Here’s How Restaurant Workers in Asheville and Beyond Are Leading the Way on Hurricane Relief

“No water, no restaurant, no income.” Chef Silver Iocovozzi wrote those heartbreaking words on social media about the temporary closure of his 18-seat restaurant Neng Jr.’s, which has earned national accolades for its Filipinx-Southern menu in Asheville, North Carolina. After Hurricane Helene made landfall in late September, the city’s water system was knocked out in the devastating floods that swept away most of the River Arts District, and the estimated timeline for restored access to potable water may be weeks or even months from now. (As of November, running water has been reinstated, but it remains unsafe for human consumption, and that forces restaurants and breweries lacking clean water to stay closed.) Iocovozzi’s staff has participated in the relief effort, providing hot lunches, delivering supplies to nearby towns, distributing food donations, and helping friends dig out from the mud deposited by the torrent. They recently hosted a pop-up dinner in Brooklyn to raise funds for reopening. 

We’ve all seen the footage from hurricanes Helene and Milton. A double whammy of destruction ripped through Florida coastal areas, Georgia agricultural counties, and western North Carolina. Not to diminish the impact on others still picking up the debris of their lives in these regions, but food and beverage workers remain some of the hardest hit because they often live paycheck to paycheck, and it’s especially tough when the rent or mortgage comes due. Compounding that is the financial reality for the smallest independently owned restaurants and bars, many of which operate on absurdly tight margins, tied to suppliers demanding cash on delivery or net 30 terms. These small businesses may also lack the deep-pocket support of big money backers—let alone decent insurance—to recover fully after a natural disaster in cities heavily dependent on culinary tourism. So that’s when bartenders, line chefs, and servers may start to ask themselves: How long can I afford to stick around?

“The need is so high right now,” says Jen Hidinger-Kendrick, founder of Giving Kitchen. “A lot of that has to do with the disaster relief action around the hurricanes, and we’re seeing four times the volume asking for help in the last two to three weeks. That’s on top of other crises like a cancer diagnosis or a child having to be hospitalized. But we’re here for service workers, full stop.” Hidinger-Kendrick explains that the nonprofit’s Stability Network directs those needing standard assistance to a broad array of social services, while the new Disaster Relief page on their website posted emergency resources and up-to-date information on accessing shelter, foodbanks, pet food, bulk water, and financial assistance in areas impacted by the storms. In response to overwhelming asks, Giving Kitchen reached out to its corporate donors to create a supplemental aid package for urgent storm relief. “Once a worker asked for help, we provided a $500 gift card to be used for immediate needs: gas in your tank, replacing spoiled groceries in the refrigerator, a hotel room after losing a home. When we launched the expedited application, we got one request per minute.” Hidinger-Kendrick noted that the request process is closed for now, but the fundraising continues: “We have also seen many restaurant partners hosting dinners benefitting the work we do to help food service workers around the country.”

While Giving Kitchen has grown from serving its Atlanta home base to a nationwide program, local mutual aid initiatives are still on the ground in the impacted states. In Asheville, chef Meherwan and Molly Irani launched an Employee Relief Fund to help their local staff and have shifted to an affordable, all-you-can-eat “Hurricane Hot Bar” buffet menu at Chai Pani to keep their neighbors fed. Chef Sean Brock, a stalwart advocate of Appalachian foodways, has partnered with Farm & Sparrow mill on a grassroots fundraiser to benefit hospitality workers in Western North Carolina: They’re offering a heritage variety Cherokee White Eagle cornbread mix for those who donate. Along with their street pantries in converted newspaper boxes and La Cocina de Mamá “Mama’s Kitchen” food truck, BeLoved Asheville, a nonprofit focused on food access, housing inequity, and healthcare services for the greater Buncombe County community, has been distributing meals and water in response to the current crisis. Their immediate needs wish list includes masa, beans, rice, oil, gift cards, and cook stoves. In Burnsville, north of Asheville, legendary Appalachian foodways author Ronni Lundy’s indie bookstore was flooded; you can support her by purchasing cookbooks directly from Plott Hound Books.

On Florida’s west coast, between Manasota Key and Anna Maria Island, many of the restaurants on Sarasota Bay were swamped by storm surge. The Spanish-Cuban classic Columbia Restaurant, Florida’s oldest, has struggled to reopen. Café L’Europe, also on St. Armands Circle, has flooded four times in the last 18 months. At Siesta Key Oyster Bar, overflowing grease traps coated the dining room with sludge. Sue Atamanchuk and her son Mike, along with other family members, own multiple small bars and a marina on Manasota Key. They employ more than 300 people across their businesses, and she recently thanked her staff for their support after Milton roared through: “To our incredible team members, who we consider family, we love you and are here for you every step of the way. Together, we will recover … You are our rocks.” For additional support, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation has partnered with the Southern Smoke Foundation to provide a Rapid Response Fund for these local food and beverage workers.

And in Savannah, where power outages after Helene ruined supplies in many walk-ins, restaurants and bars faced restocking from scratch. Goodfortune Market, a corner store dedicated to fresh food access for its Baldwin Park and Live Oak neighborhoods, was already flooded when pipes in its bathroom broke just weeks before the storm smacked Savannah. Most of their stock was damaged. Owner Becca Goossen, who worked as a server at The Grey under chef Mashama Bailey, opened the small grocery earlier this year on Waters Avenue with the goal of connecting local farms to urban residents within walking distance. During the outage, she sold produce and shelf-stable items out front on the sidewalk. The good news? The market is now back open and serving bagel sandwiches again. 

Here’s to Neng Jr.’s being able to pour their signature adobo martinis soon, too.