We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanner Mattson and  James Sargent a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Old Town Review Guys, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The origin of the Old Town Review Guys’ name is quite simple. When we decided to start our brand, we wanted to pay homage to not only where we lived, but also where most of our posts and reviews would be taking place. Old Town Scottsdale seemed like a no-brainer. There are so many fantastic restaurants and eateries to check out in the area, so because of this, the Old Town Review Guys was born. We wanted a name that would be easy to remember and also tell our audience what we are all about. Heck, if you want to shorten it too, you get OTRG. We love it and hope you do too!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We are both lifelong residents of Phoenix, attended the University of Arizona, and met in college. After graduation, we moved into an apartment in Old Town Scottsdale. Since that time, James has held positions in digital marketing at G/O Digital and V Digital Services. Tanner began working in healthcare staffing and currently works at Republic Services in strategy and transformation. Tanner also sits on the Scottsdale Rising Young Professionals (SRYP) board that is part of the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce.

On one random, hungover Saturday afternoon, we needed greasy food. It was that very day that we both decided, “Hey, all of our friends should know of all the cool restaurants in Old Town that we go to. Let’s take photos of what we get/eat and make an Instagram account.”

Our first Old Town Review Guys adventure led us to The Montauk where we indulged in a prime rib sandwich and fish tacos. Hangover cured! Since that first day, we have reviewed and posted over 50 different restaurants, eateries, bars, etc. We have also run month long promotions for restaurants by offering a discount when you use our promo code. In addition, we promoted Scottsdale Tennis Week, as well as multiple themed bar crawls.

We tell our story by showcasing Old Town Scottsdale. Everyone loves to talk about food, drinks, and a fun social environment. We cultivate that experience. Our voice is rooted in this city.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One struggle that resonates our resilience is when we contacted Second Story Restaurant & Liquor Bar wanting to promote their menu items. Like every review or promotion we do, we sent an email to management to set up a date and time. We quickly received an email back stating that we didn’t have enough followers. “Hit me up when you have built up a better following.” This is what motivated us to keep going with our vision and not give up. We were taken by surprise from the response, as all we wanted to do was help to promote the restaurant and bar. Since that time, our following has grown substantially, and we continue to use that response as our inspiration for our future success.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

Being young professionals, we are very familiar with the NFT market. We both have dabbled and even purchased our own NFTs, albeit nothing too expensive. We both are at an age where we understand its value and longevity for the future, however, the industry is still in its infancy. We think that it is a bigger risk not to own some type of NFT, but definitely do not allocate more than 5% of your net worth in something so volatile.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/old_town_review_guys/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldtownreviewguys

Image Credits
Images are provided and owned by the Old Town Review Guys.