When J Hackett speaks about the coffee shop he'll open on Sept. 26 with business partner and friend Gene Ettison, he mentions stars aligning. Tides changing.
What Hackett and Ettison are building in the center of Depot Street in the Pink Dog Creative building will be a brick-and-mortar anchor for a community to come together in a space dedicated to social change.
Grind Coffee Co. will be a coworking space and cafe with Ettison's Ashe-hole doughnuts, branded coffee and other house-made pastries. It will also nurture entrepreneurship, with a focus on the Black community.
It seems a natural step for both both men, who met at Green Opportunities, where Hackett was the executive director from 2017-19. Ettison was the executive chef instructor.
Now, Ettison's eponymous investment group offers entry-level job training for people in underserved communities.
"Everything we do has a social justice aspect," Hackett said.
More: From basic survival to PPE purchasing, what business owners are doing with TDA grants
While Ettison and Hackett worked together at GO, which offered practical training and industry-recognized credentials for entry-level workers, the unemployment rate in the surrounding Southside community plummeted, Hackett said.
"People were being hired, and we were glad about that," he said. "Even though we've moved on from Green Opportunities, we still have a commitment to the neighborhood, and we want to make sure people are getting hired."
Both Hackett and Ettison have said the craft coffee sector is not exactly brimming with people of color on the retail end, and this will be Asheville's first Black-owned coffee shop. But moreover, the partners believe Grind will help support fledgling entrepreneurs by offering accessible ways to launch businesses.
More: 'Reason to feel good': 10th Muse coffee buys Frostbite, plans new West Asheville concept
"Entrepreneurship is one of the quickest ways a marginalized person can build wealth," Hackett said. "Instead of working a 9-5, they can take their own ideas and build a product they can sell, and that's how it's been done for years."
Entrepreneurs can use Grind for their official business address, receiving mail and packages in secured mailboxes. Grind will have other basic business needs, including printers, fax machines and conference and meeting areas.
A membership charge of $15 or $20 per month gets you discounts on and access to various business-supporting services. "Or maybe you want to support another entrepreneur and get an equity membership," Hackett said.
He added that he feels a changing tide in Asheville, and thinks the equity membership option could be popular.
"Even under the banner of reparations, let's continue to think about how we can redistribute the wealth," he said.
More: 'Black households due $800,000 in reparations; Asheville plan falls short,' says Duke professor
Need for sense of community vital
With offices closed and people isolated throughout COVID-19, the need for a sense of community is vital to burgeoning entrepreneurs, for whom cross-pollination and networking can be the key to success.
Hackett also sees an opportunity in the cafe's location on Depot Street, which runs through the historically Black Southside community. At its northern end is the rapidly gentrifying area now known as the River Arts District.
More: 'Resilient': New independent restaurants open in Asheville while some chains close
"Gene has deep roots in the (Southside) community, and we wanted to bring that side of the street closer to the River Arts District," Hackett said. "Grind is in the middle of all that. It's a great place for people to come together."
Hackett came to Asheville in 1998 to go to UNCA on a scholarship. He chose the area for its beauty, but upon arrival began to learn more about the city's history of tearing down and apart Black communities.
"I don't have the history with Asheville that Gene does, but I recognize the gaps and the disparity," Hackett said.
That disparity has only grown as Asheville has grown, he said.
"Black people are still making 30% less. The achievement gaps are still there, and the lines are clearly delineated by race," Hackett said.
More: With COVID-19 crisis driving skyrocketing hunger rates, Asheville chefs rush in to help
"People need to come together," he added. "And if we can be the glue, if people can come together and meet over coffee, folks will get to know each other more, and collaborate."
Hackett credited Hedy Fischer, who co-founded Pink Dog Creative in a former textile manufacturing and warehouse building in the River Arts District, for supporting his and Ettison's efforts to establish Grind.
"Her equitable approach to leasing this space has just been phenomenal," Hackett said.
Bridging the divide
Fischer said nurturing diversity has been central to Pink Dog Creative, which she in 2010 as a center for artists and other entrepreneurs in the burgeoning arts district.
"Because Depot Street has been developed over the past 10 years with art studios and things that have attracted more of a white population, there seems to have been a false divide, an invisible divide, between what is now considered the River Arts District and the Southside community," she said.
More: Button & Co. Bagels closed; Restaurants 'struggling,' with need for aid 'urgent'
She and her husband Randy Fischer hope to bridge that divide by continuing to prioritize the support of Black-owned businesses and people of color in the arts.
"I see Grind as being yet another bridge to the Black community," she said. "There are so many opportunities there, and to me it's a dream come true. It fits in with what we want to see Pink Dog become."
Hackett said he feels as though the stars have aligned. And not for nothing, he added, "the parking is incredible."
Upcoming events, details
Grind will open Sept. 26 with a celebration from 6-10 p.m. featuring the Hillcrest High Steppers. The date coincides with Hackett's 40th birthday.
The first Friday of every month will showcase events including live bands, spoken word and more. First up: Hypnotic Band, Oct. 2, 7-11 p.m.
Black literary night with Aisha Adams on Oct. 9, 7-9 p.m., features Mathew Knowles and his book, "The DNA of Achievers: 10 Traits of Highly Successful Professionals."
Location: 346 Depot St.
Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m., daily.
More: grindavl.com.
___
Mackensy Lunsford has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years, and has been a staff writer for the Asheville Citizen Times since 2012. Lunsford is a former professional line cook and one-time restaurant owner.
Reach me: mlunsford@citizentimes.com.
Read more: Subscribe to the Citizen Times here. Subscribe to my newsletter here.
"cafe" - Google News
September 08, 2020 at 04:05PM
https://ift.tt/2R65uu0
Grind Coffee Co. brings Black-owned cafe and coworking space to the River Arts District - Citizen Times
"cafe" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FkbMR3
https://ift.tt/3c4yPxW
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25244079/4.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment