Rebuilding Hospitality in WNC

Zac Ruiz [0:00] So, my name is Zach Ruiz. I run the Ruys Report. This month was the 59th month. We're almost at 60. So I've been doing this basically since March of 2020, Fun Month. That's when COVID happened, right? We usually give a quick market update, but we're gonna do an abridged version today, but if you go to resort.com, you can get it all in the latest reports, totally free, more information, more better. So today, we're actually gonna use another software I use called REMC.co. And so, here's what we're looking at. This is live as of today. And this is gonna kind of get the conversation going. Live as of today, for residential properties in Buncombe County, value between $400,000 and $500,000.

So right in that median, kind of the fastest moving area of our market. These are active homes, all right? And the other way I like to talk about active homes is, these are homes that have not sold yet. Okay? And so, the median, 50% of the homes that are active that haven't sold yet, have been on for 85 days or more. If you were to come to the first AVLmeetup, that would be eight, it would probably be three. And so the market, something is happening. Something is happening, right? If we go to under contract, so these are the homes that have come to an agreement with a buyer. The seller said, Yeah, cool, we're under contract. The median days there is 66. So that's weird.

That is a big difference from how it has been. We did have this little thing called Helene happen in the past couple months, right? So, we're trying to figure out if this is seasonal, if this is just the interest rates, if it's supply and demand. So we're gonna talk a little bit about that tonight. So, what about the rental markets? Thankfully, we have a resident rental expert here. All right, so, quick story that I thought was worth sharing about. Um, you all know, I run Vesta, and I have this client who, every once in a while, texts me late at night with random questions about their property. Don't share your number with you. And... in this instance, we have a property that was listed.

Right before the storm, storm happened, hasn't been moving. It's being, you know, it's going a little slow. Like, if you have any vacant rental properties, you're probably experiencing the same thing. We talked about this a little bit last month. And, um, we're reevaluating it, but what to do with price? And so, taking a look, and when we first priced this property, it might have been, like, early September, so there wasn't a lot of competition in this area.

And when we re looked at things to see, like, what we should do and what adjustments we should make, that same, like, neighborhood that we were looking at had, like, an additional, almost 80 new units that had come on the market in the last six months. And so, it was just an interesting reminder that there is a huge influx of supply, and the conversation around rentals should start shifting for yourselves. We're having the conversation. I'm always telling my client here, text me light at night. like, Remember, you know, this is, like, a forced savings plan. This is about defensive cash. They'll put yourself to win in a couple of years when the market, you know, restabilizes.

But the reason all this is important is because as these rental prices come down, something uniquely is happening here in Asheville, for the first time in 10 years, it might be more affordable to rent a house in Asheville than it is to own a house. And I think that's a really big thing to highlight, because a lot of us, or, at least, personally, we experience a lot of people leaving the area. And so what a better calling card to Asheville, to be like, If you've ever wanted to come back to Asheville, if you've ever wanted to move to Asheville, Here's your opportunity where you can move to Asheville, rent a house at the cheapest price since maybe 2015 ish era.

And that's I think, a really important thing to remember. So, wanted to bring that story up. I think there's a prompt I am supposed to remember, and I'm not remembering, oh. Oh, so this is how it ties in, right? Hospitality industry. There's always a lot of conversation about, like, workforce housing, people who live downtown. What are they supposed to do? Where are they gonna live? Right now, if you're a good tenant, you get to negotiate your rents, you get to choose a little bit more where you live, and you have way more options. So, it's a good calling card, tell your friends. Bring people back to Asheville. And so with that, we're gonna move to the first table question.

So, this table question, we're gonna be about five minutes. We're trying out a new technology, so let's have some grace. We'll see how it goes. And then we're gonna review for about five minutes, all right? So let's see. All right, talk amongst yourselves, right? Here's the question. If you were given control of $10 million in recovery funds from Asheel, how would you allocate it across these sectors? So work with your table, scan that QR code, there's no login, rank them, just pick which one you think is most important, and you're gonna see everything update live on the screen. All right? So talk amongst yourselves.

and setting a timer for five minutes, and then we're just gonna review and talk about it for a second.

Zac Ruiz [0:00] All right, so, um, we usually kind of skip the, like, tell us a little bit about yourselves, 'cause we have the speaker bias and everything, and I do think this will be kind of, like, an action packed panel. So we are gonna dive right into it, and we're gonna dive right into it with Jordan Church in here. All right. Question number one. Let's talk about the immediate aftermath of Helene. What was your first thought when you realized that this was not just another storm?

Jordan Turchin [0:28] Well, we had a farm full of guests, and they were panicking. So, uh, you know, the immediate was, We have to get these guests to be safe, what's going on? We had no information. And then the second, once we got them off the farm, and out, you know, to a safe area, to Charlotte, and all that, was, I can't believe we are to shut our business down, again, for the second time, since we opened. We had been open seven years, so COVID was the first. So it was more of a oh moment. Good job, sound guy.

Zac Ruiz [1:06] That was...

Unknown [1:07] Molly?

Molly Irani [1:08] Yeah, I remember we kept accidentally calling it the pandemic, when we were processing in our business meetings, we were like, Ah, it's not pandemic. It was a hurricane, but it felt similar, the disruption of it. I remember our neighborhood was buried, like so many of our neighborhoods were in trees. And I remember clamoring up, right when the storm passed, and it was quiet, and we ran outside to check on our neighbors and see if everybody was okay. I clambered up one of the giant mountains of trees, and looked out into my neighborhood, and saw that it was buried in trees. And I just thought, Oh, shit. What are we gonna do now?

And it was so apparent right away that this was going to take everyone mobilizing, in order for us to dig out just of our own neighborhood, and then account for all of our people. And so immediately, we went into divide and conquer, and trying to reach everyone, and trying to contact our people, and figure out which businesses we're still standing, and which restaurants, if any, had power. What of our businesses were flooded. So it was sort of an instant mobilization, and thank God for neighbors with chainsaws. My 81 year old neighbor with a messed up rotator cuff was out there chainsawing a path through the neighborhood so we could get out and reach our restaurants.

Katie Button [2:35] I was thinking about that. the first moments, and it was hiking out of my driveway, 'cause we had so many trees that fell over our driveway that couldn't get out, and with my two kids, they're six and 10, and we're, like, got backpacks on, and we're, like, hiking out, 'cause there's no way the car is gonna get out of there. And then we get down to the street, and I start seeing, like, just the absolute... It was shocking. I mean, all of you experience, the same thing, but, um, I honestly, the first thought was just, like, where we, like, let's get us to safety, and then how do we communicate, because there was no communication.

And how do we reach people, one, to tell people that we're safe and to find out if they're safe. And the 2nd thing was to check on the physical buildings of the restaurants in downtown. And that was a relief that, you know, downtown was intact. And still is a relief that, um, that we have that, um, still there. But, and then it was, how do we get in touch with our employees, who, many of whom, you know, we had left it Thursday evening, that we would be sending a message out Friday morning about whether or not we were going to open, because, you know, you just don't, it's like, anyway, in hindsight, obviously, that was absurd, but, um...

Anyway, I give myself grace for having no idea the level of what was gonna hit us was gonna hit it. So the stressful thing was, like, we can't reach these people. How do we tell them? Like, one, find out if they're okay, but then also make sure that they are not, like, thinking that we are, like, trying to get in or trying to get to us that they're taking care of themselves, and how do we take care of them?

Rodrigo Afanador [4:16] Yeah, so, obviously, three hospitality giants here, and, uh, you guys were uniquely positioned to lean into giving back into the community, right? Something that everybody's talked to. I was like, Oh, the neighbors came together. It's a lot of hospitality, so, and we'll start with you, Katie. At what point did you realize, like, your hospitality skills could be used to that community effort, and when you realize that, you know, you could do something, what is it that you did, and what did that look like?

Katie Button [4:45] Yeah, um, I mean, Friday was just getting our feet under us and trying to figure out what was going on and how everybody was, and, and then Saturday, um, actually, it was World Central Kitchen who reached out to us, and that was a big deal, 'cause I was like, oh, my gosh, they're already setting up a kitchen here. I mean, they were fast. And then looking for support and other kitchens to activate as well. And having that phone call on Saturday, where they're like, Can you start cooking meals tomorrow? And it was like, Yeah, okay, sure. Who can we find on our team to come in and cook?

And you just make it happen, but then it felt so good to have something productive and helpful to do, you know, to, like, wrap your head around and contribute. I know Molly knows that well, too.

Molly Irani [5:36] Yeah, definitely. I felt like it saved me. Similar, we... So, without any communications, we were just struggling to account for all of our people and see if anybody needed help. And we heard a rumor in our neighborhood that Publix was offering free Wi Fi in their parking lot, we live in South Asheville, and we spent all day Friday, and half of Saturday carving that path out of the trees, so that even a bicycle could get out of our street. We live in a really wooded area, so that even a bicycle could get out of our street, and on Saturday afternoon, we rode our bicycles to Publix. It took, like, 15 minutes to download and send each message.

But we were able to start communicating with our team and start that account of who was missing, who needed help. And we got a message from World Central Kitchen. We already had a working relationship with them from other fundraisers. And they were reaching out to see if we were okay, and to let us know that they were in the neighborhood, and by the way, did any of our businesses have power? And did we want to start cooking? So, we sent a message out to, we have 213 employees at that time in Asheville, and we sent a message to all of those employees saying, Please let us know if you're okay.

We are gonna rendezvous anybody that can get out safely, is gonna meet downtown at the one location we had, our original Chipani location. had power. That was the only location that had power. So we made this plan that we were gonna meet at 12:00 on Sunday, um, for anybody that could get in, and 12 people out of 213 could get out of their neighborhoods and come in. And they did, and they showed up, and I asked them if they wanted to help me figure out how to make a thousand sandwiches out of what we had without water. And, you know, this is the thing about the service industry is, this is what we do. It's like, we're wired for this. We are trained to deal with the unexpected all the time.

Nothing ever goes as planned in the restaurant business. So they looked at me like, Yeah, that Sure, let's do it. So, I got a call from you guys saying, Hey, we've got a ton of lamb kebabs that we can't cook off. We don't have enough hands. We've already got a plan for our food. The next thing I knew, I'm in the back of a pickup truck, because my architect showed up, for some reason, to check on us, with a giant tub of lamb skewers that we cooked off, and so the storm came through Friday. Sunday afternoon, we had, I think it was 750 sandwiches in those first helicopter drops. that started happening on Sunday.

Zac Ruiz [8:17] Actually, I was gonna, this is the perfect segue. So, I want to make sure that Jordan talks about helicopters, 'cause that's super cool, so... we'll give him the mic.

Jordan Turchin [8:28] Um... So we evacuated everyone, then took a deep breath. Um, I'm originally from Miami, and my sister lives there, and she, we were able to get a message to her that we were okay. And she got a message to Global Empowerment Mission, which is an organization that we've, the founder, has been a family friend for a long time. So, we didn't expect them to arrive at the farm, but they arrived on the farm Saturday, uh, Saturday afternoon, with their semis, and a whole team, and they just set up command there.

And with that came the aerial recovery, and so we had 50, 60 of these guys staying on the farm, helicopters, going in and out all day long, dropping supplies, rescuing people, reporting things that, obviously, we had no communication to, but just started to paint, I guess, what was the larger picture that we all know was going on? And so, we became a command center, and the hospitality came in that way, having to feed them, having to house them. We had no power.

We were lucky enough that we had a backup water system, so that was working, so at least they could function and hydrate and stay clean and get out there and do all the things, but with the recovery and seeing the first level of, um, kind of aid going out and the dismal picture, and then the starlinks arriving, and them being parachuted out, um, and people's stories that were being rescued from... Batcave and lake lore, and Burnsville, and just all over, it was a lot. But a beautiful, a beautiful lot, a real community, and you kind of started to see that first sense of, like, we can do this. Whatever's going on, everyone's sort of stepping up.

And yeah, we emptied all of our walk ins, started feeding everyone. We have a sister restaurant down the road, root and bone, we had power there. So we just started feeding the community as well, you know, anything that we could do in the area. Everyone that worked for us, if they had no place to go, they were staying on the farm as well, so commune, commune vibe, get to work vibe, base camp, a lot of action.

Zac Ruiz [10:47] So I... Yeah, please. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. We always try to speak to the panelists before they come up here so we can kind of, like, you know, have a better conversation. And something all three of you mentioned that I wanted to touch on, was kind of how the pandemic shut down hospitality. and where people were in need, but you couldn't provide that need, and how this was literally the moment to shine. Like, we've all been, like, we just heard from the three of them feeding the neighbors, solving the problems, providing hospitality as the definition of the word. So I was gonna ask for a round of applause here. But we just got one. But so... thank you all for providing that.

And so let's keep that round of applause feeling in our hearts, 'cause now we're gonna talk about a little bit more brass tacks here, right? And so, that starts with this. So, the holiday season, Susan, the former CEO of Cuerte was here last month, or one of these last ones. Two months ago, I was talking about how it's kind of known as the Super Bowl, that a big chunk of the revenue from the service and hospitality industry is supposed to come in fall. Then clearly, that did not happen, right? So the question is, you know, how did you pivot the business strategy when the tourists couldn't come? What'd you do to basically survive? I guess, start with Katie and come back?

Katie Button [12:04] I mean, you know, um, first and foremost, a lot of hard decisions that impact lots of people. So, one of the, obviously, the minute that the storm happened, and when, you know, like, in those first weeks, when we realized we weren't gonna be able to be back open as a restaurant and wouldn't have diners, you know, the, in order to make sure that the business makes it to the other side, you have to inform a ton of people that they, one, can't come to work, that you don't have work for them, and then that leads into permanent layoffs, you know, and it's really painful, and it felt like reliving the pandemic again.

So, well, and it was the water issue, really, that, like, delayed the amount of time before we could get back open and reopen and get things back up and running, we still haven't reopened La Borega, though, so we still have remained at about 30% fewer staff than we had before. So that, honestly, was the most critical decision and most challenging one to make. And then it's limited service hours, limited menu options, like, again, felt like we had learned this in the pandemic, and we're just reopening that playbook just faster, and, um, but no less painful.

Um, you know, and I think, like, the thing that I want to say about that, is that feels really, just really quickly, that feels so dark, but I also know that the hospitality industry is incredibly resilient, and incredibly important. Um, the couple things I want to say about that. One, just being gathering places and places for people to feel loved and cared for, and how you just feel when you dine out and have a, um, mingle with friends and see people. Like, it's incredible, the impact that it has on the people in the community.

But second, I will say, there is no better economic driver than hospitality businesses, and I want us to keep that in mind, because I think there are some of the best jobs that we have, because hospitality businesses have small profit margins. But what that means is every single dollar in the door. goes right back into the Western North Carolina Asheville community. All the people who live here, work here, who we employ, the farmers, like, so when we have to lay off 30% of our team, it's really, really hard. But then, looking at this year, I know that as we rebuild and come back, we will add those jobs quickly and start that economic driver in the community fast again.

Zac Ruiz [14:53] So, on that note, we always ask you to check in and participate, the biggest chunk of the, are you eating out, or, like, how is your eating habits change? The biggest chunk was, we're eating out less, right? And so, like, there's economic realities that are causing that. But if you're thinking about a pizza, dominoes, and Papa John's, the franchises, and national chains are probably not who you should go to. You should start supporting these local restaurants 'cause they are offering all this stuff for the economy, and we do need that to come as one of the pillars of the economic driver. So... When you want a nice date night, we got three great restaurants here, so...

And just, in case you lost the thread here, the question is, how did you pivot your business strategy when the tourists couldn't come? Thank you.

Molly Irani [15:36] Echoing everything Katie said, so I won't repeat it, because same. Same story. 30% layoffs of our team, really, really hard decisions, had to be made. And we were actually right in the middle. The one location we had that had power, our original Chipani location. We had just moved Chaipani to a much larger location four times its size, which is now on the south slope. And we were renovating the original location, the one that had power, and that week was supposed to be our grand opening. So we were supposed to be opening in a downtown location with no tourists. And we really had no idea what to do.

So it was a really big process that we had to go through to really figure out the economics of it. The math was completely upside down. We had to spend thousands of dollars to invest in water, et cetera. But what we experienced was living through the recovery efforts, being a part of a restaurant, in a part of the community, in the relief aid that was happening, what we experienced was the need that everybody had to have a gathering place. And it was hard to cook. We were all exhausted from dealing with not having water in our homes, and it was hard to get to the grocery store. Like, everything was hard.

So we felt the responsibility of that, and also the opportunity to try to get our people working as many as possible. So we made the really hard financial decision, opened all three of our restaurants, and our spice company, our factory, and got them all running again on the tanked in water. And one of the things that happened from that was seeing the community's gratitude, the way that people were showing up in their muddy muck boots from mobilizing all day and cleaning out people's homes, they would walk in and cry. Tears of joy to just beat together again.

And I felt, to your point, the absolute privilege of that, to be able to be in hospitality in this time as our community recovers, felt like a privilege. So we just kept going, and we just kept showing up, and the math is still upside down, but we are recovering, and, um, we're just trying to do our small part. in helping activate our town again.

Jordan Turchin [17:59] So, we have restaurant, we have spa, and we have lodging, and those three posed an interesting moment of, what do you do? Do you start laying off people? Do you... think no businesses they come? Do you try to salvage that, which is on your books, which maybe you can convince someone to come to this area? By the way, I did to many people. Because it turned out that a lot of people love this area. They have a deep memory. They have a camp story, they have something that attaches on the air, and I was shocked while, obviously, we took huge hit, but I was shocked with who wanted to come to stay, to help, to get involved, um, that energy, uh, was beautiful.

Like, there's that, like, the, oh, we get to do this, we get to serve in this way. So that was a weird, amazing piece of it. And then we also really looked at the restaurant, kind of acknowledging that so many places were closed. Everyone was fatigued of eating the food out of their house, whatever was left. They wanted to get out. They wanted to see something pretty. They wanted to see something that was cared for, that wasn't in destruction or whatever that might be. So we took a chance, and we're like, Okay, we're opening the restaurant, seven days a week, three services a day, which we hadn't done before, and, like, went for it. And it started to work. It was okay. People were showing up.

A lot of locals. And then we also pivoted our spa business, sort of everything on the farm, focused on the local. Forget the transient, who's here? What does the community need? How do they want to show up? We dropped all the prices of the food in our restaurant. We offered special treatments in the spa, that were just for locals and, like, hurricane victims, whatever that might be. So just really trying to find these little holes for the community to show up, knowing that if the transient outside comes in, great. Maybe that's... cheddar. Whatever that might be at this point.

But, um, you know, what can we do for the local community for all of us to, like, help us heal, help us get back on our feet? So that was the initiation, at least.

Rodrigo Afanador [20:22] Thank you guys for sharing. So, it feels like there's been, obviously, decrease, whether it's intentional, unintentional people leaving the area, you know, layoffs that had to happen, et cetera. What's the, and we'll start with you, Jordan, just go back down the line, is, is there any thought process or strategy or approach on how to kind of encourage people to come back and to try again? I guess for a better lack of words there? And have you thought about, you know, staffing up again and what that's going to look like?

Jordan Turchin [20:51] So, for us, we don't really have an option, but to basically start staffing now, because we need to train people, we need to get everyone ready to go, and our season really starts to hit in March. This whole winter has been very last minute. So it's very hard to tell if you're going to be busy or not, which has been really interesting when you kind of look at all the sectors, but there are people showing up. Um, so we haven't really been able to, um, destaff the way that maybe we have used to, or would have in the past? Because things have, they have been moving, again, not to the scale, but, like, it didn't stop.

And so right now, what I'm finding is that there are people applying for all jobs that are out there that are really qualified, and even if they've left, they want to come back to this area. If they were forced to leave, this is still their home. There's still, like, a piece to them here. I know it's going to be challenging, and, of course, a lot have left, but I do see that drive. Like, if there was an opportunity, get me back into this area. So I'm optimistic in that front.

Molly Irani [22:08] Yeah, I'll second that. I feel optimistic about that as well. And a lot of people, especially our youngest generation of employees left town. A lot of their housing got disrupted, some of their roommates needed to leave, or the house got washed away, or different problems, and they left town to go live with their families, and now they're returning. So we've had a wave of people come back. We've been able to rehire a lot of people, and our employment numbers are back up again.

But when you look at what leaf season would normally be for the service industry, and what the week between Christmas and New Year's would normally be, those are sort of the times that restaurants in our town make their money to get through the winter season. So, our community is teetering at a tipping point right now, where a lot of small businesses, and particularly the solopreneur businesses, where there's a one location, um, business, are struggling to make ends meet, because they still have pandemic debt they're paying off. They can't just take on more debt. So they're waiting to see how fast does Asheville come back?

So I know we've been on a campaign within our group, and everybody that I know with in our industry has been of trying to get the message out to the nation, to the world, that Asheville is open for business. And we're seeing that response happen. Thank you. I see that... that's starting to flow. And I think that's the message, and it matters. It really matters. The timing of that matters. I personally know other restaurateurs that are holding on a thin thread just waiting. How fast is that March business return gonna happen? And if it happens at the first week, I might just make it. And if not, then it's gonna take me longer.

We benefit from having businesses, our restaurant group has grown, and so we have businesses in other cities that can try to help balance us. So we're trying to do everything we can to help those smaller businesses just hang on so that we don't lose what makes this community so special in its small business association, and, you know, the independent spirit of small businesses in this town.

Katie Button [24:17] Yeah, absolutely. I won't repeat what you said, Molly, that was so good. I, you know, I think the, I am also feeling, um, hesitantly optimistic. Like, I think, you know, as we're moving into hesitantly optimistic. I know, as we're moving into being, as winter has started. Um, and, and, and just because we're, we're starting, we, we're hopeful, you know, and we're starting to think back about expanding versus that immediately. You're like, we have to shrink as fast as we can. And now we're switching mindset, starting to hire some more people, planning to open lunches at Kuritay, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which actually isn't something that we've done since before the pandemic.

Those of you who remember in 2019, we used to be open Tuesday through Sunday, lunch through dinner, and that is coming back. So, I'm excited, 'cause it means that we get to bring back some more of our team and hire them on, and, like, you know, we're trying to create a, we're doubling down to make it even better, and, like, you know, just the food quality and service, and working on all of those things. And to Molly's point, you know, where it's this thing. That's why I said hesitantly hopeful, because, yes, of course, are optimistic, because that's how we feel.

But there's also that knowledge that, so, in the country, we have to do something about business aid after disasters, because it's just, I mean, you know, say what people want about FEMA, but it's at least a system, that functions, that is set up, that has an avenue, to get money out to individuals relatively quickly. The process, whatever, you know, it's not perfect, but it's at least a mechanism that exists, and there's nothing on the business side. Um, because businesses, you know, were expecting insurance to be that stopgap, and everybody's figuring out that, you know, I mean, it's just, it doesn't work that way. Um, so they have a lot to say about that, but that's really another topic.

Anyway, it's incredibly stressful and challenging. And as a business operator, I mean, I feel like small businesses are what the United States are built on. So if we're not gonna support them making it through natural disasters, what are we doing? You know is kind of the question that I have.

Unknown [26:48] Here.

Zac Ruiz [26:52] All right, so, this is a wide raging conversation. It's, like, amazing. But we do only have about 10 minutes left. So we're trying to triage questions here, and I want to... Yeah. Yeah, I want to ride the wave, right? I wanna beat this drum. So, we'll keep going with you, Kitty, 'cause you're on the thread here, right? What is your message to potential investors who might be hesitant about Western West Carolina hospitality sector? That's the face I wanted to see. Oh, this is easy. Do it.

Katie Button [27:18] Asheville is special. F stop. I mean, we're this community of incredible, passionate, creative makers, and that is still here. It's what separates us from, you know, the rest of the country, and, um, and therefore, I know. Like, if there's one thing that has maybe even grown during whenever we face adversity or this kind of a moment is that. You know, we, like, double down on our love of local and unique and the artist community and the support. And so I just, it's, yes, we have a hurdle, but it's gonna come right back, and it will, you know, that vibrancy that Asheville is based on. I mean, you cannot extinguish that.

Molly Irani [28:02] Yes. 1,000%, yes. Um, it's, uh, I think if anything, we come back stronger. After something like this, and the gritty, tenacious, independent spirit of this place, that is, in the bedrock of our history here, of the makers and craftspeople that have really been so much a part of the building of the culture of this area. They are not going anywhere. They were ready. They were ready for this. And what I saw in dealing with the emergency aid relief was organizations coming in that are used to dealing with people in the middle of a trauma, they're dropping in from all over the world, and they see traumas and disasters happening all over the world all the time. And I heard over and over again.

I have never seen a community mobilized, like this community did. That's what they were saying. Yeah. They also, the linemen and all these people that were in from all over, that were probably saying at your place, said to me, countless times, We have never eaten so good in the middle of a crisis.

Jordan Turchin [29:15] Yeah, I mean, I second all that. I also... We're all in it, so it's very much our life, but those, which we depend on a lot. tourism and people coming into this area. They're being bounced around a lot out there with a lot of different noise and messages, so I wouldn't even say that we're even on their radar anymore, or they're even thinking, as horrible that is for us, that, like, this area, like, anything is wrong with this area anymore, because everything is moving so fast with what's going on. So I try to lean into, like, that, like, yeah, we're gonna bounce back. things will, you know, get better. And you can come here, and summer, forget it. Like, we're back on our feet.

Like, deep optimism, just 'cause this area has a lot of love. Like I said before, and a lot of people that have deep memories here, and, you know, you can't beat these mountains, and this is so, like, yeah, we're good. We will be good.

Rodrigo Afanador [30:15] So I keep saying, at least. I always say, Ashel's very sticky. Like, once you get exposed to it, it's, uh, you can't get rid of it. It's a slow burn. Well, Jordan, we'll start with you and kind of feel free to take this a little bit different, maybe, than the way the question asked. making an assumption here that the hospitality industry has been reshaped, where it's looks different today than it did, you know, obviously before the storm. If that's true, what does that look like? And if that's not true, then what are the pivots that either you're making or you're hearing other companies or, you know, businesses that are in the hospitality industry making?

Jordan Turchin [30:56] I mean, you know, sometimes, I think in anything, you can get comfortable. Um, and used to your ways, and if anything, something like this, puts you back on your feet. I mean, you've got to be alert, you've got to be on it. You've gotta be thinking about marketing, getting people in there. What can we do? I mean, you can't, it's not business as usual. So, like, of course there's that, like, compression piece of it. But that's only an, like, to expand into something else. So, I mean, we're, like, for us on our side, we're just constantly trying to think about, like, what can we do? What can we drive people here for? What can we offer? What can we play with? What can we experiment?

Which is a lot more, like, the experimentation. There's, like, a lot more room for that right now, um, where I would say before the hurricane. You're kind of, like, I wouldn't say in this box, but, like, this is what we do. This is how we do it. And now it's like, it doesn't matter. Roll the dice. Try it. Will that work? And it's been beautiful to actually see the things that did work. For instance, I know that winter was gonna be dead. Winter's dead on the farm every year. Well, November came around. I was like, I just lost fall. The holidays are gonna be quiet. I have to do something.

So, like, I put together a Winter B Treat series, which was all external programming with practitioners and wellness based stuff and full programming, and it's been really successful, and all of a sudden, I'm like, Oh, this is what I should do every winter. How can I beef that up? But, like, that one example is, like, yes, there are things here, there are opportunities here and places that, before, I don't know, whatever it is, it's gone. Like, it's been cleansed out, and you just have to sort of step up into the opportunity, and that can be really scary and stressful, but also exciting.

Unknown [32:42] That's a very example.

Molly Irani [32:45] Yeah, I agree. And just in the intention to not repeat you, because yes, to everything you said, that's what we had to do. We did a hurricane hot bar at Chaipani to reinvent service. We just felt like, Oh, thank you. Yay! Yay, hot bar. We just felt like people wanted to eat in abundance and casually, and come back together as our community, and we got so much feedback from people that they were so happy to actually have that space again without tourists, and to be able to come in and get a table on a Saturday night. So, yeah, a lot of reinvention, and there's a lot of good that comes out of that deep thought and deep work.

But I'll just share on a personal note, another sort of theme that I noticed within my own staff. And that is that when we emerged from the pandemic, running restaurants, dealing with being in service has never been harder. Sort of humanity forgot how to behave in public. Things were really hard. People were dropping, like, flies out of our industry, and there was a lot of tension points between workers and guests. we had to do a lot of work to move through that. What happened after the hurricane was the exact opposite. There was so much gratitude.

Our employees were so happy to get to come to work, to be able to be of service, to be able to consider what they do for work, to be something that makes a difference in the world, because they get to show up, and create space, to bring people together. They saw the connection to it in a way that's actually very invigorating, and I think, gives us an opportunity in the hospitality industry to really raise the bar back up again with service in our town, so that when tourists come back in full in the spring, which they will. We are so sure we're gonna make it happen, that they will feel that welcome, a deep welcome of gratitude from the hospitality industry.

And I see that playing out already in our teams.

Katie Button [34:47] Yeah, that's beautiful. Um, yes, I mean, I think we, it's funny to say, whenever something, I can't believe I have more than one example of when something catastrophic happens, and then you have to rebuild after, but whenever something like this happens, it, um, it, it does invigorate us to get better, to focus on what we do and do it better, like whether that's looking at the menu layout and the design and the experience and the service. It's like, how do we raise the bar even further? It just, it, it, it is. invigorating. And then the other thing, which is the lesson that I think we keep learning is that we need to diversify what we do.

And, um, and it's a big reason why we have court at home, why we created that in e-commerce, like, platform, and it helped us in the holiday months, for sure, as people wanted to support. And now we're looking towards how we continue to grow that, right? So that we have other revenue streams and ways to reach customers when in space dining is difficult or hit some struggles.

Jordan Turchin [35:55] Can I add one more thing to that? I think that a big piece for the future is, like, collaboration and partnership in this area. How do we work together more? How do we, like, synergize brands and companies, especially as we're calling people in, maybe not so much on the local front, but, you know, because there is that love, there is that Craftsman, you know, like, that's what people are coming for for that heart. And so, like, if there's, like, to ban that together, to bring that together, I think is a big opportunity for us, you know, Asheville Strong, whatever that might be, like, how that can come forward, um, for the future. So.

Zac Ruiz [36:34] All right, so we're gonna have some fun, put you on the spot. Next, we got the lightning round, and it's gonna be quick, 'cause we got to get to Q&A, all right? So, on that, what's one under the radar, Asheville business that deserves more attention right now?

Unknown [36:47] These three?

Zac Ruiz [36:49] Yeah. Under the radar? Our stage, it does not qualify as being under the radar. We all need it. We all need it. All right, lightning, answered.

Molly Irani [36:57] Flower. in the S&W market. If you guys haven't been there, it's an excellent bakery, and they did phenomenal work during the recovery.

Katie Button [37:07] Mother Cafe, that is one of my favorite spots, and, um, they have a great dinner. It's right now, it's, like, empty, but not empty. It's not true. It's a great spot to go find and find a glass of wine, but go. Everybody knows about lunch and brunch, and no one knows that you could sit and have wine. Brett Watson pour you whatever wine he wants to pour you and enjoy the incredible bite. So go for dinner. Yeah.

Rodrigo Afanador [37:33] That was a great example of a good lightning round, so we'll go again. Um, what's, uh, you know, one skill, couple words here, uh, that became unexpectedly crucial for business survival after Helene.

Unknown [37:47] Deep breaths.

Zac Ruiz [37:48] Hey, real life.

Molly Irani [37:51] Tenacity. I think we were all scrambling to learn languages. We didn't even know, and, you know, advocating, and for freaking, like, water... I had to call the NCRLA to get them to write a code to allow us to have filtration of our water, because it doesn't exist in the mountains, because we don't have hurricanes here, apparently.

Katie Button [38:11] Just knowing how you can plug a water tank up to your building, to flow fresh water outside of city water, to make it work.

Zac Ruiz [38:21] All right, last one, last one, one word, one word. Describe Asheville's post Helene hospitality industry, in one word.

Unknown [38:30] We'll start with you, Kitty.

Katie Button [38:32] Resilient. You stole my word. Community.

Jordan Turchin [38:37] I was taking it, Community, too. Yeah, for sure.

Zac Ruiz [38:41] All right, guys, round of applause for the speakers.

Rodrigo Afanador [38:47] Hey, guys, Rodrigo here wanted to say thank you for taking the time to listen into this month's panel conversation. We hope that you join us in person that next month's meeting. You can find out more at AVLmeetup.com. We primarily meet on the 1st Tuesday of every month, but be sure to check out our website, AVLmeetup.com. You can also watch this conversation on YouTube at AVLmeetup. Also, I have a quick announcement. We started a property management company called Vesta Property Management. So if you're looking for third-party management for long-term rental. We'd love the opportunity to talk to. Our goal at Vesta is to turn houses into homes and investments into returns.

If you're looking to work with a third-party management company that will allow you to have peace of mind and experience freedom around rentals. Uh, reach out to us. can help make that happen for you. bestapm.com.

Zac Ruiz [39:44] What's going on, everyone? Zach here to close it out before you sign off for the day. If you liked the data driven portion of today's meetup, then I'd love to take a moment to tell you about the Ruys report and REMC.co. If you're a real estate professional then you know that you should become the local economist of choice, but you're probably unsure of how to learn the skills required. That's where the Ruiz Report comes in. We offer customized marker reports to promote your business, training videos so you learn how to interpret the market data, and monthly quizzes to keep you sharp. Learn more at resreport.com and sign up for a free account to watch all of our training videos at no cost.

If you're more interested in the live data and some data and analytics dashboards, than I highly suggest you check out ramc.co. REMC.co is the 1st of its kind data and analytics dashboards for the real estate industry. Now you have to be an active participating member of the MLS in order to sign up, but it is unparalleled data on every market participant, whether that's an office, a listing, or one of the realtors. Again, you can find out more about REMC.co at REMC.CO. As always, thanks for listening, and we hope to see you at one of our next meetups.

If you can't make it and you still want to be part of the movers and shakers, then sign up for a free account at AVLmeetup.com and get yourself into our member directory. Thanks again. See you next month.