Workers Hope to Buy, Reopen Popular Eatery as Workers Cooperative

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June 19, 2008
Workers hope to buy, reopen popular eatery
by Carol Motsinger

The doors have closed at the Gourmet Perks coffee shop, but the baristas
are still buzzing.

After about a decade in business, the breakfast and lunch spot closed
abruptly this week. Now the employees are working to raise money to buy
and run the Merrimon Avenue restaurant.

“Gourmet Perks has really been involved in the Asheville community,”
said Jasmine Armour, one of the former employees who is leading the
effort to buy the restaurant. It would be a natural transition, she
said, for the place to become a workers’ cooperative.

Gourmet Perks hosted all-ages concerts and had a music schedule filled
through July 30. TocacaT, a Seattle-based band, was scheduled to play
Wednesday night at the coffee shop. The group was able to move
reschedule the show at Caffiend on Merrimon Avenue.

“The immediate outpouring of support … has been overwhelming,” Armour said.

Owner Dan Bangert, who ran the restaurant for two years, said he closed
it because it was losing money.

“We are deeply saddened and regretful that we couldn’t maintain a
business that was operating at a loss,” he said.

The rising cost of food, especially of eggs and milk, hit the business
hard, he said, and the number of customers had declined over the past
few months.

The nine employees aiming to buy the business are seeking donations.

“If (Armour) is able to come up with a business plan and the ability to
buy the business, then God bless her, and I hope it happens,” Bangert said.

Bangert informed the employees on Sunday that the business would be
shutting down. On Monday, the group set up grills in the parking lot and
served the leftover food to loyal customers who showed up expecting
their morning meal, Armour said.

“The regulars still got their breakfast out on the parking lot because
it’s traumatic for us,” she said.

“It’s traumatic for the community.”

Want to help?

The Gourmet Perks employees, known as The Workers’ Collective, are
accepting donations to help them purchase and operate the restaurant.
For more information, visit http://www.myspace/gourmetperks or call
Jasmine Armour at 253-740-3618.


--
Dan Clore

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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
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