Kristine Sherred
Kristine Sherred covers how restaurants, markets and drink businesses evolve, with a focus on ownership changes, reopenings and the small details that define a place. Her stories for The News Tribune, carried by AOL, lean on a working knowledge of food and beverage to explain not just what is new, but how it fits into the broader dining and retail landscape.
Restaurant openings, remodels and ownership changes
Sherred consistently tracks the life cycle of local restaurants, from first opening to major remodels and handovers. In one piece, she reports on a waterfront restaurant that has expanded its space, introduced new pancakes and reopened after a significant remodel, emphasizing both the physical changes and what is new on the menu. She also examines what happens when established spots change hands, as in her coverage of one of Tacoma’s best-known restaurants getting new owners and the implications for Primo Grill’s future. Her work on a dumpling restaurant opening ahead of schedule at Tacoma Mall highlights soft-opening dates, grand-opening timing and precise location details within the mall complex, reinforcing her attention to practical information diners use. Across these stories, she treats restaurant news as a business and community beat, not just a lifestyle feature.
Food businesses that blur categories
A distinctive thread in Sherred’s coverage is her interest in hybrid concepts that combine food, drink and retail. She has profiled Tacoma’s newest brewery that also operates as a family-friendly Mexican restaurant, underscoring its dual identity as both taproom and full-service eatery. In another story, she writes about a new 6th Avenue shop where coffee and beer share space with indie-cycling essentials, framing it as “all natural” and treating the cycling retail side as part of the same neighborhood ecosystem as the drinks program. Her coverage of a reopened neighborhood market describes the business as a locally owned convenience store, growler-fill station and soon-to-open coffee shop, again showing her interest in multi-use food spaces that serve several community roles at once.
Desserts, snacks and travel-friendly treats
Sherred’s beat includes a notable emphasis on sweets and snackable items, often tied to regional pride. She has written about an ice cream producer described as making some of the region’s best ice cream, highlighting a new shop that will also feature a smashburger window, and treating the combination of dessert and burgers as part of the draw. In a more personal food column, she explains why she always packs Almond Roca in her suitcase, using the candy as an entry point to discuss travel habits and attachment to local products. These pieces broaden her remit beyond restaurant service to the ways people carry regional foods with them, whether across town or on the road.
Markets, malls and changing food corridors
Many of Sherred’s restaurant and retail stories are also about place and how specific corridors change over time. Her coverage of a historic Tacoma neighborhood market returning after a 14-month closure frames the Delightful Market as a convenience store, growler-fill station and future coffee shop that serves its immediate surroundings as much as destination diners. At larger retail hubs, she follows the steady build-out of a new dining mix, as in her reporting on restaurant additions at Tacoma Mall’s “Village” and the early opening of a dumpling specialist there. Across these stories, she ties openings and reopenings to shifts in how residents use malls, streets and corners, showing food as a driver of neighborhood change.
Beat focus and professional background
Sherred is the food and dining reporter for The News Tribune, a role she has held since 2019. Before joining the paper, she spent around a decade in Chicago working for restaurants, a liquor wholesaler and a culinary bookstore, experience she brings into her coverage of food, beverage, hospitality and agriculture. She describes herself as a food reporter who covers food, beverage, restaurants and agriculture with an in-the-trenches approach grounded in time behind the bar and within the industry. Her public profiles emphasize interests in food security, sustainability, restaurant and agricultural labor, small business development, culinary culture and alcohol in society. While much of her syndicated work on AOL focuses on openings, remodels and concept stories, that broader brief shapes the questions she asks and the issues she is equipped to follow when covering the business of food.
4 more food journalists.
Aaron Guerrero
Aaron Guerrero is head of the digital department at Miami’s Community Newspapers, where he pairs restaurant coverage with community-facing content. He focuses on how Miami-area restaurants evolve, celebrate, and experiment through new concepts, menus, and neighborhood-focused dining experiences. He reports on restaurant openings, such as an Italian food hall at Plaza Coral Gables, new executive lunch menus, and wood-fired Latin steakhouse brunches, explaining what sets each venue apart. He also covers awards, like a Wine Spectator honor for an Italian chophouse, and events that turn dining rooms into social hubs. His bylines extend to features on sports-themed gatherings, civic renamings, local visits to restaurant programs, sponsored community pieces, and official notices. His work is straightforward and descriptive, helping readers and local businesses connect around specific openings, promotions, and dining experiences.
Alice Mannette
Alice Mannette blends service journalism with narrative reporting about everyday life, using local food and gathering places to tell broader stories about community. She writes for the St. Cloud Times, focusing on practical guides to ice cream shops, wineries and other neighborhood businesses. Her coverage turns questions like where to eat and what to do this weekend into portraits of local entrepreneurs, weekend plans and the social life of her area. She reports food and drink as usable guides while tracing local history, culture and public safety. She also covers how people record their lives, writing features on diaries, family history and new books that examine archives and memory. Alongside this, she reports civic and public safety news and produces USA TODAY Network service pieces that compile clear, concrete resources for people dealing with storms and other emergencies.
Amanda Mactas
Amanda Mactas links food news, pop culture, and practical consumer advice, showing how brands, products, and personalities appear in everyday eating. She is an associate editor at Delish, reporting news and feature stories that span celebrity-driven launches, competitive eating, value-focused roundups, and taste tests. Her beat covers food culture, event-driven food deals, brand campaigns, product testing, grocery finds, and shopping guides, all with a clear service angle. She reports through specific products, personalities, and major sports days or holidays, using them to explain broader trends, marketing tactics, and consumer value. Beyond Delish, she works as a freelance writer and editor across food, travel, health, and lifestyle outlets, profiling founders, public markets, restaurant culture, wellness, and travel, and tying everyday eating to place, wellness, and routine in accessible, utility-focused prose.
Amelia Jones
Amelia Jones is a Fox 4 News reporter who makes major moments in Texas life feel close by centering ordinary people, often through food, fandom and everyday routines. She now reports across web, on-air and social video, keeping the camera and narrative on fans’ faces, crowd noise and local venues as she covers World Cup visitors trying Tex-Mex, FIFA fan festivals and standout supporters whose energy defines the stadium mood. She explains state legislative debates on issues like abortion pills in clear, practical terms, breaking down complex bills and legal analysis into real-world consequences. She reports on trials, crime, explosions and traumatic incidents through witnesses, victims and families, and spends time with small business owners and neighborhood groups in East Dallas. She joined Fox 4 News in 2023 and links daily life to the larger forces that shape Texas.