Local Champion in Massachusetts: Earn the Title

Local Champion in Massachusetts is a title in the Mosey app for the friend who always knows where to go. You earn it in one town by rating five places, answering three Top 3 questions and making one list. The title appears on your profile and beside your name on a rating, and it never depends on what you say about a place.

It is a record of effort, not a ranking of anything. This guide is part of the Massachusetts food guide for every town, alongside the US food guides.

What does Local Champion in Massachusetts ask of you?

Three jobs in one place, each of them modest. The five ratings need a place and stars. The Top 3 step is three answered questions, each asking you to pick up to three places and rank them. The list is any list that includes a place in the town. Do all three in one town and the title is yours.

There is no prize, no discount and no free meal. A business cannot be given the title or buy it.

How do you use Top 3 for your town?

The app asks questions such as where the best place for coffee is, or a restaurant, or brunch. For each, pick up to three places and put them in order. Skip anything you cannot answer. Answering three questions is enough, and the app asks one on each visit, with later topics such as pizza, burgers, pastries, bagels or value. A skipped question does not count. A student in a college town, a commuter in a mill city and a retiree on the Cape will all answer differently, which is exactly why the questions are worth asking.

Where does the My town top 3s list come in?

Your answers are collected for you in a private list called My town top 3s, with the town's name in it. Each question gets a section. Because the list is private, nobody sees a change you make, and you can reorder your picks whenever you like. You do not have to maintain the list; the app keeps it in step with what you answered.

Which towns can you earn it in?

Any Massachusetts town or city where you eat. Rate five places in your town and the app shows your progress toward the title.

If you would like a head start, the town guides cover the ground, from the Northampton Local Champion guide to the Worcester Local Champion guide.

How do you rate five places quickly?

By eating in a pattern you already have. A weekday coffee, a lunch near work, a weekend breakfast, a Friday dinner and a Sunday dessert are five places by Sunday night. Add the dish and a tag to each if you can. Over time, ratings with the same tag add up to badges, starting at five different places in a category. A Massachusetts rating can be as short as a place, stars and the dish, so five takes less time than it sounds, even across a single weekend on the Cape.

What makes a good list for the title?

One with a purpose. Where I take visitors. Rainy day food. Everything I ate at the farmers market this fall. Add a line on why each place is there. If three or more of your rated places share a tag, the app can offer to turn them into a list for you, with every place ticked.

Can you share your title as a picture?

Yes. The app can turn the title into a picture you can send to friends, with your first name added if you choose. The card shows the title, not the places behind it.

How long does the title take to earn?

For a regular, a few weeks, and for a visitor on a long stay, a season. Nothing expires and nothing counts down, and a gap between meals costs you nothing. Rate when you eat, answer the Top 3 questions when a quiet evening comes, and make the list when you have something to put in it. There is no streak to protect and no penalty for a gap, so a student who goes home for the summer picks up where they left off.

Why would anyone want a title with no prize? Because it is a record. People who know a town well rarely get credit for it, and a title beside a name on a rating tells a reader that this person has done the work. It also makes the habit sticky in a kind way: the questions are small, the list is yours, and the picture is there if you wish to share it. For many raters that is reward enough.

What does the title leave out?

Anything to do with money or judgments. It does not say that your picks are the best, and nobody else is told which places you chose. It says you did the work.

How this works in the app: Local Champion and Top 3.

When you are next in a Massachusetts town you know well, open the Mosey app and begin the count with a rating, three Top 3 questions and a list.