Capital at Play May 2018

Diane English

The Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Card Co. p.16

Leisure & Libation

From Pavement To Bricks p.51

Western North Carolina's Free Spirit of Enterprise

Like a of Ch Box ocolat es

PLATE@PLAY p. 50 May Passcode

Jael a nd and o Dan Rat t perat ions f igan talk f or Fr ench unding, ex Broad pa Choc nsion, olates . p.76

colu m ns

Are Expensive Wines Worth It? p.30 Soil Is Wealth p.68 Volume VIII - Edition V complimentary edition

capitalatplay.com

May 2018

Debbie Williams, Executive Vice President Robin Boylan, CCIM, SIOR

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May 2018

An authentic, local experience with services fortified by a network of the most respected real estate firms in the world.

- W. Neal Hanks Jr. -

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Q&A with Debbie Williams Executive Vice President AS ONE OF MANY REAL ESTATE FIRMS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA, WHAT SETS YOU APART? We’re based in Asheville with eight offices servicing 11 Western North Carolina counties. We tailor our services to our clients, helping them to make smarter, better informed real estate decisions.

Our authenticity and depth of knowledge can’t be matched by “Big Box” brands.

WITH OUR LOCAL REAL ESTATE BEING INCREASINGLY SHAPED BY OUTSIDE INFLUENCES, HOW DOES A LOCAL FIRM REMAIN COMPETITIVE? We’re proud members of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®. Leading RE is an invitation-only network that accepts only 1 in 5 aspirants. We were awarded membership because of our outstanding service and local expertise. Our strength is mirrored by our fellow 565 Leading RE firms in 65 countries. We’re Local - We’re Global.

IF ALL REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL, HOW DOES BEING A MEMBER OF A GLOBAL NETWORK HELP CLIENTS IN WNC? Even though real estate is local, homeowners can transact in many locations, and buyers may come from anywhere in the world. With trusted colleagues in all the major markets, we reach a broader pool of buyers. And if a client purchases in another location, they benefit from our connections across the globe.

HOW DOES A GLOBAL NET WORK OF INDEPENDENT FIRMS COMPETE WITH FIRMS CONTROLLED BY NATIONAL FR ANCHISES? We’re a global community of the most trusted leaders in real estate, brought together by a shared commitment to quality, connections, and independence. In 2016, the most recent year for which audited data is available, Leading RE companies collectively outsold their nearest franchise competitor by 20%.

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About Beverly-Hanks Thousands of home buyers and sellers choose us for the resultsoriented service that has been our hallmark since 1976. Our strength lies in the ability to provide the services of highly trained, caring REALTORS® who are experts in their communities.

We’re Local - We’re Global. Whether you’re moving across town or around the world, we can help through our global network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World ®.

You want to choose the best, and in Western North Carolina that choice is Beverly-Hanks & Associates.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 101

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Mitchell Butler

Editor’s Thoughts

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O

nce again, it’s time to play “find the recurring theme in the new issue” game. If you’re anything like me, you’re going to work up a healthy appetite by the time you’ve finished reading this one. I mean, I work here, and by the time an issue is ready to send off to the printer, I’ve probably read every word and viewed every photo at least 15 times—I’ve been leaving the office every day for this past couple of weeks dying for something tasty to eat when I get home. Hey, wasn’t there a food truck the other day in that big parking lot off Hendersonville Road near Long Shoals? Hmm… Hold that thought: This month’s “Capital Co-Op” feature is about area food trucks—or, more accurately, food trucks that have transitioned to brick-andmortar locations. Success stories, all. Western North Carolina in general, and particularly Asheville, has apparently been very, very receptive to the food truck phenomenon, and the seven businesses we’re profiling here serve as vivid barometers of just that. Whether you’re into gelato treats and ice cream sandwiches, Carolina ‘cue and regular burgers ‘n’ dogs, or even elaborate dishes described as “Southern roots, old world European exploration,” we guarantee you will find something here to get your mouth watering.

Or maybe you just feel like being totally decadent and indulging in an extended chocolate session? Hint: One of our entrepreneurial profiles, of the folks behind French Broad Chocolates, just might do the trick. Wash it all down with a bottle of premium wine, courtesy of columnist John Kerr’s bimonthly wine advice column.

Even our regular People at Play photo spread seems destined to stoke the hunger fires, as it’s a visit to the season opening of the Asheville City Market—check out those photos of vendors displaying their fresh produce and other wares. And this issue’s other column, penned by Lee Warren of Organic Growers School, may strike a related chord, delving into the importance of implementing sensible, ecologically progressive farming practices.

Elsewhere in the magazine we take a look at the proliferation of subscription services in our region, along with a profile of the local artist who operates The Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Card Co. Admittedly, those two stories don’t necessarily involve the foods we eat, but as you read them, and consider the messages some of these people are offering, maybe it won’t be too much of a stretch to consider their words nourishment for your souls and minds.

Told you I could tie everything together. Thanks for playing, and I’ll see you next issue.

Sincerely,

Fred Mills

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May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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arage uthority TM paces Into Exception ming S al Places Transfor

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Capital at Play has partnered with Bclip Productions to bring the pages of each edition to life, just for you. Featured at Capitalatplay.com and our Facebook page, we give you exclusive interviews and insider info on the people, places, and faces of Capital at Play has partnered with Bclip Productions to bring the pages of each edition to life, just for you. Featuring a new enterprise throughout Western North Carolina. Visit us on social media or at our website to see the latest 60 Seconds at Play.

second video every two weeks, we give you exclusive interviews and insider info on the people, places, and faces of enterp throughout Western North Carolina. Visit us on social media or at capitalatplay.com to see the latest 60 Seconds at Play NOVEMBER VIDEO

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At Bclip we do more than tell your story. Our business-first mentality and creativity set us apart from other video production companies. It’s our mis help our customers sell their products, train their staff, and entertain custo video. We strive to eat, sleep, and think like the wonderful companies we

on the cover :

PART OF A MUR AL at French Broad Chocolate Lounge, showing chocolate production from bean to bar. photo by Evan Anderson thi s page : A HAPPY-ASS PAINTING for sale at The Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Card Co., photo by Anthony Harden

w 60 prise y.

combustible ssion to omers with work with.

F E AT U R E D vol. viii

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HAVE A HAPPY-ASS DAY DIANE ENGLISH

ed. v

76 … LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES JAEL AND DAN RATTIGAN

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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C ON T E N T S m a y 2 018

FARM TO FENDER foodtruck parked at its restaurant. photo by Anthony Harden

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51 From Pavement To Bricks l e i s u r e & l i b at i o n

lo c a l i n d u s t r y

Love Letters To Ourselves

Subscription Services in Western North Carolina

The Capital at Play Co-Op: Food Trucks

colu m ns

insight

14 R usted Earth Farm Kyle Guie

30 A re Expensive Wines Worth It?

Written by John Kerr

68 Soil Is Wealth

Written by Lee Warren

p e o p l e at p l ay

88 The ASAP Connections Annual Opening of the Asheville City Market

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briefs

26 Carolina in the West 46 The Old North State 72 National & World News

events

90 Spring weather is finally

here! French Broad River Festival, LEAF Festival, Alpaca Shearing Day, Movies In the Park, & more.

g e t e xc l u s i v e r e a d e r o n ly ac c e s s w i t h

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May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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nsight

Weaving A Legacy With Rusted Earth Farm & Studio, Kyle Guie and Jessica Sanchez are doing much more than merely tending to their flock.

V

isit the website of Marshall’s Rusted Earth Farm and you’ll not only view photos of the owners, their land, and their sheep—you’ll receive a vivid history lesson.

“We are a small farm and we aim to keep it that way,” begins an essay posted at the site by the husband and wife team of Kyle Guie and Jessica Sanchez. “We have a personal relationship with each and every animal in our care and a hands-on, organic approach to farming. Our animals are natural born, free range, pasture- and woodland-raised….”

From there the narrative moves into a fascinating look at the history and historical significance of two key breeds of sheep the farm raises. One of them, the Navajo-Churro (aka “common” sheep), was originally brought to America from Spain in the 16th century by Spanish Conquistadors and wound up becoming crucial to the native Navajo. The other breed, the spotted/speckled Jacob sheep, goes back even further, to Old Testament days: The shepherd Jacob bred them in his time, hence the name. The results of Guie and Sanchez’s careful stewardship of their sheep can be seen in the unique fiber art and yarn their farm produces—it’s clearly a deep, abiding labor of love for both of them.

“Early on, we decided we did not want to be a produce farm because that seemed to be what most young farmers were getting into in Asheville,” explains Sanchez. “We really have not seen any other farmer take the product from the animal all the way through the process to finished product. We purchased the farm in 2014 and moved down to North Carolina [from Philadelphia] in the fall of 2015. We knew our land was most suited for livestock rather than produce, and we knew there was a very dense population of fiber artists in the Asheville area.

We did a lot of research and visited with dozens of farmers to hone in on a species and breed of animal to raise. We identified three heritage breed sheep that we were interested in, and in the spring of 2016, we came upon a great opportunity to take in 17 Navajo Churro ewes, a breed [that] has a fascinating story.”

Sanchez is an artist (pottery, woodworking, painting) with experience working with horses—Guie, a former urban planner, states firmly that she is “the brains behind the operation”—but she readily admits to their having to navigate a steep learning curve, from the animal husbandry and pasture management 14

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areas to the actual shearing of the sheep and the creation of a marketable product. She vividly remembers the first time they had to do the shearing. “[That] was probably our first big ‘trial by fire’!” she says. “We had a shearer lined up, but he fell through and we just couldn’t find anyone else to do the job. So we rolled up our sleeves and did what we had to do. We had a lot of help from some amazing ladies in the fiber community.

They had never sheared sheep before and were so eager to help and came out for the first few days to lend a hand shearing and sorting the fleeces. It was really encouraging, knowing that this support network was here to help whenever I needed them.”

What also sets Rusted Earth Farm apart is how they’ve combined art and farming to create their products. Originally, they would shear the sheep and sell the raw, unprocessed fleeces, but they soon realized that if they took the fiber through the entire process—sheep to fleece to yarn to finished artifact—they could realize more potential profit. In particular, they could expand their market base by having their own yarn to sell. Then Sanchez’s artistic instincts kicked in: “My dream, when we first got the Navajo Churro, was to weave Navajo rugs on a traditional Navajo loom and create a product that was true to the historical roots of our sheep. In the spring of 2017,

I recruited the help of an expert local weaver, Deanna Lynch, and started learning about natural dyes, [then] in the summer of 2017, I got to work building a loom. Weaving is a whole new art for me, but getting into textiles has allowed me to combine my two passions: art and farming.”

“We were hopeful we could do this, but I also think we really just got lucky! We’ve got a pretty good handle on managing the herd now, and the next big challenge is how to make this all sustainable.”

Indeed she has; Sanchez currently has a waiting list for her custom rugs, table runners, and wall hangers. (She also sells her pottery—check the “Studio Shop” tab at their website.)

Going forward, she and Guie want to increase their presence digitally and in the Asheville area, while developing and marketing signature Rusted Earth farm-to-home products that will lead to their scaling up production. Ag-tourism is in the works as well; they already give tours of the farm by appointment and have put on yoga events, and plans are to also host farm dinners and organized bicycle rides.

Concludes Sanchez, “We were hopeful we could do this, but I also think we really just got lucky! We’ve got a pretty good handle on managing the herd now, and the next big challenge is how to make this all sustainable. We never wanted this to be a hobby farm—we want this to be a sustainable small business.”

parking available for our customers

Rusted Earth Farm & Studio can be found at 11 Mt. Airy Road, Marshall, NC 28753, 610-574-0786.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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DIANE ENGLISH with one of her stor yboard totem paintings. |

May 2018

Have

A HappyAss

Day

written by marl a hardee milling photos by anthony harden

When approaching Diane English’s The Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Card Co., enter with caution—there’s sidesplitting laughter ahead.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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D

SHOPPERS SHARING cards, and laughs.

iane English’s studio on Depot Street in Asheville’s River Arts District (RAD) is a space of amazing transformation, and it’s not just in how she changes a blank canvas into a colorful work of art.

Visitors often enter with a serious demeanor and steady facial expression, but after a few moments of reading her clever card sayings and observing the humorous paintings, their own change begins. First there are a few giggles or a ripple of laughter when a person points a specific card to a companion. The giggles often grow into authentic belly laughs as people recognize a universal truth presented through The Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Card Co. The tagline says the business “provides inspiration and humor for all those days when you just want to poke out your third eye.”

Her number one best seller is a print of a cartoon man standing in the bathroom holding a roll of toilet paper. His cat is sitting on the back of the commode. They are both gazing down into 18

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the toilet bowl, which emits a golden glow and stars. The title: “Holy Shit.” Another fan favorite features a depiction of God seated on a throne. He says to an angel: “Pull my finger.” The punchline: “Behold! The truth behind the Big Bang Theory.”

Another shows a laughing face with the phrase, “Jesus Saves, Buddha Recycles.”

Don’t blame her if you find yourself in need of adult diapers (an item she’s thought of stocking). She has a disclaimer right on the door, right underneath an open sign that says COME IN!! I’m Already Disturbed: ATTENTION! DISCLAIMER! The management of the Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Card Co. does not accept any responsibility for the following responses while you read and purchase the cards, magnets, and prints: 1. Belly aches from laughing hysterically 2. Lack of bladder control 3. Squirting milk out your nose 4. Gasping for air 5. Accidental flatulence And so it is.

The humor breaks the ice and by the time customers are paying for purchases they are on a first-name basis with Diane and leave after hugs. They exit the shop feeling lighter and happier than when they entered.

That satisfies Diane’s main goal, which she has defined in one of her prints. This particular piece of artwork shows a cartoon face upturned in laughter. All you can see is the laughing mouth, nose, and snippets of hair around the head. Hearts and stars explode around the words: “If I can make at least one person smile or pee their pants a little then my day is not wasted!”

Diane also points to a saying posted on a billboard in the corner of her studio. It’s a quote by Oscar Wilde that resonates strongly with her: “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they will kill you.”

Customer Gloria Prendergast admitted Diane’s irreverent humor made her laugh “until I couldn’t breathe.” She recently stopped into the shop with her husband, Mike, during their first trip to Asheville. They live in Sebring, Ohio, which is about 50 miles outside Cleveland. They had picked up a River Arts District brochure detailing the artist studios in the community.

When they spotted a listing for The Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Card Co., they knew they had to check it out.

“I think we need to laugh now more than ever,” says Gloria.

“I think we need to lighten up. If there was more of this around,

we would have better conversations and deeper conversations.

I think humor makes us look deeper than we would without it. And it makes us love more because we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

The Prendergasts lingered in the shop, enjoying the delight of reading the cards, and selecting a variety of prints and other items for sale, including a reproduction of Diane’s first storyboard totem painting. It features colorful flowers, trees, and birds, with sun and a face at the top. The words say, “Dear One, The trees, flowers and birds, indeed all of nature longs for your undivided attention.”

Not everything in this shop is side-splitting humor. The totem the Prendergrasts bought illustrates Diane’s more reflective side.

There are other prints that reveal this softer spirituality. One shows one of her wacky characters with his dog and cat. They’re outside gazing at the stars. It reads: “There is No Death, Only A Change of Worlds.” A print titled “Thank You For Being My Friend” shows an angel swooping down to lift a person whose wings are limp and weary. It says, “Friends are Angels That Help Us To Our Feet When Our Wings Have Trouble Remembering How to Fly.” Another shows a person reaching for a star. The words appear on top, bottom, and both sides of the image: “Reach for Your Star! Divine Energy is Your Source. You Can Have, Do or Be Anything. You Are Amazing, Simply Amazing.”

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 19

Leap and the Net Will Appear Diane began her career as a medical technician but, she says, “I didn’t have patience for patients.” It’s a claim that’s a bit hard to believe as Diane presents herself as someone with a magnitude of patience for others. It could be that her ability to be patient is connected with doing her current work that feels like a joy instead of a chore.

After her short stint in medicine she made a living selling newspaper advertising and eventually worked in Nashville training people for media interviews. She later moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where she opened a metaphysical bookstore called Dream Street. During her time at the store, she came up with an idea of creating and selling funny magnets and

After successfully running her bookstore for 14 years, it faltered when Barnes & Noble moved into town. “I was literally put out of business within a year by Barnes & Noble. And Amazon on top of that. It seemed like a good time to go after something else. Judging by the reaction of the cards in the shop, I knew the cards would take off. I just knew it,” she said.

Her partner, Karen Johnson, had been downsized from her job and the pair knew it would be a good opportunity to make a move to a new locale. When a friend suggested checking out Asheville, Diane’s first thought was “you’ve got to be kidding.”

She had been to Asheville in the 1980s and remembered it as a depressing, desolate place—the antithesis of the thriving “must see” destination that it is now.

“I guarantee if you do the morning pages, your life will change.

It’s how I got this studio. When you’re putting your hopes and wishes down on the page, that’s when magic happens.

I don’t know what it is, but it’s magical and it works.” that morphed into the card business. It evolved naturally out of her love of joking around with customers, especially about spirituality. She’s a self-taught artist and also went through the process of trial and error to become efficient at Photoshop and other software to enhance and print the cards herself. She now uses Biltmore Press and Henco for her printing needs.

One day at the bookstore, as a crowd had gathered around Diane’s cards, a question came up about a name for her card company. “I could call myself the Great Cosmic Smart Ass,” Diane said to the group, “but that doesn’t sound very nice.” At that moment someone chimed in: “Then call yourself the Great Cosmic Happy-Ass.” It stuck.

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“We came up for a weekend and basically stayed,” said Diane. That was in 2000. “We got a house. We got in two weeks under the big price hikes here. I was working out of my home strictly wholesale, except for the Weaverville Art Safari, which I participated in twice a year.”

The quote “Leap and the Net Will Appear” figures in Diane’s artwork and in her life. When she made the jump from running a bookstore to expanding her card business, new opportunities came into view. She got a call from a distributor who wanted to carry her cards and sell them in stores nationwide.

“I was with them for 13 years,” she said. In 2013 the distributor dropped her cards because it stopped selling all

DIANE AT THE entrance to her R AD space.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

21

types of stationery supplies. Diane was on her own and ready to reinvent her life once again.

Diane’s journey as a profitable artist in Asheville’s River Arts District is intertwined with her spiritual journey. She credits Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way and The Artist’s Way Morning Pages for helping her crystallize her vision and set intentions.

“For anyone who wants to go on a creative path, that book is a must as well as the exercises and the morning pages,” said Diane.

“I guarantee if you do the morning pages, your life will change. It’s how I got this studio. When you’re putting your hopes and wishes down on the page, that’s when magic happens. I don’t know what it is, but it’s magical and it works.”

As she contemplated her new direction, Diane turned to her morning pages, which, based on Cameron’s advice, are three handwritten pages of stream of consciousness writing completed every morning. The content can be anything and everything on a person’s heart and mind.

One morning Diane found herself writing the same message three times: “Get out and be seen.” So she took action and went to the River Arts District to look around and daydream. Walking around the eclectic mix of studios, she asked herself: What if I had a studio here—what would it feel like? Well, it felt pretty darn great. And being in the “feeling place” is a tenet of the Law of Attraction, which in simple terms means we create our reality based on our thoughts and our feelings.

Diane’s positive feelings about her desired outcome led to amazing synchronicity. That evening, she and Karen hosted an artist friend for dinner. Their friend said, “I’ve decided to move out of my studio in the River Arts District.” Diane asked if she could have it.

They contacted the landlord and the very next day, Diane moved in. She stayed in that space until her current, bigger slot opened up three years ago. The current space is about 375 square feet, but its high ceiling gives the illusion that it’s a much bigger spot. She dreams of having an even bigger space to create and paint. While she painted at home when she first moved to Asheville, she now devotes painting time specifically to her studio and works on business matters at home.

She has a long table set up in her studio where she creates. It’s surrounded by her desk 22

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May 2018

A HAPPY-ASS CAR

and walls filled with displays prints, cards, magnets, calendars, playing cards, and totems. There’s also a mishmash of items and clippings she’s added to complement her fun environment: An Emergency Affirmation Smiley Face button at her door says “You’re Awesome!” when pushed. She also has a “YES” button to push, a metal plaque at her check-out area that says “HIGH WEIRDNESS,” a clipping that says “If it’s not FUN or FUNNY, I’m not doing it,” and a white clock with black hands and a jumble of numbers piled up at the bottom—the top says “Whatever.”

A cut-out arrow suspended from the ceiling points to her artist table. It says “Artist Person.” When she has to dash out during the day, she has some yellow post-it notes at the ready. One says “I’ve been temporarily abducted by aliens. Back at 1:30.”

Paint brushes of all sizes are stashed in pottery jars that have sayings on the front: Brilliant Ideas, Elegant Solutions, Sense of Humor, Comic Relief. She has the ability to paint on her computer, but it’s not as satisfying for her.

“I love the smell of the paints, the texture of the paints, the feel of it,” she explains. “I have to use a brush. I use really bright colors from a company in California called Nova Color Acrylic Paints.”

She places an almost-complete vibrantly-painted totem across the table and applies finishing touches. It features her characters, arm in arm, or some with a hand on a shoulder, walking among the hills and valleys of the board. At the top, a Ram Dass quote: “We’re All Just Walking Each Other Home.”

The next day, Diane posed with the totem in a snapshot that she posted to her Facebook account. Within two hours, she was wrapping the art to ship to a couple in Washington State who spotted it online. Priced at $499 + shipping, it’s easy to

see how Diane’s art brings in a profit. But there’s something for just about every budget in her shop—from $3.99 cards to signed prints as low as $10 and reproductions of the original totem paintings at $45. “My stuff is accessible,” she said.

There are times when she feels a twang of regret when an original piece goes out the door, but letting go allows her to make room for new creations. There is one print, however, that she hopes will always be in her collection. The painting features brightly colored hearts popping out of the chimneys of a row of houses. Windows and doorways show silhouettes of some of the people inside, with a glow emitting from the openings.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 23

“I have it priced so high that no one will ever buy it. I love the colors in it and I love what it implies,” says Diane.

Have a Happy-Ass Day Diane’s sales are split almost evenly between her studio in the RAD and the wholesale/e-commerce side of the business.

Her cards are available at Mountain Made in the Grove Arcade and Gaea Gifts on Lexington Avenue, along with Seven Sisters Gallery in Black Mountain, as well as a couple of shops on the coast. The majority of long-distance sales come from Colorado.

She’s cautiously watching the rising rents and gentrification in the RAD. Buildings in the area are selling for millions, but right now, she’s content to just focus on the present moment. Asked if she foresees a time when she’d have to move out of the RAD, she replies, “I don’t want to live that far in the future, but I won’t move out if I can help it. There are over 220 artists in one square mile here. There’s so much talent, it’s a privilege to be here with all the other artists and talent.” Diane works in her studio on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and half a day on Saturdays.

For artists dreaming of opening their own studio, she says profitability really depends on what you sell. There are those

whose creations carry hefty price-tags and require a specialized audience of customers. Her inventory is more affordable, and she finds that humor plus affordability equals a very good profit margin for her. Her card line features more than 120 choices, but there have been a few that fell flat in terms of sales. The winning cards, however, remain consistent sellers. “The cards and magnets carry the studio,” she says. “That gives me the fantastic opportunity to paint.”

She also finds it economically smart to continue expanding her inventory with items such as The Great Cosmic Happy-Ass Adult Coloring Book!, decks of playing cards with 54 different designs, and T-shirts. She’s currently working on a new book showcasing her designs along with commentary.

Regardless of what an artist chooses to produce or at what price, Diane is adamant that “Just do it!” should be part of their mindset. It arcs back to her encouragement for other creative souls to embrace the advice in The Artist’s Way and the magic that comes from producing the morning pages each and every day. “No excuses,” she says, firmly. “It’s the same as when I opened my bookstore—I just did it.” She maintains a small shelf of books in her shop where guests can get a glimpse of the types of metaphysical titles she appreciates. She’s still an avid

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reader and loves giving book recommendations. Becoming Supernatural, by Dr. Joe Dispenza, is a title she suggests.

She also continues to follow the advice she received in her own morning pages of “Get Out and Be Seen.” Every time Diane hits the road in her grey Toyota Scion, she’s giving visibility to her company. The side of her car is painted with a laughing face with THE GREAT COSMIC

features a cast of her crazy characters hovering above her license plate: HA!HAHA! What’s next? She’s always dreaming up new designs and card concepts, but she’s also toying with the idea of selling the greeting card side of the business. “Anyone with marketing experience could take it and run with it,” she notes.

Of course, she’d want to retain the rights to continue selling in her studio while she continues doing the work she loves—creating art that makes people smile, laugh, and sometimes “pee their pants a little.”

“My cards touch a core with people that’s irreverent in the best possible way,” says Diane.

“It gives them a release. They think, ‘Oh, someone thinks like I do.’ My main customers are women, but I’m amazed at the numbers of men who come in.

It’s an experience. It’s not like going to Hallmark.

It’s me and gin.”

Diane rings up another sale, and instead of goodbye, she says what she says to all who enter and leave: “Have a Happy-Ass Day!”

“My cards touch a core with people that’s irreverent in the best possible way,” says Diane. “It gives them a release. They think, ‘Oh, someone thinks like I do.’”

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CAROLINA in the

WEST [

news briefs

Questions on Lobbying western north carolina

At a hearing before the North Carolina Utilities Commission to consider Duke Energy’s requested double-digit rate hikes, John Runkle, an attorney for the environmental group NC WARN, questioned the tens of millions of dollars the company spends on lobbying, public relations, and advertising. With a PR staff 100-strong, in the first three quarters of 2017, Duke spent $5.5 million on advertising; it spent $7.8 million in 2016, and $10 million in 2015. Runkle asked why a monopoly had to advertise and suggested it might be to gain support for rate increases and nurture public sentiment against adverse legislative actions.

NC WARN compiled a list of what it called “influence spending.” Groups receiving six digits or more included

]

the Foundation for the Carolinas, the Morehead Planetarium, the American Red Cross, and the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte. Last year, the company spent $1 million on state lobbying, $6.6 million on federal lobbying, $460,600 on North Carolina political action committees, $700,876 on federal PACs, $3 million on a 527 organization, and $1,596,203 on chambers of commerce. Duke spokespeople argued the questionable expenditures were almost all paid by shareholder investment, and not diverted dividends. Runkle countered that money is fungible.

Taxes on a Mission buncombe county

O n Ma rch 21, M is sion Hea lt h announced its board of directors had

signed with unanimous approval a Letter of Intent to begin exploring terms and conditions for an acquisition by HCA Healthcare of Nashville, Tennessee. The two health systems are now conducting due diligence, a process expected to last three to six months. If an agreement is reached and clears regulatory approval, the transition could be completed in the following three years. Mission explained the decision was driven by, “relentless pressure from payors, government, and businesses to do more with less along with ever-increasing expectations for health systems to serve as a social safety net.” HCA, with a nationwide presence, offers scale Mission believes would be nearly impossible to achieve on its own.

It would also set up a foundation to provide millions of dollars of assistance to the area’s most vulnerable. While nothing is settled, it is expected Mission will continue as an independent operation of HCA. Mission assures no jobs or services will be cut, and expansion and innovation will not be slowed; the consolidation is being pursued to provide more and better care in Asheville. HCA, in turn, could benefit from Mission’s quality programs and patient outcomes. The main change would be that Mission would transition to a for-profit business, adding considerably to the area’s tax base.

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Throw a Potty buncombe county

The Village Potters celebrated the completion of a 5,000 -square-foot expansion of their facility with a Spring Open House. Attendees were invited to tour the facility, browse completed works, throw a bowl to be included in the Asheville Empty Bowls project, or for a small fee glaze a pot to take home.

The expansion added space for workshops, studios for novices and resident potters, and a tool store for potters.

In addition to sourcing tools for local artists, the business is also an official distributor of Laguna Clays. The Village Potters is the studio of five professional artists who describe the space as a collaborative community. They work in clay, making pottery, statuary, surface treatments, and jewelry. A lot of their work is customized, but art that isn’t commissioned is exhibited and sold in three galleries on-premises and online.

Clientele include corporate buyers, designers, collectors, and people buying wedding gifts from the store registry. A delicate signature Mighty Oak by Sarah Wells Rolland might sell for $795, while tumblers by Lori Theriault can go for as little as $42. The Village Potters was founded by Rolland and her husband,

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George, and they are members of the Craft Guild of the Southern Highlands.

Oh, Drears haywood county

At the zoning meeting where a public hearing to consider her appeal had been scheduled, it was announced Tamara Nicholson was going to close her business. Just three weeks prior, Nicholson had shown up to a zoning meeting with three lawyers and a room full of supporters. That meeting was canceled because two board members were absent.

In question was Nudge City, a gaming parlor that presumably met the state definitions for legality but fell afoul of local zoning. Town leadership explained the closing was part of an agreement Nicholson’s lawyers had reached with the town, and the lawyers did not elaborate.

Then, it came to light Nicholson was facing criminal charges for illegal gambling occurring at another business she owns in the county, and there were allegations the same illegal practices were occurring at Nudge City. Her $50,000 bond was reduced to $15,000, on the provision that she operate no illegal gambling machines.

In 2014 Nicholson helped authorities as an informant in the investigation of two

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other gaming parlors in the county. She reportedly severed relations with the businesses when she saw illegal activity, including late-night deliveries of cash and other items and operators providing certain customers with access to illegal video games.

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Williamaye Jones has launched a royalty-based, independent publishing company, Lioness Press. She named the company to reflect her sense of protecting and nurturing authors. While Jones doesn’t yet have a storefront, her business offers writing, proofreading, editing, design, printing, and marketing services for writers of fiction and nonfiction. Jones is now looking for meaningful works that provoke thought and soul-feeding pieces that evoke emotion. She believes there is no shortage of good writers; the problem is getting their messages in the hands of others. With the advent of self-publishing, she has seen a lot of authors make expensive mistakes. If people still want to self-publish, she can teach them the ropes to help them avoid pitfalls. If somebody submits a work she rejects, she will tell the author what she thinks

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The eighth annual Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Fair, hosted by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), was deemed a well-attended success. CSA farmers sell subscriptions that entitle the bearer to a share of the farm’s harvest every week during growing season. This allows the purchaser to enjoy fresh, seasonal fruit, vegetables, meat, and/or flowers while getting more in touch with the earth by seeing and tasting how vicissitudes in the weather impact growth. The shares, which usually take the form of a filled box, are typically available for pickup at designated locations, but many CSA growers will deliver directly to organizations with several subscribers. The subscriptions, paid upfront, help local farmers with cash flow because most of their costs are incurred at the beginning of the season. The fair lets members of the public interested in subscribing visit with CSA growers to find the best fit, in terms of products, growing practices, and convenience. This year’s event was held at the New Belgium Brewing Company and featured 17 growers. Persons who missed the fair can still subscribe for the remainder of the season. Information on participating growers is available in ASAP’s “Local Food Guide,” which is posted on AsapConnections.org.

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mcdowell county

The cleanup of the old Drexel Heritage furniture plant is running 33% over

budget. Original estimates assumed the cleanup would cost around $900,000, but Planning Director Heather Cotton recently informed the Marion City Council more pollutants were being found. Contaminants on-site included petroleum leaked near underground storage tanks and below a concrete slab, arsenic under the same slab, and chromium under another slab. The petroleum had seeped into the groundwater. Remediation would also include asbestos and lead-based paint abatement.

Marion had gotten a grant from the state to help with cleanup, but it would need an additional source of funding to cover the new estimate. Making matters worse, the state grant will expire in June if it is not used, and the only other source of grant funds the city has identified to date could not be awarded until July 2019. The city is therefore going to file for an extension on the state grant. The City of Marion and McDowell County have partnered on site remediation. Once the site is cleaned, it will be jointly owned by the governments and marketed to industries for economic development.

U-Pick off the Shelves polk county

Brett Auston Florals and Gifts has just opened, and is full of fresh-cut flowers and small home décor accents.

But what makes this florist unique is customers get to design their own bouquets. They’re charged by the stem for flowers they select from the flower bar, a colorful assortment lining one of the walls. Auston helps as much or as little as customers want. She studied at the Flower School of New York and continues to travel to participate in advanced coursework. She had originally pursued an education in retail and fashion merchandising, but her hobby, flower arranging, got the best of her.

She decided to open a flower shop, and thought her hometown, Tryon, would be the perfect place. “I find it impossible to work with flowers and be sad,” she says,

adding that she probably spends more time trying to get customers’ orders just right than she should. In addition to the flower bar, a variety of workshops offered on-premises give Auston’s enthusiasm for the art a chance to spark creativity in others. Recent workshops advertised included one for hand-tied bouquets and Mother’s Day events for children in two age groups.

Creating 146 Jobs, Investing $105 Million buncombe and ashe counties

The North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina were instrumental in persuading GE Aviation to expand its operations in Asheville and West Jefferson. The state offered the multinational corporation $558,700 from the One North Carolina Fund, funds filtered through local governments that must come up with matching grants. Other partners credited in the recruiting process include the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, Buncombe County, Ashe County, the City of Asheville, Ashe County Economic Development, and the Economic Development Coalition of Asheville and Buncombe County. GE will have to meet targets for employment and community investment before it may receive any portion of the grant. The company’s targets are the creation of 131 jobs in Asheville and 15 jobs in West Jefferson, and investment of $105 million in the local economy. GE Aviation manufactures ceramic matrix composite jet engine components that weight less and are more heat-resistant than their metal counterparts. GE was pledged an estimated $11.2 million from state and local agencies when it was first induced to locate in North Carolina.

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column

Are Expensive Wines Worth It?

The Truth about Low Priced and Expensive Wine

W

HAT WILL $100 GET THE TWO OF

you for a night of entertainment in Asheville? You could see a movie followed by a meal at a modest café. Or perhaps you could dine in one of our celebrated restaurants, provided you skip the appetizer and dessert. And there’s always the bar with small plates as long as you go easy on the drinks.

J

You’ll have a good time. But if truth be told, your evening will be partially reined in by the constraint of your budget. However, a truly memorable evening is assured if you put that same $100 towards a bottle of luxury wine and a little cheese or charcuterie.

I know a number of you disagree with me. Most people have no trouble spending $100 for a night on the town, but balk at doing the same for a bottle of wine. Part of the reason for this is that many don’t agree that the higher price translates into a tangible increase in quality and enjoyment.

So this month I thought it would be good to spend some time talking about expensive wines. Why are some people reluctant to spend more for a bottle of wine? Is it worth it to you to spend that extra cash for the occasion? And exactly what makes an expensive wine expensive?

john kerr

is the co-owner of Metro Wines located on Charlotte Street in downtown Asheville.

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Part of the reluctance in spending more might come from media headlines about that great bottle for less. People hear about the accolades bestowed on the $15 bottle that beats wines five times the price. Or the online article where experts can’t tell the difference between a $20 and $200 bottle.

There is a lot of truth to these headlines. Two major changes in the wine world created this good news. With worldwide competition and advances in winemaking techniques there is more well-priced good wine available than ever before. The second change was Robert Parker’s invention of the wine scoring system in the 1970s. His standardized approach to rating wines gave no weight to tradition or reputation. The wine world was turned on its head as wine scores consistently revealed quality,

J little-known wines at bargain prices that beat several of the most revered wines.

Scoring systems have helped wring out marginal wines over the last 40 years. The downside to scores is the homogenization of wine styles. Most of us like a rich wine and that is what’s rewarded by many of the scoring systems. If you prefer lighter wines that pair better with food, you won’t find it in a highly scored Parker wine.

This brings us to my favorite paradox. Most of us can agree that a $20 bottle generally tastes better than one for $10. But an interesting result occurs when a large group is tested on luxury wines. While wine enthusiasts regularly prefer the most expensive wine, the rest of the group leans toward wines at $20 or less.

Why is it that premium wines don’t taste as good to most wine drinkers? Many think that it’s the sugar. Don’t think you

EXPENSIVE WINES GET THEIR RICHNESS FROM THE QUALITY OF THE GR APES. CHEAP WINES GET THEIR RICHNESS FROM SUGAR. like sugar in your wine? Apothic Red has been one of America’s top selling red wines for the last decade. Check closely and you’ll find that it has a little less than three teaspoons of sugar in each bottle. And one of the best-selling Chardonnays of all time is Kendal Jackson. The vintner’s secret to success was to leave a bit of residual sugar in the wine.

Most people equate quality with the richness of the wine.

Expensive wines get their richness from the quality of the grapes. Cheap wines get their richness from sugar.

Sugar can be hard to detect in a wine. Acid balances out the sugar and both are softened. It’s like the old trick of adding a pinch of sugar to marinara sauce. If you’re careful to not add too much, the sugar reduces the effect of the tomatoes’ acidity, but you can’t really taste it. This is particularly true with red wine.

So, quality red wines taste rich, but are a little too dry to most people. Sugar in wine makes it richer and fruitier, and reduces the sharpness of the wine. Therefore, know what you like. If you prefer softer, richer wines, you can enjoy a bottle you love and save quite a bit of cash on your next night out.

Which brings us to the issue of why an expensive wine is expensive. Part of the reason is demand. If you must have a Napa Valley Cabernet, you’ll spend at least $50 for a known winery. The popularity of both the grape and the region drives up the price.

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One of the most dramatic disparities in price is seen in the wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. The new billionaires from Asia have joined the luxury wine collector crowd. They have fallen in love with about half a dozen wineries in these two regions. This has driven the price of these wines into the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. Wines made from vineyards right next door sell for a fraction of the price.

But the true driver of cost is all the work it takes to grow a rich grape. The labor to make a value wine generally takes place in the winery. Nearly all the efforts to make a luxury wine take place in the vineyard.

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The first step in richness is to thin the fruit. Vintners will eliminate one quarter to one half of their crop. Grape thinning is unique in the agricultural world, and a farmer of any other crop would view this as crazy. Up to half the yield is gone before the grapes are even grown.

Once the amount of grapes is determined, the vintner then tends to the number and location of leaves. The right number of leaves produces the optimum flavor chemicals in the grape.

The location provides the right amount of sun and shade so that the grapes do not burn or grow mold. Changes are made throughout the growing season based on the weather and the growth of the leaves.

After all this, you still won’t get a luxury wine if the crop is not harvested at just the right time. Value wines are harvested all at once, usually with one guy in a tractor. The tractor collects grapes at all stages of ripeness as well as leaves and any fauna that happen to be in the way. Luxury wines are handpicked by a small army at just the right maturity. Pickers will make up to seven passes over a few days to select the individual grape at its peak moment of ripeness.

All of these steps add to the price of the luxury wine.

Whether you think the price is worth it is up to you. Only you and your taste buds can decide.

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Photo by Sarajane Case for Coffee Crate

local industry

Love

o t s r e t t Le Ourselves ma ni ko w sk i w rit te n by am y

At a point in time when the internet has rendered the postal service almost an afterthought, people still crave receiving things delivered to their doorstep. Tapping that desire, Western North Carolina subscription services are thriving.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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local industry

SPARKLE HUSTLE GROW BOX , photo by Becca Bond of SubscriptionBoxPhotography.com

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RUNNERBOX , photo cour tesy RunnerBox |

May 2018

UBSCRIPTION SERVICES HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR hundreds of years, but a recent surge in popularity fueled by a “subscription-box” craze has endeavored to make life easier, while building communities and growing businesses in our tech-addicted age.

In 1731 Benjamin Franklin started a subscribers-only library in Philadelphia, and through much of the 20th century, people depended on their magazine and newspaper subscriptions to deliver their news and information.

Remember the BMG Music Service and Columbia House, whose pervasive advertising in the 1980 and 1990s touted “12 Records for 1 Penny”? The music clubs had every teen and pre-teen insisting to their parents there was no fine print even though they included overly complicated deals and membership agreements that slipped in overpriced and unwanted merchandise. By 1994 fifteen percent of all CDs were sold via music clubs, but with the advent of file-sharing at the end of the decade, CD sales gradually tanked; by 2009 BMG Music Service had eased operations, and in 2015 the owners of Columbia House filed for bankruptcy.

While music subscriptions may have moved to iTunes and Spotify, the Book-a-Month Club, which started in 1926, is still going strong. Still using the same model it began with—letting members choose one of five new hardcover books selected by a panel of judges to receive each month for a flat rate—the club has over 100,000 members, mostly millennial women, and has over 399k followers on Instagram. It is credited with helping many new writers gain popularity; among its featured classic books have been Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind, and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. The internet has made subscribing to services much easier, allowing businesses to reach a national or international audience through social media and click-through advertising, and allowing customers to easily search for goods and services to meet their needs—or in many cases, to fill needs they didn’t realize they had.

Birchbox was one of the first subscription boxes offered on the internet, launching in 2010 and offering customers five to six beauty samples a month for $10, and it has grown to over one million subscribers. Blue Apron has dominated the meal-prep business, joined by HelloFresh, Plated, and dozens of other options.

Dollar Shave Club, known for its edgy, viral ads, and from which members buy a starter set with a razor and other hygiene products geared toward men, was bought by Unilever in 2016 for $1 billion.

The largest subscription marketplace, Cratejoy.com, helps businesses get subscription customers and offers over 1,000 different merchants in categories such as Beauty & Fashion, Men, Women, Kids, Geeks & Gaming, and Art & Culture. There are even car subscription services, with BMW piloting a service that includes a new car, insurance, maintenance, and roadside-assistance, all for a flat fee starting at $2k a month. Audi, Cadillac, and Porsche also provide this service.

photos cour tesy Cof fee Crate

ANGIE R AINEY

According to Forbes Magazine, the subscription market has grown by over 800 percent since 2014. Marketing analytics firm Hitwise reports that the demographics for subscription box services skew towards liberal women with a college degree, a few children, and a household income of over $100k.

There are many positives associated with subscription services that drive their popularity. Consumers certainly get introduced to new products—a plus for both the business and the customer. Subscriptions can also save consumers time and money, not to mention the overall convenience of having someone else do your shopping. Businesses have consistent clients, although there is a drop off, or “churn” rate of around 10 percent that they need to account for, in addition to trying to consistently grow their client base. A lot of services also offer membership perks. One of the biggest draws in this age of digital disconnection is the relationships that can be built among businesses and members; many services allow members to join the community of people with similar interests, whether it be stay-at-home moms, female-entrepreneurs, dog-lovers, beauty aficionados, or bibliophiles.

There are, however, negatives. While most services allow cancellation of the plans, it’s not always easy; some only allow

cancellation via phone even if the service sign-up was done online. There’s also a question of waste, of both money and products, if the items are something that you are not going to truly need or use. And the carbon footprint of long distance shipping is not insignificant.

Luckily, Western North Carolina and Asheville are also home to some innovative and one-of-a-kind subscription services, many of which you can pick up in person, or, if they’re shipped, aren’t traveling far to reach you.

Get That Java Fix: Coffee Crate To start your morning off right, the Coffee Crate company is an online subscription and gift service that delivers a trio of four-ounce bags of freshly roasted whole bean coffee to subscribers on a monthly basis. Coffee Crate was started by two web developers from North Carolina’s Triangle area, who loved coffee and started the business as a weekend hobby. It grew quickly, and they decided to sell the idea to an entrepreneur with the time and energy to focus on the business. The business was purchased by Angie Rainey, barista-turned-entrepreneur, in 2015, and the headquarters moved to Asheville. Rainey, a mom of two, was searching for a way to fuse her love of coffee with the burgeoning coffee shop and roaster scene in Asheville, while also caring for her young family at home.

Coffee picks are thoughtfully curated by Rainey with a focus on ethically sourced, locally roasted beans. Each crate features three different local roasters, notes about the roasts, special swag like stickers, and a locally crafted sweet or baked May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 37

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photo cour tesy Cof fee Crate

good, all delivered to your door. Rainey says she likes to throw in “a different locally crafted sweet each month, such as a pecan turtle from 50/Fifty the Art of Dessert, or a gluten free spice cookie from the Herban Baker.” Roasters have included PennyCup Coffee Co. and Mountain Air Roasters out of Asheville, and Shade-Raised Organic out of Leicester. Many roasters are either Fair Trade Certified or work directly with farmers, with the top priority to source organic and sustainably grown coffees. The freshly roasted beans offer customers an adventure of different flavor profiles that come from different origins, growing methods, or roasting techniques. The heart behind the business, Rainey explains, is the belief “that coffee tastes better when there’s an empowering story of love and respect that connects us to the origin of the beans.”

The packages ship from Asheville on the 15th of every month. There is a clock running on the company’s website that counts down the time you have to join before the next shipment.

Subscriptions range from $24-$29 a month, with shipping included for all the United States except Hawaii and Alaska, which are $7.99 extra. They also offer hand-delivery to customers within a ten-mile radius of downtown Asheville. Currently 38

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Coffee Crate has 120 subscribers, about half local to Asheville and half national, along with many “gift” and one-time purchases. As Rainey explains, a Coffee Crate subscription is perfect for “anyone who is up for an adventure of different flavor profiles that come from different origins, growing methods, or roasting techniques. This also makes an awesome gift for that foodie friend who has everything and you never know what to get them.”

Coffee Crate, along with Asheville food writer Stu Helm, launched and produced the first annual Asheville Coffee Expo in the River Arts District in 2016. The 2018 Expo is slated for September 29th in and around PennyCup Coffee Co. (located at 362 Depot Street). www.coffeecrate.co

Tools For Female Entrepreneurs: Sparkle Hustle Grow For female entrepreneurs, Black Mountain-based Sparkle Hustle Grow offers a monthly subscription box filled with inspirational tools, training, and community. Julie Ball launched Sparkle Hustle Grow after feeling the need to branch out to tangible

SPARKLE HUSTLE GROW BOX , photos by Becca Bond of SubscriptionBoxPhotography.com

product after owning her own all-female design and development firm, Grow Web Marketing, for six years. “I was attracted to beautiful design and wanted to provide that in a box to serve female entrepreneurs,” Ball says. “When I looked at my own business expenses they centered around online training, personal development and business books, and office supplies.” From that starting point she created the Sparkle Hustle Grow boxes, beautiful monthly boxes with curated products that include useful office products and tech gadgets, along with a book and training materials focusing on personal development or business growth. (February of this year focused on money management, March on confidence, and April on legal business foundations.)

From her background in digital sales and internet marketing, Ball set up what she describes as her “side-hustle” in a curated manner, using social media to create relationships that developed into a referral system. She launched her first box in October 2016, and just prior to that she hosted a giveaway for a free year subscription in order to expand her email list. She built a network online with other female entrepreneurs through Facebook groups, and also did a presale that included a free bonus item, ultimately selling 46 boxes during the presale, and using that capital to buy her custom boxes, products, and advertising. Her goal was to sell 100 subscriptions by the end of that year, and she hit 100 right at the end of December 2016. In January 2017 Ball attended Boss Mom retreat in San Diego that allowed her to network with even more female entrepreneurs and get the word out about her service—she also met her future virtual assistant at the retreat, who is now her “Director of Customer Happiness.” Through events like Boss Mom, as well as her own community, Ball has built a strong network that has helped grow her business, “I was lucky to meet people a few steps ahead of me,” she says. Sparkle Hustle Grow has grown to over 1,200 subscribers from all fifty states and Puerto Rico, and has been featured in Forbes as well as at PopSugar, Boss Mom, and BuzzFeed. The rapid success of her “side-hustle” has allowed Ball to take it on full-time, and in addition to hiring a virtual assistant, she has delegated boxing and shipping the products (which at one time took up most of her month and her house) to BP Solutions Group, Inc., out of Asheville. Ball is still the heart and the face of Sparkle Hustle Grow and explains, “I fell into the role of being the face of the brand as a female entrepreneur serving female entrepreneurs—I am my own audience and a lot of my subscribers relate to me.”

The signature full-sized box is $39.95 and includes four to six items such as planners, tech-gadgets, office supplies, and a book, plus access to online training and the Facebook group, which features a different guest expert every month. The mini-mailer is $24.95 and contains just the book and access to the online training and private Facebook group. You can subscribe month-to-month, prepay for three or six months, or subscribe for a year and get a month free. Shipping is $6 for the signature box and $3 for the mailer. Orders must be placed by the 15th of the month since they ship around the 18th. You can’t return a box, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. And check with your accountant because you can probably write it off on your taxes.

Julie still hand-picks all the items included in the boxes, receiving inspiration from walking through stores, checking out Etsy (March’s May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 39

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Below photos cour tesy Journey Books

box included a handmade print), and from products vendors submit through her website. You can see videos of what is in each month’s box at the company website or at the Sparkle Hustle Grow YouTube channel. The Sparkle Hustle Grow community plays a large part in the training themes and products chosen for boxes, and Ball notes, “We are always asking, ‘What do you want to learn about? What are you struggling with?’” The Facebook community is also a vital part of Sparkle Hustle Grow: “It involves training, collaboration… we talk business and lift

“It involves training, collaboration… we talk business and lift each other up. It is such a positive environment—a group of women [who] want to help each other.” each other up. It is such a positive environment—a group of women [who] want to help each other.”

Ball also authored a book with the help of her community called The Happy Hustle: Transform the Way You Work, which can be purchased on her website, along with the boxes of other products. www.sparklehustlegrow.com

Guidance & Planning: Journey Books Another local subscription service aimed at personal growth is Asheville’s Journey Books. Developed by coach, writer, blogger, and speaker Sarajane Case, Journey Books is a day planner subscription service dedicated to self-improvement. Case began her own journey three years ago: “I began doing monthly resolutions as a path to personal growth. I focused on just one area of growth each month. This allowed me to make or break one habit at a time and see lasting results in the areas that I was working on.

I took that model and developed it into a day planner/journal combo that would be sent out each month.” From that basis and her experience of coaching, Case created Journey Books for “anyone who values a daily check-in with themselves, and people who want to know that they are living their life on purpose and want a guide on that journey.” The planner not only offers a calendar, but daily journaling prompts, weekly growth tasks, and adventures designed to help you dive deeper into the monthly theme, in addition to online workshops. Topics include goal-setting, finances, self-care, health, productivity, and more.

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A Journey Books subscription comes with a pr ivate members- only website rich with video SAR AJANE CASE content and resources. The company launched last October, with the first planners going out January 2018, and currently has 75 national subscribers. Average price is $20 a month, and you can choose a month by month subscription, or save by prepaying in three-, six-, or 12-month increments (the 12-month subscription saves you $40, so two months free). www.journey-books.com

Bibliophiles “R” Us: Malaprop’s Book Subscriptions For book collectors, Malaprop’s, Asheville’s nationally recognized local independent bookstore, offers two distinctive book subscription services: the First Edition Book Club, and the Homeward Bound Paperback Originals book club.

The First Editions Book Club was started in September 2014

by Malaprop’s owner, Emöke B’Racz. Every month, subscribers get a copy of a signed, first edition of a newly released hardcover book that comes covered with a protective acetate. This is a

Malaprop's photo by Bobby Bradley

simple, effortless opportunity for someone to start book collecting. First editions are highly collectable, and can be valuable, plus you get the added bonus of having a thoughtfully curated reading pick to surprise you monthly. A mixture of fiction and non-fiction, by local and national authors, titles are selected based on a number of factors, including collectible value and literary merit. The April pick was acclaimed novelist Charles Frazier’s new book, Varina, and past selections have included Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, West of Sunset by Steward O’Nan, Something Rich and Strange by Ron Rash, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, and Grief Cottage by Gail Godwin. Cost of subscription is the retail price of the book, plus $10 shipping (or free in-store pickup in downtown Asheville).

For those looking for slightly less investment in weight and dollars, a paperback subscription service is also available. The Homeward Bound Paperback Originals subscription was started

by Justin Souther, senior buyer at Malaprop’s, in August 2016, as a less expensive and more adventurous club, featuring titles with literary merit that national booksellers love, but may be overlooked by the mainstream. Subscription plans are available as three-month, six-month, and one-year options, the per-book cost coming to $20, which includes shipping and taxes, or $18 apiece if the subscriber opts to pick up in-store.

Other Malaprop’s perks include notification of other “signed firsts” received in-store, VIP seating at author events, admission into ticketed events, and access to advance reading copies of new

titles. Although a lot of the current subscribers are local, about half are scattered throughout the region and up the East Coast. www.malaprops.com

Grape Expectations: Vanderbilt Wine Club A great companion to a good book is a nice glass of wine, and Vanderbilt Wine Club at the Biltmore Estate offers wine subscriptions for novices or connoisseurs. After the Supreme Court ruling of Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 (2005), which enabled wine to be shipped direct to consumers from state to state, Heather Jordan and Natalie Hackney of the Biltmore Wine Company recognized the opportunity to engage their guests in a deeper way. Started in 2008, the Vanderbilt Wine Club will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this June. The club had around 200 members until 2013, when it reorganized in order to grow the club and community, wanting more guests to take the Biltmore experience home with them via direct to consumer shipments of Biltmore Wine. Today the club has over 6,600 members and ships to 35 states, although 25 percent of the members are annual pass holders who live in the region.

Members receive four shipments a year of three special vintages in the category of your choice: red, white, mixed, or sweet. You receive free shipping on the first shipment, and May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 41

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photo cour tesy Blooms on Tap

VANDERBILT WINE CLUB, photos cour tesy The Biltmore Company

a 20 percent discount on each of the three bottles in your shipment. Prices vary, but are around $65 a shipment, plus a flat fee of $15 for taxes/shipping. Each shipment contains in-depth winemakers’ notes and a recipe from Biltmore chefs.

Members also get first access to new wine releases, access to special members-only wines, a monthly e-mail newsletter from the winemakers, and volume discounts on other wines.

Free Estate pickup is available for each seasonable shipment, and you can use that stop at the Estate to take advantage of some other perks that can completely offset the approximately $70 you will spend on the three bottles of wine. These bonuses include a free glass of wine at the wine bar for you and up to three friends per visit, or three premium wine tastings for you and up to three guests (around a $24 value). Also: a complimentary Behind-The-Scenes Wine Tour and tasting for you and your three guests (usually $10 a person), access to the Wine Club members-only area at the Winery, and special discounts and invitations to exclusive Winery events, dinners, group parties for members picking up the latest shipments, and tastings. One thing to note about this subscription is that you are locked in to at least two quarterly shipments of wine once you sign up for the club. Membership details can be found at 42

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the club’s website or by visiting America’s most-visited winery at the Biltmore Estate. www.biltmore.com/wine/wine-club

A Flowering Business: Blooms on Tap In for more romance than just wine and a book? Send your beloved (or yourself) a monthly reminder of love by subscribing to Blooms on Tap. New to the Asheville scene, Blooms on Tap is getting a lot of attention for their daily crafted blooms. The “Bouquet of the Day” is a beautiful, whimsical bouquet crafted with the freshest flowers available each day. Their pretty, long lasting blooms include everything from the ordinary carnations, mums, and roses, to exotics like pods and grasses and even succulents. Bouquets are delivered in a beer can—Asheville-style.

Started by Duncan and Patty Hemsworth when they moved to Asheville from Jacksonville, Florida, Blooms on Tap sources from local farms whenever possible, and once the bouquets are sold out for the day, that’s it.

Order by noon for same-day delivery. Blooms come in three sizes: Bitty Bloom ($30), Biggie Bloom ($45), and Bomb

photos cour tesy RunnerBox

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Diggity ($60)—delivery included. One dollar from every bouquet is donated to the Veterans Healing Farm (profiled in the November 2017 issue of Capital at Play, incidentally). Monthly subscriptions are $90 for three months, $162 for six months, and $300 for 12 months. You can contact them through the company’s website to find out more about their bouquets and subscription service. www.bloomsontap.com

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Running The RunnerBox offers subscription boxes for runners, cyclists, and triathletes. Founded by avid marathon runner Staci Dietzel in 2012, RunnerBox was the first subscription box service geared toward runners. “Staci loved to try out new products, but didn’t love having to buy full-size bottles or large quantities

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in case it was something she hated. That led her to look for alternatives like subscription boxes. When she searched for one for runners, nothing existed, so she decided to fill the void herself,” explains Laura Jorgensen, a professional cyclist who joined the RunnerBox team in 2014, taking over the operations side after working for years as one of the youngest executives for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Although RunnerBox began in Boulder, Colorado, the main operations, including Courteney Lowe, a champion road cyclist from New Zealand and the company’s director of communications, relocated to Asheville because of the strong entrepreneurial support system that encourages and assists startups through resources like Venture Asheville.

Boxes are filled with 11-14 hand-picked food products and sports accessories that are tested by a team of athletes.

Dietzel originally packed the boxes herself in her basement, but now that the service has grown to 1,700 subscribers, the

packing and shipping are outsourced. There are three types of boxes: the RunnerBox, The CycleBox, and the TriBox, each filled with products aiming to help “Fuel Your Phenomenal.” Notes Jorgensen, “Our ideal customer is anyone [who] exercises three or more times a week and is in search of products to fuel their active lifestyle. Speed or experience are irrelevant—whether you walk, crawl, or sprint, The RunnerBox is a great option if you are looking to try new products that will help your athletic endeavors.”

The cost is $20 a box, plus shipping, and they ship every other month.

Subscriptions can be for a single shipment, six months (three shipments), or a year (six shipments). They also offer gift boxes, a race survival kit, and a birthday box as a one-time purchase, filled with products that have been selected by their subscribers as past favorites. According to Jorgensen, “We’re primarily digital direct to the consumer, but we also have a B2B component

“The athletes are the boots on the ground product testers for The RunnerBox, so they are really able to put any potential partners through the ringer at the highest level.”

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in that we work with race directors to provide custom boxes for their events.”

In March RunnerBox launched a professional women’s cycle team in Asheville as the Feed Hungry Kids Project, and in addition to competing and undertaking their social mission, the athletes from the team test new products for the boxes— another bonus for the company. “The athletes are the boots on the ground product testers for The RunnerBox,” says Jorgensen, “so they are really able to put any potential partners through the ringer at the highest level.” www.therunnerbox.com

Other Area Subscription Box Services: Wickbox

Happy Legs Club Founded in 2016 by Lincoln Walters, former Montreat College basketball coach, Happy Legs Club is a premium razor delivery subscription geared toward women. Customers can choose either a “Happy” or “Hey Hey” razor for $12-$18 for six refills a cycle, either every two or three months. www.happylegsclub.com

*** In an age when we no longer go to the mailbox and receive a letter or postcard from a loved one, it’s still possible to live that excitement and expectation through the little bundles of surprises we order via online—every box a little love letter to ourselves.

Founded by Scarlett Sturgis in 2015, Wickbox offers luxury candles for $29.95-$39.95 a month, tailored to customer’s scent profile. www.wickbox.co CAPMay18

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SPRING into style

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ratio down from 4.8:1 to 3:1 by July 2022. Snyder’s-Lance netted $2.2 billion last year, and the combined company is expected to bring in $10 billion in annual revenue. In another move to capture market share, Campbell is working to remove all artificial flavors and colors from its products by the end of the calendar year.

on hand to perform assessments, explain options, and answer questions. If a patient consents to treatment, he must pay upon completion of services rendered. He will leave not only with his teeth fixed, but with X-rays and clinical notes for his dentist, as well as a completed insurance form for pursuing reimbursement from his policy.

The American Dental Association (ADA) reports that, in the United States, somebody seeks treatment from a hospital for a dental emergency every 15 seconds. The average cost of one of these visits is $750, even though emergency departments are neither staffed nor equipped to provide dental care. ASAP is only an emergency clinic and makes no pretense of providing the regular prophylaxis and long-term planning available at dentists’ offices.

Cause to Smile

Mine, Mine, Mine

wilmington

gastonia

On March 23 the first urgent dental care clinic in the United States opened in Wilmington. ASAP Urgent Dental Care is open seven days a week, from 8AM-8PM to treat emergencies like pain, abscess, broken or lost teeth, lost crowns or fillings, injuries, or complications following dental procedures. Board-certified dentists are

Assays from 21 holes drilled by Piedmont Lithium show high levels of lithium oxide, corroborating findings from previous explorations on the Carolina Tin Spodumene Belt (TSB) in Gaston County.

The company has mapped the veins of lithium-bearing spodumene pegmatites in the area, and it plans to begin moving

news briefs

Soup and Crackers charlotte

Campbell Soup, headquartered in Camden, New Jersey, has completed the much-anticipated acquisition of Charlotte’s Snyder’s-Lance. With dwindling interest in soup products, Campbell’s has recently purchased other brands, like Prego, Swanson, V8, Bolthouse, and Pepperidge Farm. Snyder’s-Lance will be merged with Campbell’s existing snacks business and operate as a new division, Campbell Snacks. The two companies agreed to a $6.1 billion, all-cash sale, or $50 per share. Campbell borrowed $5.3 billion to help pay for the transaction, bringing its total debt near $10 billion.

The soup company also borrowed funds late last year for the $700 million purchase of Pacific Foods. In the announcement, Campbell stated its goal to bring its debt

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rigs in by the end of the second quarter.

Piedmont has already entered into agreements for land acquisition or long-term leasing of 1,200 surface acres in the belt, with mineral rights. From the 1950s to the 1990s, the TSB was the major source of lithium for the United States, via the Hallman-Beam and Kings Mountain mines. Piedmont Lithium holds a 100% interest in the mining project, while its former owners, FMC Corporation and Albemarle Corporation, will continue to operate their world-class lithium processing facilities. The mine’s proximity to Charlotte is considered ideal for access to infrastructure, processing facilities, and resources for high-tech research and development.

the 16-square-mile Oslo Airport City.

It will be intentional, as are airport cities like Las Colinas, Texas, but with greater efficiencies. Dedicated rails and roads with truck-only lanes will lead to and from the airport. Buildings will be clustered instead of in strips, and they will be distributed in accordance with the number of trips users make to the airport. The layout will be human-scale, encouraging walkability, appropriate densities, engaging storefronts, and plenty of green and public space. Formbased codes will ensure harmony in architecture, and smart technology and renewable energy are two other givens.

Construction is anticipated to begin in 2019 or 2020 and last 30 years.

For Where the Action Is

How to Act Around It

chapel hill

mount airy

Dr. John Kasarda of UNC Chapel Hill’s Center for Air Commerce specializes in land-use planning for airports and their environs. Ideas from his book, Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, have been incorporated into plans for Norway’s Oslo Airport. The Nordic Office of Architecture and Haptic Architects recently unveiled plans for

The City of Mount Airy’s plans to host a second stage for Abington, Virginia’s Barter Theatre, have been scuttled by North Carolina’s Local Government Commission (LGC). As part of a downtown renewal project, city leadership had hoped to recruit the theater to stage productions at a city-funded adaptive reuse of an abandoned textile plant.

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Construction of the 500-seat theater would run around $13.5 million, after which the city would incur annual expenditures of $600,000 for maintenance and operations. The city had already committed to $4.5 million in infrastructure improvements and approved $100,000 for preliminary legal work. It is the role of the LGC to assess whether amounts local governments wish to borrow are reasonable, adequate, and reimbursable; the LGC deemed this project too risky.

Project supporters argue the theater was essential to recruiting a four-star hotel and convention center, along with residential development, which would trigger offshoot businesses. Undaunted, representatives from the city intend to work with the LGC to find out exactly how they can make the project work.

Just Regular Folks wilmington

In two years of business, Cameron Meredith’s Meredith Modeling has participated in as many Fashion Weeks.

This time, he took a more hands-on role, bringing five models with him, two of whom walked the runway while the others helped with style and administration. Meredith is part of the industry

Anyone can look on a map to find parks. Not everyone can tell you where the hidden dog paths are.

You don’t buy a house for the little things, but they sure are Good to Know.

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the old north state

trend moving away from “6’2, 100pound” models toward “normal people.”

He also doesn’t like to be referred to as a modeling agency because he does not charge the incredible number of fees that give the industry a bad name.

Meredith grew up in New York City, where he dabbled in fashion in high school. Then, he joined the Army, and when he started college, he picked up his old hobby again. He used UNC Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to learn about setting up a business, and that’s where he learned the value of networking and landed a big shoot with Helzberg Diamonds. While on the job, he learned about juggling personnel issues, and he learned photography after eight months of dealing with unsatisfactory applicants. His next move will be back to NYC, where he says he will open more doors for North Carolina models.

Creating Paperwork elizabeth city

State and federal agencies determined the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Airport Authority is not, as had been supposed, the federally-recognized sponsor for the airport. The sponsor is the entity with which the federal government would properly deal for administering funding. The North Carolina Division of Aviation arrived at that decision while looking for discrepancies brought to light when another general-aviation air por t requested a sponsorship change. The Elizabeth City airport was one of about half a dozen found to have issues. Airport Manager Gordon Rowell and City Manager Rich Olson agree the 1987 legislation setting up the airport authority intended to give that body powers, as stated, “to deal with the Federal Aviation Agency [now Administration] and any other federal or state agency.” The airport authority is currently seeking clarification from the FAA, suspecting something may have been misinterpreted. After hearing 48

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back, the airport will comply with whatever decision is reached. As things stand, the city could act as signatory for the airport or apply for a change in sponsorship, a process that takes 12-18 months. Opting for the former won’t change the amount of federal funding the airport gets; it will only, according to Rowell, create more paperwork.

Ninja Computer Techs camp lejeune

Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Communications, Frank X. Shaw, who is also a retired Marine, returned to Camp Lejeune to announce the grand opening of a Microsoft Software & Systems Academy on the base. The academy will be the fourteenth, each helping members of the military transition to civilian life.

The course provides eighteen weeks of training for high-demand positions in cloud development and administration, cybersecurity administration, and more traditional database management. Microsoft seeks members of the military with an interest in technology and business, noting they will have other characteristics they seek; namely, the drive and determination needed to solve problems under pressure. The course has a 93% graduation rate and a 92% employment rate. Most graduates will work for Microsoft, with a starting salary of $70,000, while others could find work at hiring partners like Starbucks or Expedia. With the addition of Camp Lejeune, Microsoft hopes its academies will graduate a total of 1,000 students a year.

Paying Mightily nags head

A $10 million settlement between PCL Construction and persons affected by a power outage last year is pending approval by a US District Court. As PCL was repairing the 50-year-old Bonner Bridge last year, construction

workers drove a pile casing into an underground transmission line. Hatteras and Ocracoke islands were left without electricity from July 27 to August 3, and the state ordered the eviction of 40,000 tourists during the height of the season.

Last August, two firms filed a class-action lawsuit, consolidating several independent claims. The court ordered $8.1 million in payments for businesses and $2.25 million for residents. They also named a firm to handle legal notices and an administrator to judge amounts due to various parties. Additionally, PCL must pay up to $3.4 million in attorneys’ fees and up to $100,000 in court costs.

To prevent the incident from reoccurring, the new lines have been built above ground. Local government officials are encouraging persons affected to fill out a PCL claim form and participate in an online survey to help assess the extent of damages. Persons wishing to pursue litigation outside the class-action suit must actively file for an exclusion.

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Kids Plan the Future cherryville

A hall at Cherryville High School was named after alumnus and benefactor Bob Barker. This is not the game show host, but the founder of the Bob Barker Company, a supplier of products for prisons. While Barker has been a long-term contributor to the school, he donated over $100,000 to the Cherryville High School Education Foundation last year.

Earlier, he had challenged the school to raise $50,000 on its own by the end of 2017, a goal they surpassed largely through a Casino Night event. At the honorary dinner, he donated another $50,000 and told the school he’d give them another $50,000 if they could match it. In a speech, Barker lamented he sees children graduating without skills and without a need to get a job. He started a newspaper, became the mayor of Apex, and a state senator, and then sold his newspaper business to start selling restaurant equipment.

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Western North Carolina's Free Spirit of Enterprise

We’re partnering with local businesses every month to bring our readers (that’s you!) free goodies and giveaways!

How it works – Each month, we choose a new passcode (May is PLATE@PLAY, used verbally in store, or online when available) granting access to unique offerings and huge deals at businesses throughout Western NC, like free appetizers or desserts from our Leisure and Libation featured food trucks. The monthly passcode is available in each new edition of the

magazine, in our once-a-month email newsletter, and on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Bonus – We will also be giving away big-ticket items from those businesses each month (five separate food truck giveaways in May) in a special readers’ contest. Want to enter? Just sign up for our newsletter!

To make sure you get the passcode each month, keep reading the magazine, or follow us on social media, or sign up for our once-a-month e-newsletter.

For more information visit: capitalatplay.com/coop

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leisure & libation

From

Pavement TO

Bricks photos cour tesy Sunshine Sammies

written by emily gl aser

Suzy Salwa Phillips does not like the word “no.”

Nor, it seems, do other food truck purveyors, particularly those with the grit, stamina, and pure tenacity to turn their wheeled ventures into brick-and-mortars.

Because it is often those attributes—not capital gleaned from Mom’s account or wealthy investors—that melt into a literal recipe for success.

The evolution from modest, mobile business to brick-and-mortar may seem bafflingly risky, as the investment, and the risks, multiply, but for these culinary entrepreneurs, it’s sensible and shrewd, even if driven by passion. With stubbornness and talent and moxie, they turned wee kitchens into real ones and customers into fans, because their dreams were bigger than a 190-square-foot truck could hold.

Feeling hungry? Visit Capitalatplay.com/Coop for a full list of the FREE delectables these food trucks and restaurants are offering our readers this month with the code PLATE@PLAY. Then sign up for our newsletter for a chance to win even bigger (like a dinner for two or a gelato of the month membership!).

Editor’s Note: In our June 2015 issue we took a look at the rapidlyexpanding food truck scene in Western North Carolina (“ON-THE-GO Rolling Food Sensations”). Since then, some of the businesses we profiled have expanded/graduated to permanent brick-and-mortar locations, so we decided it was a good time to check in with them and find out how they achieved their milestones.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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Because of Dreams: Gypsy Queen As the mother of Asheville’s mobile culinary scene, it was Phillips’ refusal to accept “no”— more than once—that set off a chain reaction of others.

Like many of her brethren, Suzy Salwa Phillips’ food truck fantasies—though certainly not her habit of hearty and constructive dissension—began in 2008. The Lebanon native and Asheville transplant had plans and investors to open a restaurant when the economy crashed. But Phillips, already our plucky heroine, did not falter. With food trucks midmetamorphosis from “roach coaches” to backlot, unmistakably gourmet staples of West Coast (and even East Coast) culinary culture, Phillips was inspired to adopt the model locally.

Armed with a new tool called “Kickstarter” and a cadre of friends and fans (and a 90-hour work week waiting tables), Phillips was able to raise and save enough money to purchase her food truck.

And then, “No.” “I came across a 25-year-old ordinance that did not allow food trucks in the central business district zone, so I was very limited where I could park. It was a recipe for disaster. I didn’t do my homework before I got the food truck,” Phillips remembers. “So here I go again, someone tells me, ‘You cannot do something.’”

It was her characteristic rejection of rejection that once again paved the way, this time for the wheels of her food truck and the dozens of others that would follow. For two years, she battled 52

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the city of Asheville, and in 2010 emerged victorious, the right to peddle fare freely, her spoils.

This narrative of hard-earned victory, and donning a smile through it, is normal for Phillips, born of a childhood spent in war-torn Lebanon, and from the mother strong enough to carry her family through it. “She took care of us, in this crazy war. Most of the time we spent in this shelter, bombs flying around us, but she fed us, and she made it fun, and she taught me everything I know.”

It was Phillips’ mother, herself “so hardcore, so strong,” who dubbed her a gypsy: an entertainer, practicing playful palmistry on her customers, and flighty, migrating quickly between situations and cities.

It was not flightiness, but a craving for stability, that haunted her in the five years she cooked and catered while mobile. Her dream of opening a rooted restaurant remained a “no” she couldn’t overturn, despite continual efforts: Every year for five years she applied for a business loan; every year, she was denied.

“I loved what I was doing, but I wanted to do it more consistently. I wanted to make a living out of it. I wanted to feed people all the time,” Phillips recalls, of her five years of purgatory. The city allowed food trucks into its limits, but with inhibiting limitations. The truck’s hours—and her own finances—were dictated by fickle weather, and the tight quarters were numbingly cold in winter and wretchedly hot in summer. Wholesale purveyors couldn’t cut her the same deals as other restaurants because she had nowhere to store the

photos cour tesy Anthony Harden

May Passcode : PL ATE @ PL AY Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a free dessert.

SUZY SALWA PHILLIPS

bulk required of their orders. And everything was in constant, dizzying motion, as she sped from the commissary kitchen to gigs and back again.

She was making food, which she loved, and a living, too. But just barely.

Finally, three years ago, Phillips found an investor. Within a month of submitting her business plan, she secured a loan of $50,000 and moved into Gypsy Queen’s current location on Patton Avenue in Asheville. “We painted everything ourselves, we built these tables ourselves, we opened with $37 in the bank account—all the money went in the kitchen,” Phillips says, gesturing to the terra cotta walls, sturdy wooden tables, and brass votives pulled from her own home.

Today, Phillips’ Lebanese cuisine is an apogee of Asheville’s culinary scene.

Fragrant, flaky meat pies and ambrosial baklava fill her deli case, steaming, chewy shawarma and kibbe her plates. All are emptied, wiped clean by eager eaters’ fingers, almost without fail.

But Phillips’ success in her brick-and-mortar does not come without its challenges. Ashevillians, coddled by the walkability of roads like Haywood and ‘hoods like South Slope, are reluctant to make the driven trek down Patton Avenue. She’s added a higher overhead, payroll taxes, and workers comp—but the consistency of a permanent location is reward enough, for now. “It is more of a headache, and responsibility, and overhead, for sure.

But it’s also easier, and more peace of mind, that I know where I am and people can find me,” Phillips says. The challenges also haven’t dissuaded her from helping open a new, healthy eatery on Haywood—yet another “no” she turned into a “yes.” (She’d considered renting the same space for Gypsy Queen three years earlier.)

“I’m not in it for the money, I’m in it for the love—of sharing my culture and my food, and carrying my mom on, because she passed away, through her food.” As Phillips speaks her elbows rest steadily on one of the tables of her own making. And that is something she can do every day from the bustling, brick-and-mortar kitchen of Gypsy Queen.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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photo by Anthony Harden

leisure & libation

INSIDE THE new restaurant, photo by Oby Morgan

photo by Anthony Harden

BUDDY smoking the meats, photo by Anthony Harden

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SQWEELIN’ PIG'S food truck outside of their new restaurant, photo by Oby Morgan

Because of Roots: The Sqweelin’ Pig The threads of Phillips’ story can be traced and pulled through the narratives of most of Asheville’s ambitious food truckers. Like the gypsy queen herself, Buddy Clemons’ resolve to transform his barbecue vagary into a full-time venture came on the heels of 2008’s crash. When he lost his job in construction and considered a wheeled barbecue joint as an alternative, he didn’t foresee its prosperity. “I told her, ‘I’m gonna sit in a chair behind there, and when somebody pulls up, I’ll make ‘em a sandwich,’” Buddy says with a laugh, gesturing to his wife, Melissa. “Yeah, it wasn’t like that.”

He transformed a trailer into The Sqweelin’ Pig, outfitted with a smoker and plumbing, and parked it semi-permanently, first in Barnardsville for a year, then in Weaverville, where it sat for five years. Like Phillips, the Clemonses knew the value of being anchored. “We were like, ‘Well, if we stay in one spot and people come back, we’ll know it’s good.’ If we moved around, I felt like nobody would be able to find us,” Melissa says.

Find them, they did. The smoky waft of Buddy’s unique barbecue called to hungry gullets the state over; one fan makes the 100-plus mile trek from Gastonia every Sunday. What makes his ‘cue so special is his smoking technique. “We use the green wood, ‘cause it’ll sit there and simmer and put out more flavor, instead of it just putting out heat. It smokes a lot more,” he explains. He uses fruit wood, like pear and cherry, which adds an added layer of flavor to the tender meat. “It smells like cherry pie,” Melissa adds, her eyes closed in imagined ecstasy.

At the persistent suggestion of their ardent customers, Buddy and Melissa recently transitioned to brick-and-mortar. Their new home, a restaurant near Dynamite Roasters in Black Mountain, on US-70 West, is also their old home: They’ve attached the trailer to the side of the building, and meat is passed from the seasoned smoker to the cooler with ease.

As the last spring snow fell in late March, Buddy and Melissa perched on wobbling stools in their gutted endeavor, imagining the restaurant they were building, like Phillips, with their own hands. The Clemonses new causes for pause are justified: What if they can’t keep up? What if no one comes? But once again, the benefits of a brick-and-mortar outweigh their apprehensions. “I think it’ll be harder work, but I think the organized chaos will be more organized,” Melissa predicts. “I can work a 16-hour day in the food truck, and not have anything accomplished for tomorrow. Or I can work a 16-hour day in here, and have three days’ worth of stuff accomplished.”

Opened mid-April, The Sqweelin’ Pig’s menu and offerings have expanded: A brisket Philly and Reuben join the classic ranks of ribs and chicken and favorite fried sides like hush puppies and fried okra. Local beer is on tap, classic programs like Andy Griffith play on the TVs, and thatched umbrellas beckon to outdoor revelers. “It’s all-natural, craft barbecue. We cook basically like your grandparents did,” Melissa says, her curls bouncing along to the cadence of her laugh.

“Everything’s homemade, but we want to be a little different.

When you walk in, it doesn’t seem like one like all the others.”

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com

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Because of Impact: Foothills Local Meats In Foothills Local Meats’ 16-year history, Casey McKissick has been farmer, butcher, collaborator, hot dogsman, and restaurateur thrice. Since the fall of 2017, he’s bashfully assumed the role of CEO of what is quickly becoming a meaty empire with the potential to effect ripples of change.

The trajectory of Foothills is one as looped and tangled as the ropey organs of the pigs they deal in. When McKissick first decided to turn his farmer marketing co-op into a butcher shop and kitchen in 2013, hopes were high, but successes were not.

“So we decided that brick-and-mortar was more suitable as a production facility, and to really test out what we were doing in a less risky way, using other people’s brick-and-mortars,” McKissick says, noting that they took away valuable lessons in labor and location.

Next came a partnership with Ben’s Tune-Up, Foothills Deli.

“That was where we started testing our deli program and using ready-to-eat foods like sandwiches as a conduit for selling meat,” McKissick continues. That venture in turn led to their 56

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collaboration with Hi-Wire Brewing: a food truck at the new Hi-Wire Big Top in spring of 2016. “Having that food trailer and the hood and the fryer and everything allowed us to test the menu that essentially these restaurants were built on, which was burgers, hot dogs, French fries—the core of the whole animal.”

The success of the food truck legitimized McKissick’s prior plans for an independent brick-and-mortar. “We could see on paper that if you sold this many hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries, what happens,” he continues. The equation adapts according to scale: more hot dogs, more hamburgers, more French fries, plus more rent and more labor—eventually, you’ll tip into profit.

When McKissick decided to open two brick-and-mortar locations, one in West Asheville and one in Black Mountain, almost simultaneously last year (as Foothills Butcher Bar & Kitchen), the reaction of most locals was disbelief. After all, his employee count multiplied from seven to 40; he increased the payroll budget and POS systems, installed new clock-in and scheduling software, adapted a new HR program—essentially reorganized his entire company.

photos cour tesy Foothills Local Meats

May Passcode : PL ATE @ PL AY Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a Butcher’s Tray with sampling of deli meats & eats.

CASEY MCKISSICK

Yet it’s a decision that simply makes sense, especially considering the whole-animal philosophy that is the core of his business. “At the end of the day, if we want to support the small farmers that we buy from, we have to take responsibility for the whole thing. We have to make it profitable,” McKissick says. “But those animals cannot be profitable at $500,000 in sales a year. The scale’s not there. The scale is at $2 million in sales a year.” That’s a big number more easily achieved through a restaurant than through a food truck, and even more easily through two restaurants than one.

The core of Foothills’ philosophy has always been whole-animal butchery, and it’s not just possible, but truly successful, at the current, larger scale. McKissick likens it to a funnel: The wider it is—and his is a very wide funnel indeed, with two restaurants and butcher shops, a food truck, farmers markets, and CSA—the more folks you can channel into it.

Multiple channels also allow for multiple products, meaning there’s essentially zero waste from the animals they use. And it’s a profitable pig indeed, if you’re using every piece of it.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 57

leisure & libation

photos cour tesy Sunshine Sammies

Because of Scale: Sunshine Sammies Ice cream sandwiches may seem a far cry from whole-animal butchery, but like meat, the profitability and sustainability of the layered dessert also increases with scale.

In a refitted blacksmith’s shop in Asheville, sandwiched between Bhramari Brewing and Lexington Glassworks, is Sunshine Sammies’ brick-and-mortar storefront and wholesale operations. When asked about the inspiration for such a unique endeavor, Susie Pearson laughingly replies that she doesn’t quite remember—a testament to the whirlwind nature of the past few years and her business’ exponential growth.

In the summer of 2013, Pearson was experimenting with homemade ice cream and began considering how to market her dessert. First came the idea of a solar-powered pushcart cooked up by her boyfriend, Luke Croop; then came the sandwiches, an easy answer to the inherently messy question of ice cream. “It made sense for the way we were going to be selling them, and it seemed like a fun, portable street food,” she remembers.

That summer she hit the streets, festivals, weddings, and breweries with her treats. Inspired by her early success, they spent the winter fixing up the Sunshine Sammies Truck, boosting their operations the next summer. A brick-and-mortar storefront seemed the logical next step, but at the same time, an impractical one.

“The idea of a storefront was the quickest thing to come to mind of a goal, but that even seemed far-reaching to me because of the seasonality of our product specifically, and the seasonality of Asheville,” Pearson points out, leaning against the wall of the storefront she was initially so hesitant to invest in.

The answer to her qualms lay in a different enterprise entirely: wholesale.

Sunshine Sammies’ wholesale operations began two years ago and have grown dramatically in the interim, pulling the business with them. Now you’ll find the cookies-and-cream treats in 100 Ingles, plus Earth Fares and smaller co-ops and markets, spread across the Southeast. The success of wholesale operations sustains and justifies the storefront. “For us, it makes sense to grow our wholesale so that the seasonality of our shop is not as effective on our employees,” she explains. “The more grocery stores we’re in, and co-ops and markets, the more steady orders we have going out for our kitchen staff, and the more we can put into keeping full-time front-of-house staff on.” This summer, she’ll roll out more carts than ever, buoyed by the success of her wholesale business.

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Dema Badr stylescoutasheville@gmail.com Mobile 1.828.280.6627 May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 59

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leisure & libation

MICHELLE ROGERS ser ving a customer in Sugar & Snow Gelato's Brevard Road location.

Because of Presentation: Sugar & Snow Gelato

AMY PICKET T

Most of these entrepreneurs were motivated by the spacial limitations of their trucks to pursue the path of brick-and-mortar, but another important consideration dictated by not just the size of their trucks and carts, but by their circumstances, is presentation.

These proprietors are not just entrepreneurs, but chefs, intent on providing feasts for both the eyes and palate, a feat not easily accomplished in the tight quarters of a mobile kitchen. Such was the problem encountered by Amy Pickett of Sugar & Snow Gelato.

Whereas most Americans spend their teenagehoods leaning against soda shop counters, Pickett, while traveling overseas, spent hers in Italian gelato shops, indulging in the densely creamy treat. “I was always thinking, ‘That’s the best dessert I’ve had, and we don’t have gelato or ice cream like this at home,’ and I knew I wanted to do that when I was older,” she recalls.

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May Passcode : PL ATE @ PL AY Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a free regular gelato.

photos by Amy Haynes Photography

photo by Lynne Har ty

So, after college and culinary school, she did just that—gelato, that is. Five years ago, Pickett took her own refined gelato recipe to the masses, peddling her treats to hungry imbibers at breweries like Highland and sweaty outdoorsmen at Gorges State Park in her Sugar & Snow Gelato cart.

And yet, the cart was an imperfect model, practically marring the decadent dessert she dealt in. “Giving everybody the experience I want them to have when they’re having gelato, it needs to be in a freezer where you can control the temperature,” she points out. “So, I need a nice case where I can scoop it at the right temperature and give people the whole presentation of a dessert.” Like other food truckers, she was also plagued by the stresses inherent to the model, like being weather-dependent and constantly mobile.

She found the solution in Billy Goat Bikes’ new domicile on Brevard Road. Here, Pickett paints the air thick with the sugary scent of her gelato, a heady perfume over the dark redolence

of rubber and steel. It’s a partnership easily envisioned at odds, but somehow, it works. The cerulean building beckons to adventurers heading to the Parkway’s vast trail systems, or back into town after a hard ride, and Pickett recently added sandwiches and snacks to her menu to satisfy the grumbles of stomachs hollowed by a day of adventure. Plus, the location is easily accessible for folks who are part of the migration to the south side of town.

And now, she can present the gelato the way it was meant to be presented. Cookies and cream, chocolate, vanilla bean, and raspberry sorbet are paired with seasonal, creative flavors (including one laced with Gypsy Queen’s baklava), crafted from local milk and cream. A recent partnership with Looking Glass Creamery will allow Pickett to expand her wholesaling operations, but still, it is in the presentation—thickset scoops balanced one atop the other and passed with a smile—that the brick-and-mortar shines.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 61

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SALT & SMOKE located at Burial South Slope.

Because of Experimentation: Vivian/Salt & Smoke Transitioning from cramped trailer kitchens to brick-and-mortars allows minds, and the dishes that come from them, to roam. As Pickett pointed out, it’s about presentation, but for many proprietors, it’s also about experimentation, broadening their menu and their sights, and taking the tastebuds of their customers along with them. Set free from the narrow confines of their trucks, the proverbial birds can spread their wings.

Vivian, the River Arts District’s newest buzzedabout addition, is in part the result of such food truck escapism, but it’s also the long-planned endeavor of Josiah and Shannon McGaughey. After working together in Chicago, the couple decided to move to Asheville and open a restaurant, an idea they assumed novel and realizable.

“We thought, ‘No one knows about Asheville’— everyone did,” Shannon says with a self-aware chuckle. “It was hard to get funding as first-time 62

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business owners, even though we’d been in the restaurant industry forever.”

When Josiah’s credit card was misplaced at Burial Beer Company, it fomented their first break into the Asheville culinary scene. “All the apologies sparked a conversation, and he signed up for doing some pop-ups there, because they were looking for food in the brewery. We started doing one a week, but they wanted more, so it got to be this regular busking thing, where we were cooking on random Bunsen burners and just asking for donations,” she remembers. “That eventually grew into ‘Let’s do a full-blown thing.’”

A “full-blowing thing” was a food truck, or rather trailer, an outfitted rig, dubbed Salt & Smoke, placed permanently in the sprawling courtyard of Burial’s South Slope location. Salt & Smoke never pitched traditional food truck fare: “Southern Roots, Old World European Exploration” is their tagline, and it rings true in their high-brow dishes served on paper plates.

Though Josiah and his team could, and did, experiment in their tiny cookhouse, they couldn’t

May Passcode : PL ATE @ PL AY Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a free dessert at Vivian. .

photos cour tesy Vivian/Salt & Smoke

do it to the extent they dreamed. So, two years later, in December of 2017, they opened Vivian, a namesake for Josiah’s grandmother (a paragon of ‘50s hospitality, whose wedding portrait, cigarette in hand, smiles over the bar), and a testament to the determination of the food truck purveyors.

“Here, it’s a little more upscale, and tends to go more the European direction,” Shannon says, of the brick-and-mortar. “A lot of the things that Josiah was finding at Salt & Smoke were these really antiquated European recipes, but they require a lot of time, a lot more space, and it’s something you don’t want to put on a paper plate.” Vivian is an escape from the escalating fast pace of South Slope, and also an opportunity to experiment more broadly than before, and to do so with cocktails and wine on deck.

It is, in other words, a real restaurant, which is often what push cart and food truck proprietors like the McGaugheys wanted in the first place. By building their own capital, and reputations, they can finally pursue their chimera to their aesthetic and sapid standards.

INSIDE OF VIVIAN May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 63

leisure & libation

Because of Necessity: Farm to Fender For Jeremiah Jackson of Farm to Fender, a brick-andmortar restaurant was not a covetable ambition or some comestible light at the end of a trucked tunnel, but a thing to be avoided. “I didn’t want to do a restaurant because of the simplicity of the food truck,” he candidly delivers. But to the observant conversationalist, the twinkle in his eye is evident, because this is, in many ways, what Jackson was always destined to do.

Raised in his father’s kitchen and educated at Johnson & Wales, Jackson earned his cooking chops in Charleston’s restaurants. His path is also looped and lengthy, through corporate kitchens and catering and blogs, but he long hankered for a food truck, a small, pliable galley in which to flex his fine dining finesse. “When I was able to finally get my hands on the food truck, there was no reason to not do really excellent food, because I’d worked in brick-andmortar kitchens that were smaller,” he says.

That happened in 2013, when he purchased and provisioned his food truck, Farm to Fender. The name allows them to serve fresh food without culinary constraints: Tacos join salads and benedicts on a constantly changing menu. “Our only limitation is not being able to serve things that aren’t fresh and local. Oh, darn,” he jokes, smiling. “What we are doing, we’re very conscious in everything we’re doing, and it attracts likeminded people.”

In other words, it attracts Ashevillians. The popularity of the food truck burgeoned, and Jackson added another truck to meet the demand. Next, he created the Asheville Commissary, a place for a rotating brigade of food trucks 64

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JEREMIAH JACKSON

photos by Stephan Pruitt Photography

May Passcode : PL ATE @ PL AY Use the passcode upon arrival & receive

a choice of free appetizer. .

INSIDE Farm to Fender Cafe

to park and pitch their dishes with the convenience of a brick-and-mortar on site, but Jackson found his own truck parked in the lot more often than not. Turning the Asheville Commissary into the Farm to Fender Cafe was, admittedly, logical, and he did so in the fall of 2016, opening the new venture on his father’s birthday.

Like the tables in Gypsy Queen and the pink paint in Sqweelin’ Pig, the Farm to Fender Café is a venture largely crafted with Jackson’s own hands and pennies. Margins are small, but growing, coaxed into being by Jackson’s wary, and at times reluctant, eye. The café now buoys Jackson’s business, accounting for some 60 percent of his market (catering and trucks: 40 percent).

“Brick-and-mortar is way easier because I turn on my faucet and water is there... Everything is here, and that makes it easy,” he concedes. “But it comes at a great expense, which is labor.

Because in order to have all that stuff here and ready, you have to have a way to pay for that space; to have a way to pay for that space you have to have a restaurant; to have a restaurant you have to be open the hours that you say.”

Jackson easily articulates the common caveats and causes of transitioning from food truck to brick-and-mortar. “We’ve backed into the restaurant business,” he explains. “The ability to get your hands on capital as a small business is extremely hard because you have to prove you don’t need money to get money.” So Jackson, like so many similar restaurateurs, earned his capital through one venture in order to attain the next, turning the “no’s” of investors into his own, dogged “yeses”— and with pride, too.

It’s the plight of the small business owner, of the entrepreneur, and especially of the food trucker turned restaurateur: the passion to grow, and the hard-knuckled hunt for capital to do so.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 65

leisure & libation

> >foothills

FEATURED

Businesses > >gypsy

Use the passcode & receive Butcher's Tray with sampling of deli meats & eats

and salt & smoke

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive free dessert at Vivian

697 Haywood Rd, Asheville & 107 Black Mountain Ave, Black Mountain foothillslocalmeats.com 828.417.7081 & 828.357.9029 Food Truck at Hi Wire: 828.606.9372

348 Depot St Ste 190, Asheville vivianavl.com 828.225.3497 Burial Beer: 40 Collier Ave, Asheville saltandsmokeavl.com

queen

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive a free dessert 807 Patton Ave, Asheville gypsyqueencuisine.com 828.575.2758

> >the

> >vivian

local meats

> >sunshine

3206 US Hwy 70 W, Black Mountain facebook.com/thesqweelinpig 828.206.8098

> >farm

99 S Lexington Ave, Asheville sunshinesammies.com 828.505.2852

> >sugar &

sqweelin ’ pig

sammies

to fender café

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive a choice of free appetizer

snow gel ato

3080 Sweeten Creek Rd, Asheville farmtofender.com 828.774.5383

Use the passcode upon arrival & receive free regular gelato 1446 Brevard Rd #101, Asheville sugarandsnowgelato.com 704.616.4140

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Life at Deerfield means connecting with your passions and embracing fun, fitness and friendships. It means giving yourself and your loved ones the greatest gift: peace of mind. Here, in one of America’s most desirable retirement destinations you’ll enjoy extraordinary surroundings, activityfilled days and nights, and an extensive list of amenities.

Call to schedule a visit and discover how you can add life to your years.

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Soil Is Wealth

The dictionary definition of wealth is “an abundance of valuable possessions or money,” or, “the state of being rich; material prosperity.”

I

including ours, we equate wealth with the ability to buy the good life. And what is the good life? While the answer varies from person to person, some basic common denominators include: happiness, health, safety, adventure, choices.

While external objects can add to happiness, internally, it can best be described as a feeling of contentment or well-being.

And does money buy happiness? According to a recent study, money does buy happiness up to about $75,000 a year in income. Over this amount, extra material wealth makes no difference in happiness.1 Studies show that at that point, happiness is based on attitude and circumstances, rather than money.

To throw the whole definition of wealth, happiness, and well-being into question, there’s another way to look at things. David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World and Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, says: “Real wealth has intrinsic value. Examples include fertile land, healthful food, knowledge, productive labor, pure water and clean air, labor, and physical infrastructure. The most important forms of real wealth are beyond price and are unavailable for market purchase. These include healthy, happy

L

lee warren

is Executive Director of Organic Growers School in Candler

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children, loving families, caring communities, [and] a beautiful, healthy, natural environment.”2 As soil scientists and soil philosophers are teaching us (and have been teaching us for generations), soil is life. They argue that the quality of the soil determines the quality of our health and, by extension, the health of our communities. Soil is an example of “living capital” a resource that replenishes, gives back, makes us healthy, nourishes our loved ones, and allows for a future. It takes care of us if we take care of it.

Ever since Europeans colonized the Americas, they’ve been generating wealth from the extraction of natural resources, most especially from the soil. After 500+ years, we’re beginning to see the consequences due to depletion of nutrients, runoff, and toxicity. In fact, soil scientists are warning that the depletion is worse than we thought, and in order to assure global food security, we need to start repairing the damage.3

J According to a 2015 report, the economics of land degradation is no small thing. In fact, globally, it amounts to USD $10.6 trillion every year. “This includes not only the cost from lost agricultural production and diminished livelihoods, but also from the lost value of ecosystem services such as water filtration, erosion prevention, nutrient cycling, and the provision of clean air.”4

SOIL IS OUR INHERITANCE. EACH GENER ATION PASSES ON WHAT IT ’S CREATED TO THE NEXT GENER ATION, WHICH THEN DETERMINES WHETHER THAT GENER ATION WILL THRIVE OR STRUGGLE.

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Additionally, according to the Global Opportunity Network,5 “approximately 40 percent of soil used for agriculture around the world is degraded.” The practices that lead to soil depletion are all practiced in an industrial model of agriculture and include: • Planting and harvesting for generations without replenishing.

• Monocropping, because a lack of bio-diversity causes damage.

• U s e a n d o v e r u s e o f pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, which kill off the rich and varied bacterial biome of our soil.

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• Deforestation, leaving the land bare and eroded.

• Inappropriate use of livestock and overgrazing.

Because of these unsustainable methods, the soil has been losing its vitality and essential structure. And yet, more than 99.7 percent of human calories come from the land and less than 0.3 percent comes from the oceans.6 In the face of population increases the world over, this makes for a dire equation. If food production is increased on depleted soils, we will get less food out of more acreage.

Soil is our inheritance. Each generation passes on what it’s created to the next generation, which then determines whether that generation will thrive or struggle. What does our inheritance look like now that the soil is tired, used, depleted, and less dynamic than ever?

At Organic Growers School (OGS), we believe humans have the power to turn this around. In fact, we can learn from the long histories of indigenous and traditional cultures, who have tended and cared for the natural world as a top priority, knowing that their health and the health of the land was deeply intertwined. Our community of organic growers are ever learning and teaching others how to build soil in every

way possible. Specifically, through turning their lawns into gardens, building compost and organic matter, implementing no-till methods and cover cropping systems, and learning about biological farming practices.

The goals of OGS are clear: • We want more farmers on the land using organic practices and a system in which family farms can flourish.

• We want a garden, orchard, and chickens in every yard. And we want the average person, including low-wealth folks, to populate their daily lives with home-grown food.

• We want healthy, informed, and engaged consumers who are choosing local and organic food.

• We want a democratic, equitable, and resilient food system that encourages participation and leadership by low-wealth people and people of color at every phase of the food life cycle.

In short, we want to reclaim agriculture.

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At this juncture in history, we have an opportunity to focus on well-being writ large by tending to the soil. ​According to the 2013 UN Conference on Trade and Development report entitled Wake up before it is too late: Make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate, “Farming in rich and poor nations alike should shift from monoculture towards greater varieties of crops, reduced use of fertilizers and other inputs, greater support for small-scale farmers, and more locally focused production and consumption of food, a new UNCTAD report recommends.”7 Small-scale, regionally focused, organically based agriculture holds the promise for our failing food systems. And here’s why: Small-scale farmers are more likely to be sustainability minded and organically focused. Their food comes from their own land and they care about their health and the health of the communities they serve. There are less degrees of separation from them and the web of life. As our communities support the farmers to build soil organic matter, increase biodiversity, and focus on ecosystem health, this in turn keeps farmers on the land and increases their use of regenerative practices that create resilient and adaptable farms in our region.

The reason so many people are drawn to our Western North Carolina region is, in part, due to our focus on real food.

There’s no doubt that building of soil through the success of small-scale and organic farmers helps our entire region thrive through increasing the real stewardship of our soil, water, and forest resources.

And here’s a wealth tip. The next time you think about increasing personal wealth, invest in the soil builders!

References 1. www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489 2. www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/david-korten/the-illusionof-money 3. news.berkeley.edu/2015/05/07/soil-depletion-humansecurity/ 4. biblio3.url.edu.gt/Libros/2018/CPol/sppa09.pdf 5. www.globalopportunitynetwork.org/report-2017/soildepletion/ 6. www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap106e/ap106e.pdf 7. unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf

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complained. He subsequently expanded to a larger facility. He now sells shoes for Asics, guitars for Fender, and telescopes for Vortex, among other products sourced from 350 vendors. Sales generate 90% of revenues, and 10% comes from coaching customers on better online presentation. McAfee now employs 42 full-time employees in the United States and the Philippines, and he hopes to add sales and technical staff as well as a warehouse to service the Western United States.

original plans submitted in 2011 to develop 2.25 million square feet of office and research and development space behind the marina and harbor. South San Francisco, east of Highway 101, is one of the world’s most significant clusters of biotech research and development. The industry employs 20,000 workers at 200 companies, Genentech being the largest employer with 12,000. The California Life Sciences Association had spoken against the project, arguing life sciences and housing are incompatible. Persons speaking against the housing argued the industry is prone to manufacturing and round-the-clock operations, which residents would want shut down. What’s more, families locating east of the highway would have to travel to the other side to get to grocery stores, schools, and other neighborhood services. The developer had anticipated the proposal would be challenged on environmental grounds.

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Oyster Point Development withdrew plans to construct up to 1,200 housing units on the waterfront at Oyster Point.

The proposal was an amendment to

German restaurants are a dwindling American phenomenon. Several big-name, long-running establishments have called it quits in recent years. German restaurants,

news briefs

Capitalizing on the Amazon Highway alexandria , virginia

For Ethan McAfee, logistical efficiency was his key to setting up a profitable business. The owner of Amify has now made the Inc. 500 list twice as one of Amazon’s largest retailers. Whereas Amazon sells $330 billion in merchandise a year, two-thirds of its business is transacted through about three million third-party sellers like Amify. McAfee expects to sell $33 million with 600,000 orders this year.

Former business experiences trained him to identify what products will have good profit margins and what companies are likely to remain in business. He started out selling pickleball paddles online out of his townhouse and moved to a commercial office after the homeowners’ association

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with their half-timbered exteriors, dark wood interiors, and equally heavy food, were a mainstay in the Midwest and Texas, where most German immigrants tended to settle. The very American hamburgers and frankfurters are named after their German towns of origin. Now, a lot of the customers from the old world are dying off as new generations move away from grandma’s food in search of more exotic and multicultural offerings. A 2015 National Restaurant Association study found 7% of respondents ate at a German restaurant at least once a month; that’s fewer than the number who would eat at a Belgian restaurant, or any of 13 other types of ethnic restaurants.

What is working for German cuisine is the biergarten, something more like a bar and grille than a family restaurant.

Other German restaurateurs are having success integrating the traditional with new offerings.

already operates pharmacies in 4,700 stores in the United States and runs primary-care clinics in 19 stores. It has plans to begin offering lab testing; it has negotiated discounts with a few hospitals for certain treatments for employees; and it is also in discussions with PillPack to acquire the mail-delivery pharmacy business for around $1 billion. As in other industries, Walmart has leveraged its trusted brand, purchasing power, and market access to offer pricing competitors can’t begin to approximate. Humana, on the other hand, is about to acquire Kindred Healthcare’s in-home care services for about $800 million. If all deals come together, Walmart would reap the benefits of vertical integration in the rapidly-consolidating healthcare sector. All along the supply chain, healthcare companies would be crowded-out as patients and insurers gravitate toward the lower pricing Walmart’s economies of scale make possible.

And They Will Take Park Place

Speaking of Which…

national & world

Targeted is CVS Caremark, the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) for the drugstore chain. As a PBM, CVS Caremark manages payments among insurers, pharmacies, and drug companies. Examples of CVS Caremark payments brought to light by the Arkansas Pharmacists Association show CVS pharmacies were reimbursed $400.65 for a Fentanyl Patch 100 when independent pharmacies only received $75.74. For Amoxicillin, the numbers were $35.92 and $12.21; and Ibuprofen, $5.86 and $1.39. In a typical scenario, for a $50 drug, the independent pharmacy would be reimbursed $22, and the patient’s health plan would be billed $100. Making matters worse, CVS’s regional director of acquisitions sent a letter to several independent pharmacies acknowledging decreased reimbursements and inviting them to sell out. Arkansas’ Attorney General Leslie Rutledge opened an investigation in February, and laws regulating PBM’s followed a month later. Ohio followed suit, and similar complaints have been registered in Texas and Kentucky.

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News that Walmart and Humana are entering negotiations for what could be a $37 billion acquisition of the insurer is inducing anxiety on many fronts. Walmart

Legislators in several states are advocating for increased transparency or oversight in the healthcare industry, where vertical integration is opening opportunities for predatory pricing.

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antidote. Developers Dr. Sidgi Syed Anwar Hassan and Professor Ali Abdullah Hassan Al-Jabri, from the Immunology division of the school’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences, reported the patent is the culmination of ten years of continuous research. The antidote is made from an ethanolic extract from Ajwa dates, and it is used to treat local hemorrhaging and edema caused by snake venom. Different snake venoms induce different symptoms, which could include necrosis, respiratory arrest, and paralysis. Almost all snakebites include edema and hemorrhaging, but antivenoms known to date have not been able to treat those two symptoms. More than 5.5 million snakebites are reported each year, two million of which involve envenoming, and 95,000 of which prove fatal. It is hoped further research will find the formula mitigates symptoms caused by bites and stings by other animals such as spiders and scorpions.

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Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (FhG), a network of 69 institutes for applied science throughout Germany, announced the development of what is thus far the world’s only mobile assembly robot capable of working on a variety of large aircraft parts within a tolerance of 0.02 inches. Even now, much of the milling and drilling in aircraft assembly is done by hand. That’s because automated machinery has had to be heavy and expensive, highly-customized for a specific task or tasks, and attached to guiderails. Such robots would necessarily have so much downtime they wouldn’t be worth the investment. In an industry where staying within tolerance is a matter of life-and-death, and where there is little or no uniformity in part sizes, separations, and angles, it has been difficult to make an all-purpose robot.

FhG’s robot can travel to various stations on three wheels that pull up when it needs to work; and at least three innovations maintain tight tolerances as the robot rapidly switches tools for measuring, bonding, drilling, and milling even slightly imperfect surfaces. One is the mounting of calibration devices on all axles instead of at the engine.

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Video footage of Kitty Hawk’s all-electric, flying airtaxi, Cora, was released online. It builds upon the prototype, Flyer, which was described as more of a flying jet ski than a passenger vehicle. Kitty Hawk is financed by Google cofounder Larry Page and former Google scientist Sebastian Thrun. The entrepreneurs set up operations in New Zealand after being rejected by California’s regulators. Amazon, similarly, had to expatriate its drone delivery tests to the United Kingdom, Canada, and the 74

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Netherlands for testing with regulatory approval. Operating as a subsidiary of Page’s Kitty Hawk, Zephyr Airworks, in five months, has developed a two-passenger, autonomous plane with a 36-foot wingspan. With vertical takeoff and landing, it can fly 110 mph with a range of 62 miles. Cora has qualified for certificates of experimental airworthiness from the United States and New Zealand. Currently, Zephyr Airworks is hiring, and its developers are seeking more credentials to launch a commercial taxi business.

Cash Takes Another Blow singapore

CardUp raised $1.7 million in its first-ever round of investment fundraising. Leaders were Sequoia India and SeedPlus.

CardUp was launched by founder and CEO Nicki Ramsey in late 2016. While working for American Express, Ramsey had found initiatives to increase credit card use only shifted spending from one type of card to another. So, to increase the size of the proverbial pie, CardUp, instead of facilitating discretionary consumerism, is designed as a credit card for paying recurring basics, like rent, taxes, and tuition. To attract customers and encourage use, CardUp offers miles, points, and cashback.

Because it works with businesses that don’t normally accept credit cards, recipients of payments don’t have to create a user account. What happens is users pay CardUp with their credit card, and CardUp charges the credit card, pays the recipient with a bank transfer, and charges the user a 2.6% transaction fee. Since launching, CardUp has seen 41% monthly growth and captured over 1% of credit card spending in Singapore.

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Harvard researchers Nathaniel Brooks Horwitz and Nikita Shah have launched Nivien Therapeutics to take a different approach to helping cancer patients. They describe prevailing approaches as expensive, risky, and effective on only a few patients. Horwitz and Shah’s approach would attack the defense mechanisms of cancer cells. They would observe how defense mechanisms respond to the first round of a treatment.

Thanks to modern technology, they would be able to examine responses to the DNA sequencing of thousands of patients, from which they would isolate common responses. The next step would be to develop small molecules that intercept that response, necessarily rendering second and third treatments more effective. While they would like to develop something that helps all cancer patients, they are initially targeting people with pancreatic cancer. The average overall cost of care for patients with pancreatic cancer is $62,000, a total that includes what Horwitz and Shah hope to render avoidable inefficiencies.

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…Like a Box of Chocolates written by shawndr a russell

FRENCH BROAD CHOCOL ATES getting that hand picked touch.

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And indeed, Jael and Dan Rattigan couldn’t know exactly what they might be getting when they founded Asheville’s French Broad Chocolate Lounge. Now, though, amid a significant expansion, they’re feeling pretty confident.

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 77

DRIED BEANS being sor ted on a belt. "Bad" beans are removed.

THE FRENCH BROAD Chocolate Lounge Downtown.

During my first visit to Asheville in early 2013, I made sure to stop in the tiny French Broad Chocolate Lounge on Lexington Avenue. The line was almost out the door—even though it was a random Tuesday at three in the afternoon—as French Broad had made quite a name for itself since first opening in 2008.

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DRIED BEANS

Then, when I moved here in late 2014, I learned that French Broad also had a factory and tasting room on the South Slope (on Buxton Avenue), and they were set to open their new 4,200-sq.-ft. chocolate lounge in the heart of downtown, across the street from Pack Square.

Fast forward to 2018, and big changes are afoot once again for French Broad Chocolate’s owners Jael and Dan Rattigan as they prepare for their most significant pivot yet. While the French Broad Chocolate Lounge (FBC) downtown and its adjacent, quick-stop French Broad Chocolate Boutique will stay put as tourism hotspots, factory operations will move from the South Slope to the River Arts Makers Place, aka RAMP, in a 12,000-sq.-ft. facility that will allow the husband-and-wife duo to quickly triple their production capabilities and eventually produce

ten times what they’re whipping up today. Notes Dan, “The new design provides industrial grade power and infrastructure, workflow conducive to new food safety regulations, and capacity for high volumes of visitors, helping us make even better chocolate.” Later this year, guests will be able to see the process up close while being safely separated from the production floor, and FBC will finally be able to host regular events, which they hope to ramp up quickly with guest chefs, pairings, and how-to classes. And perhaps most importantly, the new space has a loading dock, something the South Slope location sorely lacked.

However, they love being part of the growing South Slope district, so instead of shutting down the former factory, they’ve decided to move their creamery—currently operating inside their Pack Square chocolate lounge—to this location. In a May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 79

DAN & JAEL R AT TIGAN at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

happy twist of fate, this move means they’ll be able to produce triple the ice cream, too, in addition to transforming the Buxton Avenue location’s current retail area into a dessert café. “At first, we considered adding additional capacity to Buxton, but then came to realize this was not our ideal building,” Jael explains.

With these changes, the Rattigans forecast they’ll be able to grow their current annual revenue from $3.7 million to between $7.4 and $11.1 million within five years and increase production from 19 metric tons up to 250 tons.

Expanding Smartly How did they accomplish all of this in just 10 years? Well, it wasn’t by having, in Jael’s words, “budgets, forecasts, and well-communicated annual goals from day one. We thought it was romantic to go from one leap of faith, trusting we would be caught. We are still catching up with not having those foundational elements from the beginning.” In fact, she and Dan owned the business 50/50 as co-CEOs until late last year, when they sold 16 percent of the business to 80

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25 accredited investors in a private offering under rule 506 of Regulation D of the Securities Act in order to help fund these expansion plans.

Selling off this percentage of the business funded the down payment they needed in order to secure a bank loan to complete these expansions in the spirit of heeding the advice of one of their advisors, who told them, “Debt is the cheapest money you can buy.” Adds Jael, “These investors are mostly local individuals or couples, and mostly people who we already knew or are close to someone we knew.” Some of these investors will be invited to join FBC’s new advisory board along with a few other outsiders, who they will rely on to bring key insights from their related industry experience.

Keeping the percentage sold off to the lowest amount possible was also important to the Rattigans because they want to leave plenty of flexibility as they step into the next decade of owning French Broad. They want to leave room for employee-focused initiatives, such as offering employee shares. “We want to offer our employees meaningful career paths as well as more challenging roles and growth opportunities,” says Jael. But

this line of thinking has daunted the couple, too, during some of their late-night board meetings at home. “A lot of people are relying on us. It’s a big responsibility,” she says.

They’ve been planning this iteration of their business loosely for three years, but became serious and wrote a business plan in early 2017, which led to working with their lawyer to create a private placement memorandum for potential investors. This PPM launched on July 4 and closed by December after the funds they needed for their expansion plans were raised in just five months. But for most of their business’s incredible journey, it’s just been Jael and Dan, trusting their instincts. “I’ve discovered that seeing what’s next is easy for Dan and me, seeing what’s beyond next is a skill we are still working on,” Jael says, adding, “We have already exceeded every expectation we had for this business when we first opened our doors— only now do we see the potential we have to grow and make an impact.” This admission might surprise those who, like me, have watched French Broad grow by leaps and bounds during the past decade.

PASTRY CHEFS create delicious cakes at the Lounge.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chocolate is taken through cycles of heating and cooling to achieve “ temper� before being molded into bars.

Chocolate Cake ready to be enjoyed at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

A selection of FBC truff les.

Chocolate makers begin the ref ining process by passing cacao nibs through a stone two-roll mill.

The shop area, of FBC's South Slope location (soon to be their creamer y).

Dan & Jael Rattigan

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CUSTOMERS ENJOYING coffee and chocolates at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

“A Network of Support” Since the Rattigans don’t see themselves as business experts per se, how much credit does Asheville itself earn for contributing to their massive success? Heavily, says Dan, and in more ways than one. “We have become a small part of Asheville’s amazing food and beverage landscape. As part of that greater whole, we owe our success to the individuals and businesses who have made Asheville so special.” He also notes that together, these small businesses have helped

“In one word—collaboration. Every Asheville business owner I have known has been open and eager to support one another. We work together on philanthropic endeavors, co-create amazing products, and provide a network of support that is encouraging and inspiring.”

French Broad Chocolates has also benefited greatly from the entrepreneurial support infrastructure developed by organizations like Venture Asheville. “We have a team of experienced, intelligent, and caring mentors who go above and beyond to guide us,” says Dan, casually mentioning that on top of Jael’s already daunting work schedule and raising two sons, she’s also been working toward her MBA at Lenoir-Rhyne University for the past two years. “Basically, I am a humble student and sponge for knowledge and information, and I will accept teachings from everywhere!” says Jael.

The school work is paying off, helping push the Rattigans to divide their responsibilities into two clearly separate roles for the first time since opening. Moving forward, Jael will focus on the marketing, HR, and retail operations as CEO, while Dan will become FBC’s visionary, responsible for production operations, sales, and finance, but more importantly, continuing his role as “an idea machine, a creative problem solver, and the person most knowledgeable about chocolate… the person accountable for making sure our products stay awesome.” Part of this bifurcating of roles came from recognizing that it can be confusing for employees when two people are in charge. “It made it challenging to make timely decisions. Now, I’ll manage the leadership

Since the Rattigans feel that fair trade certifications don’t always lead to the best outcomes for the farmers and producers, they’ve made a commitment to pay higher prices for all their cacao than the fair trade certification would require.

Asheville’s well-documented popularity grow, which in turn helps the small businesses themselves grow—a cycle made possible by the community’s values and determination to not be swallowed up by big chains and outside investors. Perhaps even more importantly, these small businesses support one another and have cheered on FBC during every leap of faith.

Jael sums up Asheville’s entrepreneurial community thusly:

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 83

The winnowing process separates and removes the husk from the cacao nib, the raw material from which chocolate is made.

The new factor y 12,000 -sq.-f t. facility at the R AMP.

team and make sure everyone is aligned around common goals.”

A big part of those goals revolve around FBC’s commitment to upholding their recently earned B Corporation status. It took them over a year to complete the B Corp survey and provide all the documentation needed to receive this certification.

“You really can’t fake your way to a B Corp status,” explains Dan. “It is a rigorous comprehensive examination of all aspects of a business; it’s like LEED for a green building, Energy Star for energy usage, and Certified Organic for sustainable agricultural practices, but all wrapped into one certification.” Another motivating factor for earning B Corp certification was to show their commitment to their triple bottom line philosophy, which Jael defines as “making a profit, but not at the expense of people or the planet.”

One unexpected benefit of going through the B Corp process was receiving an 81 out of 200 score, only one point above the minimum passing score.

“Considering we didn’t really change our business to achieve this, we felt pretty good,” Jael explains, “But, it’s also humbling, showing us how far we have to improve our impact, and [it] encourages us with quantifiable steps we can take towards our goal of being a positive impact business.” And like joining the supportive Asheville business community, becoming a part of the B Corp community has been a huge bonus. “We’ve received inquiries for chocolates from B Corps across the country, and the other Asheville B Corps celebrated our achievement with a happy hour at New Belgium.

It’s a great community to be a part of.”

Values System

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Constant grinding for two to three days in a stone grinder transforms the solid cacao nib into a creamy chocolate with a smooth tex ture. |

May 2018

Another important community that has helped fuel their success resides in Puerto Viejo de Limon, a small village in Southeast Costa Rica where the Rattigans opened their first business, a café and dessert shop named Bread & Chocolate. They eventually sold that business to one of their cooks, but they continue to buy significant quantities of cacao from that region through their former restaurant’s head baker. “He grew up in cacao production, and we’ve worked together to create a fermentary and drying operation,” says Jael. “It’s wonderful to remain connected to this place we lived and worked for two years, the place our first son was born.”

And since the Rattigans feel that fair trade certifications don’t always lead to the best outcomes

CHOCOL ATIERS PAY ex treme attention to the details of their creations.

for the farmers and producers, they’ve made a commitment to pay higher prices for all their cacao than the fair trade certification would require. Currently, fair trade premium is typically $200 per ton of dried beans, over the commodity price, which currently averages $2,500.

The minimum FBC pays to their producer groups is $4000 per ton. “Some of the cacao we buy is fair trade certified, but a lot of it is not. Certification models are complicated,” admits Dan. The couple also own a small cacao bean farm there that currently serves as a hobby farm, but with Dan and Jael’s work ethic and growth, that farm could very well turn into a part of their burgeoning business down the road.

The company employs their “triple bottom line philosophy” in other business operations as well, including the decision to try a different business model than the increasingly-popular Living Wage Certified. French Broad was in fact Living Wage Certified for several years before trying a new compensation model that Jael describes as being based on “skill, problem solving, and accountability to create a system of internal equity where our employees would feel fairly compensated for their contribution to the company.” However, this model meant that a couple of positions were below the Living Wage’s standards, which led to employees expressing a desire for the company to re-seek Living Wage Certification by the end of 2018. All full-time employees are also eligible for medical, dental, vision, and other supplementary insurance options, and FBC is part of the YMCA employer network and an EA N, or Employee Assistance Network, which gives employees access to free counseling and job training. Last year, the company paid out $1.7 million in wages, and that number will certainly increase once both new spaces are open for business.

While their compensation experiment wasn’t a home run, the Rattigans’ willingness to forge their own path has served them extremely well since the very beginning, when they dropped May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 85

out of graduate school and moved to Costa Rica in their vegetable-oil powered school bus to open Bread & Chocolate. Their lack of a 5- or 10-year business plan also allowed of them to make some important pivots, like evolving from chocolatiers to chocolate makers in what Jael considers their first major milestone. “We used to buy the chocolate as an ingredient, like most chocolatiers and bakers,” she says.

“But to live up to our sourcing values, we made the leap to become connected to the source of our cacao and make the chocolate ourselves from the bean. This had the effect of changing our identity— from a retailer that makes its products, to a manufacturer with a robust retail model. Subtle, but the implications are major for our longterm strategy.”

The expansion also marks a shift in their business model as they now intend to focus on growing the business-tobusiness (B2B) side of operations after years of being business-to-consumer (B2C) focused. In fact, the wholesale side of the business currently only accounts for five percent

of the business, and all of those orders have come from businesses that make first contact. “We’ll have to learn a new skill now—sales—but we are optimistic that B2C will

Jael and Dan will be forever grateful that Asheville called to them after their stint in Costa Rica. “The values of our business align with those of the Asheville community,” she concludes. “We owe our success to its support.” continue to forge ahead with the Creamery and the new factory store, bolstered with our e-commerce continuing to grow,” says Jael. This decision again showcases how they refuse to operate a business laser-focused on only the bottom line, since the expansion would feasibly allow them to make four-and-a-half times more annual revenue if they only focused on B2C.

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The new RAMP building will help French Broad grow into its B2B goals, but they chose it for more than just its size.

Local architect Brent Campbell, with whom they’d worked on previous projects, suggested they take a look at the space, and they fell for it immediately. “When we stepped into it, our dreams were activated—it was what we were waiting for,” says Jael. She describes the space as “energized and engaged.

It’s an inviting space, everyone engaged in their craft, sharing the experience and their energy.” Other vendors that occupy spaces in RAMP include Meherwan Irani’s Spicewalla spice company, Better Than Unicorns virtual reality studio (profiled in the April 2018 issue of Capital at Play), and a stream of UNC Asheville students and faculty utilizing the school’s STEAM studio (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). Some of the new equipment that will fill their factory floor is coming from Italy, where the Rattigan family traveled over the summer to scope out the products and visit the owners, with whom they shared a kinship as the heads of two family-owned-and -operated businesses.

The Rattigans make it a priority to take family vacations, but inevitably, work comes along on these trips as well. To help maintain their sanity year-round, Jael relies on Pilates, while Dan enjoys Tai chi. As a family, everyone has the cooking bug,

so they spend a lot of time in the kitchen together when they do have some free time, which is rare since they work seven days a week most weeks and their kids, ages 11 and 13, are both into sports.

Through it all, Jael and Dan have made sure to be good citizens to the community that helped make all their dreams and more come true. They support several nonprofits that work towards promoting social justice, food security, sustainability, women, and children, including The Downtown Welcome Table and MANNA FoodBank. They donate to many local school fundraisers and initiatives to support teachers, and Dan also notes that the FBC crew makes a point to do a river cleanup annually “to help take care of our namesake, the French Broad River.” On the business side, they work with 136 vendors to keep their family business running smoothly behind the scenes, all located within 100 miles (and 92 right here in Asheville).

No matter what level of success they reach, Jael and Dan will be forever grateful that Asheville called to them after their stint in Costa Rica. “The values of our business align with those of the Asheville community,” she concludes. “We owe our success to its support.”

Now

weekend serving

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weekend serving

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Sunday Brunch and $5 bloody marys and mimosas starting at 10am!

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 87

People Play at

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(RO)

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1. Tiny Wehr of Wehrloom Honey (JF) 2. Fenner and Chrisan Klak of Blue Meadow Farms (RO)

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3. Lewis Blake of Bear Necessities Farm (JF) 4. Emily Patrick of Carolina Flowers (JF) 6. Olivette Farm’s Jessica Whaley (RO)

7. Rio Bertolini’s Fresh Pasta Co. (JF) 8. Walter Harrill of Imladris Farm (ASAP Staff)

ASAP’s Asheville City Market 10th Anniversary Season Opening North Market Street | Downtown Asheville, NC | April 7, 2018 Photos by Jason Faulds (@VideoGrinch) & Rich Orris (@rorris) and ASAP Staff 8

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9. Chue Lee of Lee's One Fortune Farm 10. Cat New of The Clean Plate team cooking eggs. (Both 9&10 photos by ASAP Staff)

11. Ernest Ramsey of Jewel Hill Farms (ASAP Staff) 12. Empire Strikes Brass brings the funk (RO)

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 89

events

may

EVENTS may 1, 8 , 15 , 22 , 29

Asheville Film Society Classic Movie

for recruiting, retaining, and developing “right-fit” employees. The program is a targeted response to a need voiced by many local employers. Registration includes course materials, lunch, and parking.

> Registration: $395 > 828-694-1779 > blueridge.edu/disney

7PM Grail Movie House 45 South French Broad Ave, Suite 130, Asheville, NC

7:30PM (Wed-Sat), 2PM (Sun)

Every Tuesday, Asheville’s indie theater for indie films screens a TBA classic.

NC Stage Company 15 Stage Lane, Asheville, NC

>Tickets: $6 > 828-239-9392 > grailmoviehouse.com may 2

“Disney’s Approach to Employee Engagement” 8:30AM-4:30PM Blue Ridge Conference Hall Blue Ridge Community College, Hendersonville, NC

The Disney Institute is returning to share that company’s working formulae

may 2-20

Burden

The world premiere by the Immediate Theatre Project is an exploration of the human soul. It highlights blindness to the contradictions in one’s life’s work, which often results in forsaking what one wants on a quest to find it.

>Tickets: $16, $26, $34 > 828-239-0263 > ncstage.org may 3 - 6 Savor Blowing Rock

Various venues, downtown Blowing Rock

For four days visitors can sample food grown and prepared in North Carolina and take classes on food preparation.

Sideline events include live music and outdoor races. The event’s date has been rolled forward because prevailing public perception has decided April is a winter month in Blowing Rock. The event is produced by the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce.

> Events are ticketed separately. > 828-295-7851 > savorblowingrock.com

may 3

27th Annual Seminar on Estate and Tax Planning 8AM-12:15PM

Lioncrest on the Biltmore Estate One Lodge Street, Asheville, NC This year’s featured speaker is Thomas J. Pauloski, a director at Bernstein Global Wealth Management. The theme is “Trumping Uncertainty: Integrating Investment, Estate, Charitable, and Insurance Planning.” The event is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina

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> Registration: $120 > 828-367-9908 > cfwnc.org may 3 -13 3 Redneck Tenors

2PM (Thu, Sat, Sun), 8PM (Fri, Sat) Flat Rock Playhouse, Mainstage 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, NC The musical comedy has been acclaimed as something like Duck Dynasty goes to Carnegie; or the offspring of Larry the Cable Guy, Il Divo, and Mrs. Doubtfire. The act was a finalist on America’s Got Talent.

>Tickets: $20-$52 > 828-693-0731 > flatrockplayhouse.org may 4 - 6 21st Annual French Broad River Festival Hot Springs Campground Hwy 25-70 at the French Broad River, Hot Springs, NC

At the junction of the French Broad River and the Appalachian Trail, crowds gather for a weekend of outdoor sports, camping,

and music. Events include whitewater raft and bicycle races, a canoe clinic, a river cleanup, and lots of fun for tots.

> 828-230-4054 > frenchbroadriverfestival.com may 5

Jane Kramer

8PM Diana Wortham Theatre 18 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC The classic country songstress will share the stage with Free Planet Radio, Billy Cardine, and the last round of Emerging Artists Fund scholarship winners to raise money for the theatre’s Youth Education Scholarships.

>Tickets: Adult $35, Student $30, Child $20 > 828-257-4530 > dwtheatre.com

may 8

David Byrne: American Utopia Tour

87 Haywood St, Asheville, NC Byrne is best-known for his charting, award-winning lead role with Talking Heads. He continues to record and perform while pursuing a multitude of other artistic interests. The online ticket price includes a CD of new album American Utopia.

>Tickets: $50.45 and up > 800-745-3000 > uscellularcenterasheville.com may 10 -13

46th LEAF Festival

Camp Rockmont Lake Eden, Black Mountain, NC

The twice-annual arts blowout features 6 stages, 400 performing artists, 8 adventure villages, and over 100 vendors. This year’s headliners will be Snarky Puppy and Ani DiFranco. The festival is set on 200 acres of rolling hills, mountain views, streams, and lakes. All festival proceeds support local and global arts programming.

> 828-686-8742 > theleaf.org

8PM Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

REDUCE YOUR MONTHLY POWER BILL! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FEDERAL TAX CREDITS AND REBATES!

May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 91

events

may 11

15th Annual Tourism Day

10AM-2PM NC Welcome Center Mile Marker 6, I-26W, Mars Hill, NC Regional traditions will be celebrated with fiddler Roger Howell and the Bailey Mountain Cloggers. Attendees can roam the exhibits, learn how to card and spin wool, bone up on local fishing tricks, or play cornhole.

laughs galore... Dallas Morning News

the

3america’s redneck tenors got talent top 10 finalist! ®

MAINSTAGE · MAY. 3 - 13

> FREE > 828-689-4257 > nccommerce.com may 12

World Bonsai Day

9AM-5PM The NC Arboretum 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville, NC The outdoor bonsai exhibit will open to the public for the 2018 season. The World Bonsai Friendship Federation and the North American Bonsai Federation encourage people involved in the art to “share the joy and brotherhood we all feel because of our involvement.” Bonsai!

> Parking: Personal Vehicle $14, Motorhomes $50, Buses $100 > 828-665-2492 > ncarboretum.org

may 12

Masterworks 7: Bend It

8PM Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 87 Haywood St, Asheville, NC TM

THE MADCAP, ZANY MURDER MYSTERY BASED UPON THE PARKER BROTHERS BOARD GAME LIVE ON STAGE!

MAINSTAGE MAY. 25 - JUNE 9 flatrockplayhouse.org 828.693.0731 92

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In the final Masterworks concert of the season, the auditioning conductor Jacomo Bairos will lead violinist Jennifer Frautschi and the ASO in genre-bending music including the overture to Bernstein’s Candide, Hyken’s jazz/hip-hop interpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2.

>Tickets: Adult $24-$69, Youth $11-$43 > 828-254-7046 > ashevillesymphony.org

may 12

Appalachian Spring Tea with Harriet

2-4PM & 5-7PM Historic Whitemont Lodge 15 Hildreth Lane, Swannanoa, NC

The three-course tea will include music and an exclusive tour of the lodge and gardens. The tea is a tribute to Harriet Styles, whose vision and effort underlaid the creation of the Swannanoa Valley Museum and History Center, for which this event is a fundraiser.

>Tickets: $45 > 828-669-9566 > history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org may 17

“The Heart behind the Music”

7:30PM The Walker Center, Wilkes Community College 1328 South Collegiate Dr, Wilkesboro, NC Grammy-Award singer-songwriters Kim Carnes of “Bette Davis Eyes,” Teddy Gentry from the supergroup Alabama, and John Ford Coley (who used to sing with England Dan), will grace the stage with story and song.

>Tickets: Advance $39, Door $44 > 336-838-6260 > walkercenteronline.org may 18 – june 3 Guys and Dolls 2PM (Sun), 7:30PM (Fri, Sat) Hendersonville Community Theatre, Main Stage 229 South Washington St, Hendersonville, NC Nathan Detroit needs $1,000 for rent for his humongous crap game. To get funding, Nathan bets Sky Masterson he can’t convince a girl of his choice to have dinner with him in Havana.

Sky accepts. Nathan chooses the prude who, symbiotically, runs a mission for sinners that must build capacity or be shut down.

>Tickets: Adult $28, Student $22, Youth (0-17) $17 > 828-692-1082 > hendersonvilletheatre.org

We are committed to conscious sexuality, body positivity & self-care!

57 Broadway St, in the Heart of Downtown Asheville VaVaVooom.com 828.254.6329 May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 93

events

may 18 -20 Mutts Gone Nutts

2PM (Sat, Sun), 6PM (Sun), 8PM (Fri, Sat) Flat Rock Playhouse, Mainstage 2661 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock Back by popular demand, trained rescue animals perform tricks and slapstick in a “comedy dog thrill show.”

>Tickets: $16-$32 > 828-693-0731 > flatrockplayhouse.org

Custom pools and spas.

We create unique backyard environments 1200-C Hendersonville Rd. Asheville, NC • 828-277-8041 • waterworkswnc.com Swim Spas by American Whirlpool.

may 19

WFDD’s Across the Blue Ridge with Host Paul Brown 7:30-8:30PM The Jones House 604 West King St, Boone, NC

The finale for the Spring 2018 Concert Series will be a taping the popular radio program. Lots of live local talent will be recorded and edited for the episode.

Brown is a storyteller who sings and plays bluegrass.

> Admission: $20 > 828-268-6280 > joneshouse.org may 19

Asheville Comic Con

10AM-5PM Western North Carolina Ag Center, Expo Building 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd, Fletcher, NC Timmy Mac promises comic books, toys, games, and other collectibles; cosplay art and artists; a costume contest; and more.

> Admission: Adult $5, Child (4-13)

Your source for Hearth & Patio needs 264 Biltmore Ave. Asheville, NC | 828.252.2789

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$3, Infant FREE > 828-433-6322 > timmymacs.com

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Asheville Fine Art Show

10AM-5PM WNC Agricultural Center 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd, Fletcher, NC The original creations of about 150 juried artists in a multitude of media will be on display. The artists will be selling and answering for their own work. The winning pieces from the IA&E Youth Art Competition will also be on display.

The event is a production of Hot Works.

>Tickets: Adult $8, Child (0-13) FREE > 248-684-2613 > hotworks.org may 19 – june 16 Glass on Fire

10:30AM-5PM (Tue-Sat) Toe River Arts 102 West Main, Burnsville, NC Seven artists have blown glass for the first Glass Gateway Telescope, an illuminated 22’ tower filled with fancy, handblown, colored orbs, which should be installed in short order. The exhibit honors the artists with pieces including the prototypes for the orbs.

> FREE > 828-682-7215 > toeriverarts.org may 24

Blue Ridge Sunset Tour

7:30-11PM Pisgah National Forest Brevard, NC

Naturalists guide a hike to the acclaimed panoramic views of Black Balsam Knob.

Once on the knob, the guides will talk about the night sky, natural history, flora and fauna, or whatever else about the park interests the hikers. Details will be released with bookings. This

is the season opener for an event that recurs weekly.

> Admission: Adult $30, Child (0-10) $10 > 828-884-3443 > pisgahfieldschool.org

may 26 -27 Garden Jubilee

craft service

9AM-5PM Main Street, Downtown Hendersonville, NC A whopping 265 vendors will share expertise and sell thousands of plants in various stages of development as well as garden tools and embellishments.

> 828-693-9708 > visithendersonvillenc.org

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may 19 -20

What would you like to frame?

Asheville 95 Cherry Street North Asheville, NC 28801 828.258.2435

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may 26

David Holt and the Lightning Bolts

12M & 3PM Tweetsie Railroad, Inc. 300 Tweetsie Railroad Lane, Blowing Rock, NC

The band plays upbeat, old-timey, Appalachian music. Holt is a multi-instr umentalist, stor yteller, artist, historian, on-air personality, and the winner of four Grammy Awards. The Boston Globe says he’s “one of the best solo performers you’ll see.” The show is included with admission to the park.

> Admission: Adult $45, Child (3-12) $30, Infant FREE > 800-526-5740 > tweetsie.com

may 31

Listen to This 7:30PM Asheville Community Theatre 35below May 2018 | capitalatplay.com 95

events

35 East Walnut St, Asheville, NC Tom Chalmers is a host of the series This American Life, and this show will feature storytelling by some of Asheville’s most dynamic own.

> Admission: $15 > 828-254-1320 > ashevilletheatre.org

Apple Hill Farm 200 Apple Hill Rd, Banner Elk, NC

The Secret Life of Pets 8-9:30PM Jackson Park Jackson Park Rd, Hendersonville, NC

Sheared alpacas are so cute, it would be a shame not to share the day. Visitors can watch for free as wool is skirted and spun as well. An on-location store sells alpaca gear.

The fast-paced computer animation, exploring friendships of convenience and devotion, was the sixth-highest grossing film of 2016.

> 828-963-1662 > applehillfarmnc.com

june 2

Forty Fest

> FREE > 828-687-0751 > fletcherparks.org

june 2

10AM-5PM Ashe Arts Center 303 School Ave, West Jefferson, NC They have all the normal festival stuff, like music, food, and art. In addition, there will be hands-on activities, demonstrations, and speeches marking 40 years for the free festival.

A Story Slammers Showcase

7-9:30PM Habitat Tavern and Commons 174 Broadway, Asheville, NC Seven acclaimed storytellers will, each in turn, entertain with wit, wisdom, and enthusiasm.

june 2

Alpaca Shearing Day

10AM-3PM

If your organization has any local press releases for our briefs section, or events that you would like to see here, feel free to email us at events@capitalatplay.com.

Please submit your event at least six weeks in advance.

your complete your complete Fabric cente

>Tickets: Advance $15, Door $18 > 828-808-1150 > storytellingcalendar.com

> 336-846-2787 > ashecountyarts.org

june 2

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mention this ad and receive a free round of sporting clays when you join ($30 value).

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ASHEVILLE:

Historic Biltmore Village 9 Kitchin Place 828-274-2630

STORE HOURS:

Mon. - Fri. 9:30am-7pm Sat. 9:30am-6pm Sun. 12pm-5pm

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A cut above.

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