Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Some of what’s going around:
Asheville restaurants for sale: Here’s a look a couple being advertised at www.restaurantstore.com:
-One of a kind location, charming building with comfortable atmosphere. This restaurant has a full bar, large dining room and outdoor seating to handle its large volume. The business has consistently shown increases in annual sales with high profit margins. Plenty of walk in space with ample dry and refrigerated storage. Professional line layout easily handles the sales volume. Non disclosure and net worth statement required for any inquires. You must see the business and understand the cash flow to appreciate this opportunity. Partial owner financing available for qualified experienced operator. Purchase Price $725,000.00
-Classic Asheville restaurant for sale, this restaurant is considered one of, if not, the best restaurants in Asheville. With a premier location, newly remodeled floor plan, and steady clientele, it truly has it all: great name recognition, high revenues, and very strong cash flow. The kitchen equipment is professionally laid out with plenty of square footage to accommodate the high sales volume. The dining room and bar are spacious yet warm, comfortable, and inviting. The space also includes a private dining room and separate dining area which could be used as a deli, bakery, or separate bar. With almost two million in annual revenues this business has been a main stay in Asheville for many years. Serious inquiries only must be accompanied with a non-disclosure agreement and net worth statement. Business purchase price: $755,000
-Local favorite breakfast lunch restaurant in Asheville. With a premier location, comfortable floor plan with outdoor seating, the restaurant attracts both tourist and local clientele. The business has shown steady growth in sales over the years along with a strong cash flow. The breakfast lunch menu has high quality items at a moderate price with beer, wine, organic coffee, and espresso included in this very popular menu. The kitchen has an efficient layout that can handle high volume during the peak rush periods. There is a opportunity for a new owner to increase revenues with additional hours of operations. The long term lease is very attractive and makes this business opportunity one of a kind. Purchase price $269,000.00
-Beer fest notes: Here are a couple of tidbits I thought were worth noting following last weekend’s Winter Warmer Beer Festival, the first big beer festival of 2015 in Asheville. First, Burial Beer in Asheville and Fonta Flora Brewery out of Morganton made public announcements about their non-participation in the festival, that included dozens of brewers pouring beer for folks who paid $48 a pop for a ticket. The Burial and Fonta folks didn’t have anything negative to say about the event itself. Instead, they also took issue of the practice of the big festivals not paying for the beer that’s served at the events. (The beer is donated, and under state law, if you have that type of festival with donated beer, there has to be a designated nonprofit beneficiary.) Burial and Fonta noted a trend for breweries to hold their own on-site festivals and pay wholesale prices for beer from other craft brewers that is included in the event. From a Burial post on FB:
There is a better model out there that does work. But more importantly, supporting a non-profit is not a pre-requisite for having a beer festival. Supporting a non-profit should happen everyday! And most consumers know how hard craft brewers work to support non-profits and small businesses on a daily basis (we frequently donate to great causes). You don’t just do it so that you can throw a beer festival.
On a personal note, I did not attend the Winter Warmer, but I was in downtown Asheville that Saturday night as people were streaming out of the festival. Several folks that I saw were clearly wasted. One couple was literally stumbling down the sidewalk. Outside Carmel’s, one guy was puking his guts up on the sidewalk. Several festival goers continued their drinking at downtown bars. I know these are just a few examples out of hundreds of festival attendees, but it’s a dark and sometimes dangerous side that doesn’t get much attention. I’m just taking note in hopes that festival organizers continue to do all they can to keep people safe.
-Tethering meeting: Brother Wolf Animal Rescue plans to host a public meeting on dog tethering in Buncombe County. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Feb. 5 at the Haynes Conference Center, Room 209, at A-B Tech Enka Campus, 1459 Sandhill Road, Candler, NC. The meeting follows a vote of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to strengthen parts of its animal control ordinance.
Commissioners voted 4-3 earlier this month to mandate certain shelter sizes for horses and clarify that for dogs, lack of social interaction and lack of exercise are considered neglect and are punishable by a civil penalty with fines up to $250 a day, according to the Mountain Xpress. Commissioners must take a second vote to confirm the rules change.
The public is invited to attend the upcoming public meeting hosted by Brother Wolf. If citizens want to speak at the meeting, they must RSVP to [email protected] to get on the speaker list.
Denise Bitz, founder and president of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, told me Thursday that county commissioners failed to consult her organization before its vote. She said commissioners should have done more to engage the public, which is the goal of the public forum. Here’s more from Bitz in a written press release, which references an online poll the group held to get feedback on the tethering issue:
“The results are in from our poll over the weekend, and we were blown away. Our goal was to get 1,000 responses over this next week, but we exceeded that in less than 48 hours! And the results couldn’t be more clear:
99.25 % of respondents agreed that “…county government should consult with local animal agencies when creating or amending legislation that affects animals in our community.”
“That didn’t happen the week before when county commissioners voted in controversial new animal ordinances. We rescue animals in the county every day, and we were never consulted on this issue by county commissioners,” says Denise Bitz, Founder and President of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue.
“Probably most controversial is the amendment to extend the minimum dog tether from 10 feet to 15 feet. Most everyone we’ve heard from agrees that it’s a meaningless change that effectively endorses dog tethering in Buncombe County.
“There are many dogs in the county who live out their entire lives, 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the end of a chain. Can you imagine living your whole life tied up to a 15 foot chain, 24/7? That’s effectively what the county commission just endorsed,” says Bitz
In the poll over the weekend, 95.29% of respondants also voted that dog tethering should be banned in Buncombe County.
-Regional labor groups rally: James Harrison reported the recent meeting for Carolina Public Press:
Roughly 60 people gathered for the lunch at Pack’s Tavern, which was hosted Saturday by the Western North Carolina Labor Council. Attendees included Democrats Rep. Susan Fisher, who represents portions of Asheville and Buncombe County in the 114th District, and Rep. Joe Sam Queen, who represents Swain and Jackson Counties in the 119th District. All state lawmakers representing Western North Carolina were invited, including newly-elected Buncombe Democrats Rep. Brian Turner and Rep. John Ager, who were not present.
The meeting was the third of five being held across the state. In light of recent policies approved by the General Assembly, leaders of the group emphasized their desires to organize for raising wages for North Carolina’s working families during the new session.
-Giant barrel: Seems like every brewer in town is getting new tanks. Walt at Wicked Weed recently tweeted that its first Foeder is coming to its way. A Foeder is a giant barrel.
-Huge boar: Hunters killed a 700-pound boar in Transylvania County, the Transylvania Times reports.
-Huron buys Studer Group: Modern Healthcare reported earlier this week that Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group is acquiring well-known healthcare consultant Studer Group, in a $325 million deal that will create a healthcare consulting operation that will have more than 1,500 employees, Huron announced Tuesday. Quint Studer is founder of Studer Group. It’s based in Pensacola, Fla., and has roughly 235 full-time employees and works with more than 750 partner hospitals, according to the MH announcement.
About this time last year, I visited Pensacola to get a look at the journalism project my former boss, former Asheville Citizen-Times Publisher Randy Hammer, was working on. It’s called the Studer Institute, and it’s bankrolled by Quint Studer, whom I met briefly. Over the past year, with plenty of cash supplied by philanthropist Studer, Hammer has assembled a team of former newspaper and television colleagues. They’re experiment is described like this on their site:
The Studer Institute is a not-for-profit organization that highlights important issues in the Pensacola community and works towards innovative solutions. As agents of truth, we empower Pensacola citizens with intellectual awareness and insightful understanding – paving the way for a new level of accountability across our community.
Each Metro Report will bring together a group of educators, journalists, business owners, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons of Pensacola. We know that our citizens are the key to unlocking the promise of Pensacola and creating powerful community progress.
Here’s my brief explanation of the Studer Institute here. Looks like I need to make another trip to Pensacola.
Just saw on FB that Short Street Cakes is for sale as well.
Is the foodie bubble bursting?
Sounds like the business is doing great, but the owner and founder doesn’t want to manage that next phase of growth.
Thanks to Brother Wolf for standing up for the animals. The commissioners were apparently swayed by the hunters and ignored the facts and the recommendations of the animal welfare community. Shame on them!
Blecch….this beer tastes like Proactiv
Anyone venture to guess these restaurants for sale?
The first two descriptions are pretty vague, but the third one sounds a lot like Sunny Point Cafe.
Sunny Point just finished a remodel. Not sure if they would have put money into it before selling, but who knows. Also, they serve dinner at SP and I don’t believe they have espresso. That last bit might be the thing that narrows it down the most–not that many places have espresso.
the last one actually sounds like clingman café or mayfel’s. Sunny Point would sell for much more than 270k