brand overview
Some businesses are born in ideal conditions. Nosh & Gather was born in March 2020 — two weeks before a global pandemic shut down the world.
What happened next says everything about how Liza Atkinson approaches marketing.
Rather than fold, she adapted. She read the cultural moment, identified what her audience needed, and built a brand that not only survived COVID but expanded its product line, grew a loyal community, earned regional media attention, and ran for five and a half years, closing gracefully at the end of 2024.
Nosh & Gather was a Twin Cities-based food experience company offering curated catering, intimate pop-up events, picnic experiences and premium seasonal product drops. Liza was its founder, chef, creative director, and head of marketing — building the brand’s entire identity, content strategy, creator and media relationships, and audience from scratch.
By the numbers:
5,000+ Instagram followers built entirely organically, with no paid advertising
Multiple features on regional Twin Cities lifestyle television programs and in regional lifestyle publications as well as local radio and podcasts
Consistent sell-outs across five years of seasonal product launches and events
A loyal community that drove hours — literally — to attend her events
Creator & Community Partnerships
Throughout her work with Nosh & Gather, Liza cultivated relationships with authors, creators, wellness influencers, media personalities, and community leaders to amplify campaigns, grow audience engagement, and create meaningful in-person experiences. Her work consistently relied on authentic relationship-building rather than paid placements, resulting in trusted partnerships and organic audience growth. Every campaign below was conceived, strategized, and executed by Liza.
Jen Hatmaker Pop-Up Dinner Party — Grand Marais: In-person Event
The Challenge
Create a high-demand, limited-capacity in-person experience for an audience that had never gathered in this format before and make it feel like something worth driving hours to attend.
What Happened
Liza partnered with Jen Hatmaker — popular author, speaker and beloved figure in the women’s lifestyle space — to create an intimate pop-up dining experience in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Only 18 tickets were available.
When tickets went on sale, 400 people attempted to purchase within four minutes.
That isn’t a ticketing glitch. That’s brand heat. It’s the result of months of community-building, audience trust and content that made people feel like this was an experience they couldn’t miss.
The response surpassed even the demand metric: several women bought a single solo ticket and drove four to six hours by themselves to be there.
What This Demonstrates
In-person activation strategy and community-centered event production
Deep audience loyalty built through consistent brand storytelling
The ability to create cultural moments, not just marketing moments
Converting digital community into real-world action
The Data:
400+ attempted purchases for 18 available tickets
Tickets sold out in under 4 minutes
Multiple solo attendees traveled 4–6 hours to attend
behind the scenes
Noshnic Picnic Experiences: New Product Launch
The Challenge
Expand Nosh & Gather’s product offering beyond catering and events by launching an entirely new product category — curated picnic experiences — and bring it to market with enough buzz to book a full first season.
What Happened
What This Demonstrates
New product development and go-to-market strategy
Content creation and brand positioning for a new category
Earned media generation through strong storytelling and product-market fit
The ability to identify trends, move fast, and execute with polish
The Data:
40 bookings, Season 1
Earned features in regional lifestyle print publications and Twin Cities television programs (Explore All Featured In Articles Here)
Liza identified an emerging appetite (pun intended) for experiential, aesthetically elevated outdoor dining coming out of Covid and moved quickly. She conceptualized the Noshnic, a fully styled, chef-curated picnic experience and built the launch strategy from positioning to content to booking.
The result: 40 bookings in the first season alone, a strong proof-of-concept for a brand-new offering. Noshnics also earned Nosh & Gather features in regional Twin Cities print publications and broadcast television spots, generating earned media that money couldn’t buy.
behind the scenes
The Lux Christmas Cookie Box: Seasonal Product Launch & Influencer Campaign
The Challenge
Launch a premium seasonal product that could compete for attention in the most crowded gifting season of the year and drive meaningful sales without a paid advertising budget.
What Happened
What This Demonstrates
Seasonal campaign strategy and premium product positioning
Influencer identification, outreach, and relationship management
Earned media and broadcast press coverage
Creating products that influencers want to share without paying for placement
The Data:
400+ attempted purchases for 18 available tickets
Tickets sold out in under 4 minutes
Multiple solo attendees traveled 4–6 hours to attend
Liza developed the Lux Christmas Cookie Box — a high-end, beautifully packaged holiday product containing 50 gourmet Christmas cookies — and built a campaign around it that combines compelling content, strategic influencer alignment and earned media.
The campaign earned a feature on a regional Twin Cities television program and was shared by [Influencer Name / @handle — approx. X followers], who shared it with their audience organically. The result was strong seasonal sales and expanded brand reach beyond Nosh & Gather’s existing community. This product launch was created in December of 2020 and sold out every year until it ended in December 2024.
Easter & Mother’s Day 2020: Sold Out in 48 Hours
The Challenge
The world had just shut down. Restaurants were closed. Families couldn’t gather. Holidays felt hollow. The natural move for a food business would have been to pause. Liza launched instead
What Happened
In spring 2020, just a few weeks into the pandemic, Liza read the cultural moment with precision: people were desperate to make holidays feel special, but the old rituals were suddenly inaccessible. She designed a four-course holiday dinner program with two deliberate options: a dinner for 4–6 (for households sheltering together) and a dinner for 2 (for elderly parents who wanted to celebrate via FaceTime or Zoom with family).
The dual-format strategy wasn’t a footnote, it was the campaign. It acknowledged the reality of socially distanced life while refusing to let go of connection and ritual. Families could order the same menu and share a meal across screens.
Both options sold out to 50 families in 48 hours.
What This Demonstrates
Real-time cultural trend identification and rapid campaign pivoting
Audience empathy translated directly into product design and messaging
Multi-SKU campaign strategy that met the audience where they were
Forward-thinking instinct for what an audience needs right now
The Data:
50 families served across Easter and Mother’s Day
Sold out in 48 hours
Zero paid advertising
behind the scenes
Thanksgiving 2020: 100 Dinners, 13 Components, Full Media Coverage
The Challenge
Thanksgiving 2020 was the pandemic’s first major collective test of the holiday season. Everyone wanted to do it right. No one knew how. Liza built the answer — and sold it out.
What Happened
What This Demonstrates
Large-scale campaign management from concept through fulfillment
Budget management and high-impact delivery under operational complexity
Earned media strategy and press relationship cultivation
Brand storytelling that converts
The Data:
100 complete Thanksgiving dinner kits sold
13 components per kit
Significant regional media coverage across multiple Twin Cities outlets
Sold out prior to the holiday
Liza designed and marketed a complete Thanksgiving dinner kit: 100 dinners, each containing 13 individual components, everything a family needed to make the holiday feel whole. The campaign combined clear, appetite-driving content with the kind of logistical confidence that made buyers trust the product would actually show up on time, complete, and beautiful.
It sold out. And it earned significant regional media coverage, with multiple Twin Cities outlets covering the story. That press wasn’t just validation, it was amplification, extending the brand’s reach and establishing Nosh & Gather as a go-to resource for people who wanted the holiday without the stress.
the last bite
Across every launch, event, and campaign, a consistent theme emerges: an ability to identify what people need, create experiences they want to be part of, and build communities around shared interests and values. Whether launching a new product, cultivating media and influencer partnerships, or producing high-demand events, Liza combines strategy, creativity, relationship-building, and execution to turn ideas into meaningful audience engagement.