brewing (and some non-​alcoholic teas) — I partook in one of my favorite and appropriately bitter IPAs, Ranger and then came back for a Fat Tire. Another table was hosted by Spodee Wine who furnished several types of vino for those inclined.
There was one table with fantastic homemade deli meats provided by one of my favorite charcuteries, the Spotted Trotter. This my friends, is what eating is all about. Delicious and well prepared aged meats and cheeses (along with some fresh bread and dried fruits) to round out the appetite and keep the blood going…
The venue itself was filled with fantastic, classic Mid-​Century Modern furniture by Eames, Nelson, Noguchi, Saarinen — the list goes on — add to it all the original designs and homage pieces by Room and Board itself and you have quite the setting. We all participated in an Instagram scavenger hunt game with the winner, Debby, receiving a gift card. There was also a drawing for a R&B bird dwelling — in all quite fun and filled with the good company of Unilocalers. We continued by going across the way and sampling some Jeni’s Ice Cream.
Thanks goes to Ben and JJ and everyone else involved, for providing another well-​attended Unilocal!Elite event!

«What is the matter with him?
He saw your father’s chair was gone, and he’s afraid it means your father’s gone too. I think he suspects foul play.» — Frasier: Season 1, Episode 19
What a fun and different event for the Elite this time around!
Well let’s start with the food and drinks — that’s usually what these things are about. Noshes from The Spotter Trotter (I’m sure they were delish, but I never quite got there), libations from New Belgium and Honest Tea (and I got to pocket a couple for my work fridge so score for me!). I know there was a wine rep’ed as well, but I did not make it there (not usually a big wino) — so sorry for the lack of shout out!
But this event was not at all about the snacks. No sir — this was about the furniture. American crafted, gorgeous pieces of décor that I want to put in my house — all of it. But alas, my home is not quite large enough for that craziness… but I have some pieces on my to-​buy-​list for sure!
We got to hear about the great history of the place from Julie — it was a slaughter house (how cool is that)? We also heard about their mission about getting locally sourced pieces where possible. I fell in love with some chairs from North Carolina (maybe it’s all those biz trips to Charlotte I take — whaddya think, Ben?)…
Anyway, then we were off on a Scavenger Hunt to find the pieces we liked best — but they had to be American Made! There are some pieces from Italy, Paris, etc. But everything I fell in love with was Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania… We were all scouring the place for our faves and posting frantically to Instagram — and our lucky winner was Debby L. Nice work and a $ 200 gift card to boot. Nothing to scoff at!
What a great night and I had a lot of fun socializing with people I had not seen in ages and some very new faces as well. I love meeting all these new folks. So great thanks to Ben G. (and Heidi, Keaton, JJ for their help) and the R&B team for putting on a great event for us!
Please note: I considered buying a leather chair, but decided to wait and not impulse buy… I have a feeling I will be back very soon…