Cooking up political influence in Asheville

ASHEVILLE - Despite a deep entanglement in government bureaucracy, local restaurant owners have, with a few notable exceptions, kept their heads in the kitchen and out of City Hall.

The biggest restaurant advocacy group in town, the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, now works largely behind the scenes, shying away from bolder policy stances after a contentious 2011 fight over food trucks.

But a larger group, one known for representing chain restaurants and controversial stances on restaurant benefits, is coming to town, raising fears for some in Asheville's independent-minded restaurant industry.

Asheville Kitchen Cabinet is a "new civic engagement program committed to growing and preserving opportunity in the restaurant industry.”

That's according to Aaron Scarboro with Targeted Persuasion, a Raleigh lobbying and advocacy group hired by the National Restaurant Association to run North Carolina Kitchen Cabinet efforts, which now number three including Charlotte and Raleigh.

The Asheville Kitchen Cabinet was recently formed with backing by the National Restaurant Association, an organization that spends millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign donations to influence restaurant rules.

Often known as the "other NRA," the association promotes the financial interests of members like McDonald's and Darden Restaurants, and takes stances against a higher minimum wage and mandatory paid sick leave.

The NRA spent $4.3 million on lobbying in 2015, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In the 2014 election cycle, the group gave $1.3 million in campaign donations.

But Scarboro insists that the Asheville Kitchen Cabinet is not a lobbying initiative.

“What we want to do is be able to tell the story of these restaurateurs and a lot of the good work that they’re doing in this community so local elected officials will look at the industry as a community partner instead of an industry that just needs to be regulated," he said.

Those with the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, though, say their local organization already has that kind of relationship with city officials. They question what the new group, which could include fast-food franchise owners and chain resort managers, will bring to the table.

And Alia Todd, an organizer of the Asheville Sustainable Restaurant Workforce, a local worker advocacy group, said she has more questions than answers about the group.

Of the players in the local restaurant scene, Todd's group advocates for the largest contingent. According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the restaurant industry is the second-largest employer in the Asheville metro area with 869 restaurants by the end of last year and more coming all the time.

The Sustainable Restaurant Workforce, said Todd, is a local community organization committed to improving the lives of workers in the community and diners in this town. She doubted the NRA-funded group had a similar agenda.

"It sounds like this is another attempt at getting into the affairs of local businesses by a national lobbying firm, and one that's successfully kept paid sick day legislation off the agenda at both the state and federal level, poured millions into keeping the minimum wage down, and the federal sub-minimum wage at $2.13," she said. "We don't know a lot about this particular group, but we know a lot about the NRA. And it's troubling for the Asheville working community."

But local supporters of the new group also say it will give Asheville restaurant owners more resources to deal with tricky legal problems and regulations, including state alcohol laws.

Early organizing

Negotiating the ins and out of the sometimes-tricky policies and codes inherent in running a food business was part of the impetus behind AIR.

"Being a great chef is not enough to be in the restaurant business — though it's definitely a plus," said Michel Baudouin, one of four founders of the independent restaurant organization.

Baudouin, now owner of the popular Bouchon and Creperie Bouchon, opened the Grape Escape 14 years ago in the I.M. Pei-designed building on Pack Square that now serves as The Biltmore Co. headquarters. Soon after, Asheville Independent Restaurants held its first meeting in the restaurant.

The initial agenda included strategies to lend independent restaurants the type of clout that chain restaurants could afford. In a relatively spare restaurant landscape, AIR's members hoped to publicize small eateries, perhaps purchase health insurance as a group to compete with larger employers.

The latter is still on the table. "But it's not that easy and not that clear," Baudouin said.

AIR now has 120 members ranging from Asheville’s oldest dining establishment — Little Pigs Bar-B-Q — to the swanky downtown Nightbell, said executive director Jane Anderson. The group, which is a trade association with a $200,000 annual budget, doesn’t allow franchises and is limited to independently owned eateries.

“Our mission is to support, benefit and empower our local restaurant community,” Anderson said.

That can mean educating members by inviting local government officials to meetings. Recently, the Buncombe County Health Department briefed AIR members on some of the latest regulations and how to comply with them.

"The rules are changing all the time, and we're just trying to stay ahead of them," Baudouin said.

It can also mean creating programs like the Green Opportunities Kitchen Ready Training Program, a culinary training course that prepares otherwise difficult-to-hire individuals for employment in the food service industry.

Initiated by Tupelo Honey owner Steve Frabitore, Baudouin and former owner of The Market Place Mark Rosenstein, AIR and its member restaurants contributed in the neighborhood of $70,000 to kick start the program.

Grants from the city and county invested an additional $80,000 to the AIR-created program.

City reaches out to restaurants

In terms of politics, AIR jumped on the city’s main stage in 2011 when it sought stepped-up regulations for the growing food truck movement, saying the new mobile restaurants could hurt brick-and-mortar restaurants, a key part of the city economy.

That topic proved so contentious that police were called to City Hall to de-escalate a fight over whether food trucks should be allowed in Asheville's downtown.

At the center of the row was Downtown Commission Chairman Dwight Butner, former owner of the now-closed Vincenzo's and an AIR founder. "I just don't see a big upside and I see a lot of potential downside," said Butner in a lengthy Citizen-Times editorial at the time.

Food trucks would become part of the city's culinary landscape the following year. But the way it played out was bad for AIR’s image, Anderson said, like Goliath versus many little Davids.

“It came out a lot louder and meaner and more anti-food truck than I think it was,” she said.

Since then, AIR’s work with the city has been largely behind the scenes, most recently lending input to the city's Restaurant Startup Guide.

Designed like a board game, the guide leads restaurateurs through the process from permits to open doors. The city of Asheville's Development Services Director Jason Nortz said the point is to lessen the burden of building restaurants, one of the most-regulated enterprises out there.

Nortz said it's an effort to end frustration during the complicated build-out process, when restaurant owners' tempers can flare and city employees can dig in their heels.

Regulations vary from state to state, and sometimes county to county. And restaurant owners often don't understand the intricacies of navigating the permitting process. "And that's frustrating for all parties," Nortz said.

Only time will tell whether the Startup Guide works, he said. City officials will meet with AIR in early October to find out what's working and what's not.

"We all benefit from having restaurants in town," said  naming the positive press and income among benefits a city earns from a thriving restaurant scene. "Asheville’s living proof."

Looking for more leverage

Meanwhile, Anthony and Sherrye Coggiola, owners of The Cantina in Biltmore Village, have agreed to serve as point people for the Kitchen Cabinet effort, helping the state-level association understand how Asheville, with its flair for independent restaurants, differs from other cities.

The Coggiolas, who have been active members of AIR, with Sherrye a past president, praised the independent organization's efforts.

But Anthony Coggiola, an international government agricultural business contractor and ex-Army officer, reached out to the NRA’s state arm, the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, looking for more leverage.

His concerns included rules regarding service animals in eateries and backing down a state alcohol regulator who wanted to stop the Cantina from selling beer “flights.”

“AIR does a lot of tremendous things for independent restaurants," he said. "But there is some blocking and tackling and support that you need.”

The NRA certainly has clout, though it's wielded it in controversial ways.

Notably, the group is pushing back against moves to raise the minimum wage to as high as $15 an hour and against mandates to put nutritional information on menus or ban trans fats. The NRA also helped block requirements for paid sick leave, a cause that had a local restaurant workers advocacy group, led by the Asheville Sustainable Restaurant Workforce, demonstrate in downtown Asheville over Labor Day weekend.

Anthony Coggiola said he is undecided about those issues and they do not figure into his relationship with the association.

NRA staff in Washington say there are 19 Kitchen Cabinets in different states. Asheville was picked before some larger cities in North Carolina based on the feedback from members, said spokeswoman Christin Fernandez. The NRA is spending less than $100,000 on the three locations in the state.

Scarboro with Targeted Persuasion said, along with the Coggiolas, GO Kitchen Ready head chef Liam Rowland is a member. He declined to name other members.

The Kitchen Cabinet's first official event was on Tuesday at the Cantina, with Mayor Esther Manheimer speaking about the upcoming $74 million in bond referendums, something she has done with multiple organizations across the city.

Sherrye Coggiola described Kitchen Cabinet as more of a “social event” and not a membership group. “This is simply a way to get in front of local officials to have open, casual discussions,” she said.

Anderson, who attended, offered doubts about how AIR and the Kitchen Cabinet would work together, saying the group at first wanted to “co-brand” the event, but she said she wasn’t comfortable doing so.

“If I’m going to brand something with AIR on it I need to know what your agenda is," she said. "Why are we doing this? Our community is small enough that most of our restaurateurs know they can walk right up to the mayor and talk to her.”

Todd said she hoped to connect with both AIR and the Kitchen Cabinet going forward.

"But I can't imagine local workers will be clinking their glasses together at thought of city officials meeting with a group that has a reputation for shepharding legislation against paid sick days and other troubling tactics," she said.

Asheville Independent Restaurant Association

Formed 2003

120 members (limited to independently owned eateries, no franchises)

President: Kevin Westmoreland, co-owner Corner Kitchen, Chestnut

Expenditures: $200,000 annual budget

National Restaurant Association

Formed 1919

500,000 members

Chairman: Joe Kadow, vice president of Outback Steakhouse and Bloomin’ Brands

Expenditures: $4.3 million on lobbying in 2015, $1.3 million on campaign donations in 2014

Sources: Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, National Restaurant Association, Center for Responsive Politics