Curbside churns up controversy over Taste of Temescal proceeds

A week after the Taste of Temescal event on April 29, Tory Wentworth, the owner of Curbside Creamery, took to Instagram to complain that proceeds no longer benefit Oakland public schools and called out the event’s organizer, the Temescal Telegraph Business Improvement District, for poor communication and unmet expectations.

For Wentworth, the expense to the ice cream shop in donated product and staff hours was no longer worth it. “We won’t be participating in Taste of Temescal going forward,” the May 6, Instagram post stated.

By May 8, the post had more than 4,000 likes and was approaching 200 comments, sparking conversation about the event and the benefits to participating businesses. While Curbside is standing by its original statement and other event participants echoed Wentworth’s sentiments, many other businesses that signed up for Taste of Temescal say they were happy with the outcome and had minor quibbles.

Curbside chafes at lack of support, shift in beneficiary

Taste of Temescal was first held in 2009. At the event, attendees get a booklet that lets them stroll through the neighborhood getting small samples from various participating businesses. Around 50 businesses participated in this year’s event. Curbside Creamery has been participating in Taste of Temescal every year since its sixth installment in 2015.

Wentworth liked the event at the start because it felt like a good cause that everyone seemed happy with, he told Nosh. He said posters stated where the proceeds of the event were going, and the parents of the kids were always grateful. He also said that at these earlier events, Curbside would always get a volunteer at the shop who would help check off the passes to alleviate some of the demand on Curbside’s staff and resources. Still, the shop would donate hundreds of dollars of product and time.

“Small businesses get asked to give to things all the time, despite not having the resources,” Wentworth said. “The one thing I always give to is the public schools.”

Tickets for the event cost $60 per person ($25 for those under 15 years old). All of the product from the participating restaurants is donated.

Daniel Swafford, managing director of the nonprofit TTBID since 2024, said proceeds from Taste of Temescal go to funding other free, family-friendly events, support TTBID’s clean and safe initiatives, and beautification projects such as trash and graffiti removal. He is also from Oakland and went to Oakland public schools his whole life, and said he knows how important it is to support the schools.

TTBID commented on Wentworth’s Instagram post thanking him for sharing concerns and expressing regret that Curbside didn’t feel fully informed. He said that the money raised goes to events such as the Annual Temescal Street Fair, Halloween Trick or Treat, Holiday Arts and Crafts, and Earth Day. The Earth Day event just happened and Swafford said it was very successful with almost 40 people coming to help out.

“These proceeds augment our tax assessed funds from property owners and allow us to provide expanded services like security patrols, de-escalation trainings, work with our unhoused residents, and more,” the comment from TemescalOakland read.

One reason for the change, Swafford said, is that the event has grown, and they want to emphasize the arts and culture in Temescal. The 2022 Taste of Temescal was the last year proceeds were donated to the Oakland Unified School District.

“It’s great being able to have local artists and live music at the event and incorporating that into other things we do throughout the year,” Swafford said.

In 2022, TTBID gave Curbside a $500 reimbursement for the cost of supporting the event and in 2023, the event went on a hiatus. The event came back in 2025, and Wentworth said that he filled out the Google form sent to businesses as usual, and didn’t read further because he’d been doing the event for years.

Swafford said that in 2022, the TTBID offered these reimbursements as recognition that businesses were coming out of the pandemic and the organization wanted to stimulate business activity in the area.

At the 2025 event, no volunteers came by so Wentworth and his employees ended up checking off the booklets themselves. At this year’s event, Wentworth said he made sure to specifically request a volunteer in the section of the intake form that asked for any specific requests. Wentworth says he never received a reply, which Swafford attributed to confusion over the wording of Wentworth’s request.

Wentworth said that it was $725 of extra product needed to give the free samples for the event. On the day of Taste of Temescal, he opened up an email from TTBID that stated around 600 tickets had been sold. This was 200 more than the amount of samples Curbside had been told would be needed. During the event, Wentworth said he and his staff had to explain to everyone why they’d run out of samples early, and they told disappointed ticket holders the TTBID had oversold the event. He said his staff also asked some attendees if they knew the event was no longer supporting public schools, and was surprised that many people did not.

After the event, Wentworth went back through the event materials, and found the spot where they said that the proceeds went to TTBID.

The press release sent out on April 27th says, “Proceeds benefit the Telegraph Temescal District Association as we work to keep the district thriving, funding arts, culture, and safety initiatives in Temescal.”

“If I had just actually read the full description, now it was saying it benefits their own programs,” Wentworth said. “No wonder they’re overselling the tickets, the money is going into their pockets.”

Swafford said they clearly communicated with all attendees and participants that the proceeds of the event would go to TTBID, including in press releases and on the KRON4 segment where Swafford spoke about the event.

Wentworth said that if the TTBID is arguing that they support the district, then why are they not reimbursing some of the cost on the businesses.

“The TTBID would still be getting a take of the ticket sales even if they let us invoice them for the product contributed, at least the restaurants,” Wentworth said.

Mixed reaction from other Taste participants

Temescal’s businesses are split on the response to the Curbside Instagram post, and the change in where the event proceeds are going. Many of these businesses simply weren’t aware that the event used to support public schools, and many aren’t as centrally located as Curbside so not as many ticket holders came by, making their financial burdens for the event less noticeable.

Conor Begley, from Fathers Brewing, said that this was their first year doing the event, so they weren’t aware of any changes in where funds were going from previous years, but they had a great experience working with TTBID. Begley said they were very responsive and easy to work with.

Tony Gamboa, owner of Sapphire Hill Winery, wrote in an email to Nosh that they’ve participated in the Taste of Temescal Event for the last two years. He wrote that he appreciates the work TTBID does in the neighborhood. He added that because Sapphire Hill is tucked away, the Taste of Temescal event is helpful in drawing people to the business. Many of these people have returned, mentioning they found Sapphire Hill at Taste of Temescal.

“I was disappointed that Curbside threw the TTBID and the ToT under the bus because they weren’t aware of where the proceeds go, even though it’s mentioned in the sign up emails and the website,” Gamboa wrote to Nosh. “For them to insinuate the TTBID bamboozled other business who participated is a bit insulting. We knew exactly what we signed up for and appreciate what the event does for our business.”

On the other side, Temescal Brewing owner Brandon Börgel said it wasn’t until the Curbside social media post that he realized the proceeds from the event no longer benefit Oakland public schools.

“We’ve long participated in Taste of Temescal, and though it’s certainly a ton of work for us, it’s always been a positive experience for a good cause,” he wrote in a message to Nosh. “We support the mission of TTBID, but it’s pretty clear that the community is asking for more transparency around these events and how the proceeds are used.”

Additionally, representatives of The Avenue, Taqueria La Venganza, and FOB Kitchen told SF Gate that they, like Curbside, were unaware that the event was no longer a benefit for Oakland public schools and questioned whether they would continue to participate if the charity component did not return.

This was the second year Dax Lee’s Barber & Apothecary and owner Daniel Diemidio participated in the event. He noted that his business feels like it’s on the outskirts of the TTBID’s boundaries and involvement in the event does not add too much financial burden onto his business. He said that he wasn’t aware that it was a benefit for schools before, but that he can see how the lack of transparency is upsetting for Curbside and other businesses.

Trung Nguyen, the chef/owner of Co Nam Restaurant, said that Taste of Temescal has been a great event for them. This year, with the addition of the trolley that dropped people off in different spots across the Temescal district, CoNam saw more attendees.

Bryan Brick, the owner of Good Times Oakland, said that this was his first year officially participating in the event as it was his first year in business. He said that his experience was positive and the TTBID has been great. Due to their location on the outskirts of the district, Brick said that they had around 80 people come by instead of 600 like Curbside, but there was a trolley stop in front of Good Times which helped bring people.

“For us, we knew we weren’t going to make money on the event, to us it was a promotional opportunity,” Brick said. “90% of the 80 people were new customers who might come back, we’ve already seen some of those people come back.”

Brick added that next year they would change some things from their end about running the event so that they would break even on the night and not lose money.

“The BID does so much, and I don’t think the community really understands how much they amplify the voices of small businesses in the community,” Brick said “I do think it would be helpful if there was more transparency.”

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