The team from wine distributor Native Selections during their trip to Europe (Photo courtesy Michael Smith)
Summer is an odd time for food and beverage workers. It’s slower than usual at restaurants as diners retreat to backyard barbecues or board planes, trains and automobiles en route to vacations. Just like the rest of us, though, dining industry employees are thirsty for pool days, beach retreats and slushy cocktails of their own.
And while it may be brief, during the first week of July, some of the area’s hardest working staffers can have the chance to get away. Seizing the opportunity for a prime summertime pause, many of the city’s eateries and bars will shut ’er down July 3-7.
“Most restaurants are closed on July 4, so that already makes it a good time to take off,” says restaurateur Kendra Feather of The Roosevelt, Laura Lee’s and Garnett’s. “Some weeks are so slow, you would save money by being closed.”
When breaks in this busy business do come, they sometimes take the form of field trips. At the end of May, local wine importer Native Selections and a small crew from its sales team spent a week in the foothills of Austria and Slovenia, visiting multigenerational winemakers and frolicking with farm animals in the vineyards at a 300-year-old Slovenian estate. They stopped at eight wineries during the weeklong journey. Sales rep and oenophile Michael Smith says his work is often a solo venture and that going abroad was a welcome opportunity to connect with his co-workers and the craft.
“Traveling with the team is not only a break from the monotony of the ‘daily grind,’ but it also provides an opportunity for us to chat together about anything and everything,” Smith says. “So many times I’ll have ‘Eureka!’ moments because of how a teammate phrases a question or statement to a winemaker, or from their response. The world of wine is vast, and it’s nearly impossible to know it all, so it’s always great to have a partner or two to learn alongside.”
Native Selections works mostly with small vintners and family businesses. Smith says that walking the vineyards and perusing the cellars helps put into perspective how special it is that those same wines make it to Virginia. “You can look at pictures and read about these things, but it doesn’t click until you witness it,” he says. “Each vineyard has its own personality, and being able to personally smell the air, inspect the soils and see how the vines are tended to only makes your appreciation of the final product that much greater.”
Traveling with the team is not only a break from the monotony of the ‘daily grind,’ but it also provides an opportunity for us to chat together about anything and everything.
—Michael Smith, Native Selections
Jardin and Beaucoup co-owner Donnie Glass also recently visited the vines with employees. Since opening his first Richmond restaurant, Grisette, he’s used plenty of airline miles securing flights for staffers, and the blend of education and camaraderie has led them from the Loire Valley in France to Campania, Ischia and Sicily in Italy.
Later this month, Tanya Cauthen of Belmont Butchery in the Museum District is having five of her fellow meatmongers join her at the Carolina Meat Conference in Boone, North Carolina. In a niche sector of the industry, she says, it’s a valuable opportunity for networking and learning — so this year, she’s bringing the squad.
“For my junior staff, it’s important for them to realize there is so much more out there than just us and the difference facets of the industry,” Cauthen says. “I hope it sparks people’s creativity and gets them jazzed about their job. ... The conversations at the shop a week or two following are super fun because everyone is buzzed and excited.”
And on a more casual, hot-dog-centric excursion, the gang from Fan hoagie spot Stanley’s hit The Diamond together. At the end of May, owner James Kohler and a dozen or so staff members went to a Richmond Flying Squirrels game — and yes, a Dilly Dog and foam fingers were in the mix.
“We are a pretty tight-knit team … so it’s awesome coming up with excuses to get us all in the same space not at work,” Kohler says.
