profile

Founder Ned Berke

It is with great excitement that I announce Sheepshead Bites and Bensonhurst Bean have been acquired by Corner Media, a fellow independent publisher of community news.

This is terrific news for our readers and business partners, as it gives us access to a greater network of resources. This deal enables us to provide deeper and broader coverage of our communities, experiment more with our reporting and technology, and offer our business partners greater reach. As associate publisher and senior editor, I will be working with Corner Media Publisher Liena Zagare and Managing Editor Mary Bakija to increase coverage of civic importance throughout the network and to develop new ways to pay for that coverage.

Corner Media’s team has been in this game just a tad longer than I have. With roots dating back to 2007, Liena & Co. operate the highly engaging Ditmas Park Corner, Park Slope Stoop, Fort Greene Focus, KensingtonBK and South Slope News.

Liena and I have been friends for years, and after putting our heads together over the past few months we came to believe it was a natural, necessary and exciting evolution of both of our networks. Having launched community news sites at similar times, and with like-minded focuses on our neighbors and businesses, we’ve long been an influence on one another. Liena and I share deep commitments to our communities and a passion for nurturing and supporting our mom-and-pop establishments, and it simply made sense to pursue these goals together.

I began this journey into community news publishing more than six years ago. It has, without a doubt, been the most rewarding experience of my life, in which I’ve been able to give back to the community where I was born and raised. I’ve made many friends from our ever-growing pool of readers, sources and business partners, and have been humbled to hear from so many of you about how our stories have helped you, sometimes in the most trying hours. I thank you for that. Many of you have made Sheepshead Bites and Bensonhurst Bean a part of your daily lives, and I am eternally grateful for your support thus far.

It is with that in mind that I embark on this new leg of that journey. There have been other potential suitors over the years that I have turned down, and I did so because I felt they may not have the same sensitivity for our readers, our vision and our community. But I know that with Liena, Mary and the rest of the Corner Media team, I could not have found better partners with which to share the reins.

You will likely see a number of changes over the coming months. A long overdue (and mobile-friendly) design is in the works. We’re already kicking around ideas for new regular features. We’ll be introducing a number of new local writers on these pages. For our business partners, a host of innovative marketing opportunities across Brooklyn will become available. It’s going to be a great and exciting time in the history of Sheepshead Bites and Bensonhurst Bean, and we’re energized over all the possibilities on the horizon.

I look forward to your continued support, and, as always, welcome hearing from you as we move forward.

Kind regards,

Ned Berke

Founder, Sheepshead Bites and Bensonhurst Bean

P.S. – For those interested in keeping tabs on me personally, or about how the sausage is made, follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In the near future I’ll be posting there about the transition, my personal reflections/rants, and my thoughts on the online news publishing industry.

Related posts


  • guest11235

    how much was it sold for???


    • congrats to Ned

      $765,432.10


      • MrArtTuro

        …a reasonable price; I’d have paid more but no one called me. 😉


  • OneForTheGoodDays

    Congrats! Don’t forget the little people.


    • Supporter of Left Handed Rule

      Ned, congrats to you. Forget about the little people, only they pay taxes, someone once said.


  • bagels

    Congratulations! Change is good…


  • bill

    As much as we despise big government, big corporations, big

    political parties and big anything you can name, it is human nature to coalesce

    into groups and expand the reach and scope of the endeavor. Ironically, our

    much vaulted “individuality” is betrayed by our social needs to connect. Instant

    connections are demanded! Good luck Ned, another empire is born.


    • MrArtTuro

      ….going back to get another Masters Degree to keep up with Bill’s comment. I wholeheartedly agree, I think.


  • Bikerchick

    Best of luck Ned! You’ll be an asset in the new venture!


  • karen

    I always check in with bites..good news…


  • Alex

    That’s great!

    Good luck, Ned!!


  • nauticalstar

    Congrats Ned! Great news! 🙂


  • vickster1955

    Great news – wishing new/continued success!!


  • Gene Berardelli

    Good stuff. Best of luck, pal.


  • Allen S. Popper

    Good luck Ned. Mazal Tov.


  • alex

    congratz and good luck


  • A

    Great job! Congratulations Ned!!


  • agent 99

    Congratulations and good wishes in your new collaborative venture!


  • Andy Baum

    And with that, Corner Media ventures south… beyond Foster Avenue into the vast expanse that encompasses Nieuw Utrecht and Gravesende.


  • Bruce b

    Hearty congratulations. You must have had a good product for them to grab it up


  • Tinman

    Congratulations!


  • cabbie

    R.I.P. Sheepshead Bites.

    T T $ A R Ned.


    • http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/ Ned Berke

      huh?


      • cabbie

        (take the money and run)


        • ES

          Oh, I thought it was a fancy way of calling Ned a tsar. I am so unhip to the times.


          • cabbie

            I coined it – but you can use it.


          • MrArtTuro

            Ned’s a tsar, now? Dang! What a little cash’ll do to a man!


  • MrArtTuro

    I hate change! But anything Sheepshead Bites does is fine with me. Congrats. Best of luck; I hope the sound of ‘CaChing!’ will be heard by you and yours.


  • johnhuotari

    Congratulations, Ned, and good luck.


  • Anonymous

    BOOO!!! SELL OUT!


  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    I shall be honest and say I don’t know. This could be a good thing for all involved or burdensome combining. I see the obvious advantages, but utilizing them to their full potential will take a lot of work.Combined, this is a bigger operation, and all parts have to show growth. I hope this happens evenly, for all your sakes.


    • MrArtTuro

      A cash-in?


      • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

        The history of local media is that individual entities merge, some become successful enough to start absorbing small media from other areas, others become stable enough to evoke interest from larger media operations.

        Some local media will remain independent, the cost of operation is smaller than in the past, and the aspirations of some are not focused on profitability. This is a good thing because choices and variance is what keeps media interesting to readers. Some of our neighborhoods have a number of news related blogs. They thrive in co-existence, often because they do not consistently overlap in their content.


  • Kriston Lewis

    Congrats Ned! I’m sure you’ve made sure that you found a partner that’ll make the Bites better and better.

    If not, we’re coming after you. And your dog.


  • mara

    Congratulations Ned, I wish you all the luck in the world. Always fair and didn’t mind stepping in to take charge. With that being said. Want to know where will The statue representing Sheepshead Bites go. Back to the sea. Or does it go with the new owners of Sheepshead Bites. Again Good Luck and God Bless.


    • http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/ Ned Berke

      Shhhh. I never told Liena about the fish and if she takes it from me what will I cuddle with then? WHAT WILL I CUDDLE WITH?!!!

      (does that make it a cuddle fish? Womp womp.)


      • mara

        I have connections. I think we can reel in a new design.


        • BayResident

          Great pun, but now you’re on the hook.


  • tinafg

    All the best to you Ned!!!! Hope it stays the same though. I love it just the way it is. In any case, I’ll always support!

  • Pingback: Sheepshead Bites » Blog Archive Morning Mug: The "Wonder" In Wonder Wheel » Sheepshead Bay News Blog

  • Pingback: With Acquisitions, Brooklyn’s Corner News Media Grows Into a Regional Cluster | Street Fight