LAKE COUNTRY NOW

Milwaukee's CityTins celebrates 10 years and expands to Lake Country and Twin Cities

Jordyn Noennig
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In just 10 years CityTins has become a must-have holiday gift for many Milwaukee-area natives, and is now expanding to even more cities to help people find a local store they may have never been to. 

CityTins produces sets of 20 coasters in a single tin that sells for $30; each coaster is a $10 coupon for a locally owned business, usually a restaurant. 

In 2009 CityTins co-founders Christin Cilento and Tara Laatsch spent the months leading up to the holiday season stuck in their basements, between their homes in Wauwatosa and Cedarburg, putting together the first set of 2,500 CityTins. 

Now, in its 10th year of production, CityTins has expanded to six cities, and is on track to sell 30,000 this year. And Cilento and Laatsch no longer assemble the tins in their basements. 

The concept behind CityTins isn't so much about saving money when dining out, though taking $10 off the bill never hurts. Instead, it's about users supporting local restaurants and trying a new place. 

"We started at the end of the recession, and all of these small locally owned restaurants were closing that are so critical to the fabric of the community," said Laatsch. "We just wanted to figure out how to get people to support them." 

"That's our mission, to help support local," Cilento added. "By using CityTins, yeah, you'll get a free appetizer or glass of wine, but it's more about finding something new."

CityTins are put on shelves each year in early November, containing coupons for the following year. CityTins have a variety themes that include not only restaurants, but also arts and entertainment, stay-cations, and bars and lounges. 

CityTins expanding

This year CityTins expanded to Lake Country and the Twin Cities in Minnesota, the first out-of-state CityTins. Next year, the owners plan to expand to north-shore Chicago.  

CityTins can also be found for Madison, Fox Cities, Cedarburg and Milwaukee.

"I thought it was important to create a Lake Country CityTins because the Lake Country area has so many great, hidden gem restaurants that I want everyone to enjoy," said Delafield Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Megan Braatz. She also pushed to get CityTins in Lake Country.

"She wasn't going to say 'no,'" Cilento said jokingly about when Braatz approached CityTins on behalf of Lake Country. 

Braatz along with Cilento and Laatsch produced 5,000 Lake Country CityTins and have sold half so far. 

"CityTins is a unique and fun product," Braatz said. "As a restaurant owner it's a marketing no-brainer I believe." 

Early CityTins vendors are excited about the expansions to other cities too.

Kate Strzok, owner of Broadway Paper in Milwaukee's Third Ward, said that in 2013 she sold more than 350 CityTins in three styles: Milwaukee restaurant, Milwaukee bar and lounge, and Madison. This year, as of mid-December, Strzok had sold more than 1,600 CityTins.

"All of the moms who shop here who have kids that go to UMN; all of the young professionals that have relocated to Milwaukee from the cities, but their families still live in the cities; [CityTins are] slam dunk Christmas gifts," Strzok said.

"I've been familiar with CityTins for a long time. I would get them for my friends when I lived downtown," said Jessie Senglaub, owner of Birch & Banyan Coffee in Hartland. "When I found out they were coming to Lake Country I reached out to figure out how to get involved. I helped recruit some Hartland businesses and got to be a bonus coaster as well." 

Birch & Banyan Coffee is one of the many places where CityTins can be purchased in Lake Country. Other locations include the Delafield Chamber of Commerce, Delafield Hotel, Delafield Main Street Boutique and Barn Owl Boutique.

"We can barely keep up," Senglaub said. "We've gone through over 100. Just a few days ago we had to rush another order over here." 

Also in North Shore

Business owners in Cedarburg can attest to the popularity of CityTins, where they are being sold for a second year in a stay-cation package.

"I think it's been a really great way to promote things in Cedarburg and the way we have it set up, we can put retail in our tin too," said Maggie Dobson, program coordinator for the Cedarburg Chamber of Commerce. 

Dobson said they had fewer than 200 of their 2,000 CityTins left as of Dec. 13. 

How it got started

Cilento and Laatsch were brought together as business partners at chance when working on a fundraiser for their children's kindergarten class.

Laatsch was in charge and asked Cilento to help create a poster. When Laatsch asked for a few changes, Cilento — who worked for herself in marketing — was not so happy about the request at first.

"I hadn't had a boss in ages, but when I made those edits I realized she was right, and that's when the light bulb went off," Cilento said. "I just went up to her and said, 'I want to start a business with you.' I asked what she liked and she said 'Food' and I was like 'OK, let's do it.'" 

Cilento came up with the idea and created all of the artwork, while Laatsch put together the spreadsheets and presented the idea to restaurant owners. In 2009 they scrambled to get the first 20 restaurants in the CityTins. Now, they have a waiting list. 

"It really did take a small network of connections to get where we are," Laatsch said. 

"We really can't believe it's been 10 years," Cilento said. "In this time, CityTins has garnered a reputation as a cult classic gift. We are asked to produce tins for cities across the U.S. and abroad. It's astounding, really, how well-received it is and how excited people get about it. We feel nothing short of blessed."