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    • Wicked Weed Funkatorium closes Cultura indefinitely, staff laid off
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    Wicked Weed Funkatorium closes Cultura indefinitely, staff laid off

    Harry Posted on

    ASHEVILLE — On Nov. 1, staff at Wicked Weed Brewing’s sour- and barrel-aged beer-focused Funkatorium brewpub and the adjacent Cultura restaurant at 147 Coxe Ave. were summoned to the South Slope facility by management and most ended up in a meeting. Number of unemployed people in the service sector.

    Conor Tormey, who has worked at Wicked Weed for three years and is Funkatorium’s prep cook, said staff were preparing to reopen after closing for Sept. 27, an announcement that surprised many. Tropical Storm Helene and citywide water outages.

    He said he was called to work on October 18 to prepare for reopening on November 18, and recipe and menu writing was ongoing.

    “Two weeks ago they called us back to work, told us we could work 30 hours a week, make up the additional 10 hours a week we missed due to unemployment, and try to reopen,” Tormey said. he said.

    According to former staffers who attended the meeting, Wicked Weed co-founder Ryan Guthy told them their positions were eliminated, effective immediately. Human resources staff answered questions and eligible workers were offered severance packages and told their health benefits would be covered for the next six months.

    More: WNC farms disaster relief meeting offers recovery resources after Tropical Storm Helene

    Wicked Weed was founded in 2012 by local entrepreneurs and Acquired by Anheuser-BuschIt belonged to AB InBev in 2017. In 2014, Funkatorium was introduced and subsequently Culture In 2019.

    Wicked Weed’s community engagement and communications manager, Rachel Dudasik, confirmed that Cultura and Funkatorium “will remain temporarily closed” but no reopening date was given.

    on Oct. 25 at 91 Biltmore Ave. Wicked Weed Brew Pub at has reopened. On Oct. 31, Wicked Weed’s bar at 145 Jacob Holm Way in Candler reopened.

    More: Asheville restaurateurs prepare for potential ‘mass exodus’ of food service workers

    Tormey estimated 30-40 employees were laid off. He said three of about 16 kitchen employees were selected to be transferred to the Biltmore Avenue brewpub, but all front-of-house employees were laid off.

    He said staff can reapply for their jobs when restaurants reopen.

    Before Tropical Storm Helene, Tormey said he was concerned about how restaurants would perform during the slower winter season as customer traffic was greatly reduced in the wake of 2021’s COVID-19 tourism surge.

    Eric Morris was hired as Cultura’s chef de cuisine in 2019 and was later promoted to executive chef.

    On October 17, he said he left Wicked Week of his own accord.

    “As a chef, their focus is on getting the beer on the shelves; this is a brewery and that makes sense, so a lot of the resources and the focus of the entire operation was more towards that and less into the restaurant space, which is where my passion lies,” Morris said.

    He said corporate oversight and micromanagement have increased over the years.

    “I was having a hard time dealing with this, trying to align my values ​​with the values ​​of a giant conglomerate,” Morris said.

    He is currently working with locally owned and operated Foothills Meats to develop and introduce a new two-story restaurant in Black Mountain focused on sustainable butchery and whole animal production.

    Morris said there were at least 40 employees at Cultura and Funkatorium before his departure.

    Tormey said he is looking for new employment, but options are few as many businesses remain closed or operate with limited staff due to storm damage and/or water outages in the city, which are expected to continue into December.

    “It’s a strange situation to know that not only Wicked Weed’s staff has been laid off, but so many others in the industry are out of work as well,” Tormey said. “Even businesses that say they’re hiring again are hiring few people. It’s going to be a tough winter for a lot of people.”

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    Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and has been covering arts, entertainment and hospitality in Louisiana for several years. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage.

    Harry
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