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Virtue Without Signaling

After savoring every bit of my lunch at Ecusta Market & Café, I realized I hadn’t stopped smiling since owners Emily and Robert Gunn walked me through a tour of their Market, Café, and outdoor spaces.

As I lingered over my latte, multiple thoughts came to mind: this is a happy place. It’s light & bright, friendly (including family friendly), and genuine. Attention’s is paid to little details. Employees are smiling, too.

I first met Emily and Robert Gunn by chance a couple years ago at Sharewell Coffee in Flat Rock. I sat near them and couldn’t help noticing they were going over a site/building plan. Of course I started a conversation, asking as many questions as I could politely get away with. They were very open and forthcoming, sharing their journey and plan. Turned out they each have a decade or more of higher-position experience at very successful Asheville culinary businesses under their belts.

Forward to now and they’ve taken a derelict building and converted it into a fabulous Market (open about 7 months) that features a surprising number of “hyper-local (WNC), local (NC), and Regional” products, including pantry staples, fresh produce, frozen foods, personal care items, wine, beer, and too many other things to mention. Producers are identified by small signs with their details.

MARKET

 

Emily and Robert also ended up taking on a second derelict building next door, converting it into a wonderful Café! It’s been open about 6 weeks now. They originally planned on using the space between the buildings as a breezeway, but ended up enclosing it. That space is now restrooms and additional café seating. Both buildings are located a step or two from the new Ecusta Trail. And I mean a single step or two. They’re located next to Trailside Brewing Company, if you’re familiar.

“We built a place we’d want to be with our family.” ~ Emily Gunn

CAFÉ

Current Breakfast and Lunch Menus are pictured in the gallery below, but a few small tweaks will be on updated menus soon. 

 

Step out the back door and you’ll see very nice tall boxes planted with flowers and other plants recommended by an employee that has (if I remember correctly) a Botany Degree and Raymond’s Garden Center. Maybe even by the two fun women at Raymond’s known as the “Shady Ladies”? The planters are a friendly barrier between the trail and red-umbrella-shaded picnic tables. Plans are in the works for cords or something similar between planters at all but the two central planters, creating an obvious entrance with a coming soon arbor. Eventually, there’ll be outdoor seating for about a hundred people. There’s a bike rack out there for folks pedaling their way along the trail. “Please, no bikes on the patio.”

“Our customers get us and what we’re trying to do here.” ~ Robert Gunn

There have been a couple glitches – not unusual and all out of their control: a short power outage during open hours that affected all of the Trailside buildings, a keg cooler that stopped working, but yay, it’s been replaced with a new one as of a few days ago so craft beer should be on tap now, and a brand new customer-facing cooler that isn’t working, but is being replaced.

“We want people to linger. Come in for a drink or snack and spend time working on your laptop. We want the Café to be a gathering place. Meet friends for coffee. Bring your family in for lunch.” ~ Emily and Robert Gunn

Also, know they’ve been directly involved, doing all of this while raising their three young children: 5, 3, and 1 ½ years old. Speaking of young children, they’ve created a cute, large fenced play area outside. More play “things” will be coming soon, like a climbing dome and kids “mulch kitchen” (meaning no water).

My experience was seamless. Yes, they knew me, but I watched everything with a critical eye, with the Gunns on hand and not, and didn’t see anything or anyone treated any differently. You can probably tell, and I tried not to gush, but I am so thoroughly impressed with Emily and Robert Gunn! Kinda’ wish Robert’s name was Peter, though. Kidding! First time you’ve ever heard that, right Robert? 😉

“This is what we want to do withour lives.” ~ Emily Gunn

NOTES:

• Ecusta Market & Cafe is located at 877 Lenox Park Dr, Hendersonville, NC.
• The Gunns worked with Atlas Branding on most, if not all, design features. From colors, to logo, and even custom wallpaper used in the the top front of some Market cases and the walls in both bathroom.
• The Cafe serves Breakfast from 8am to 3pm, Lunch 11am to 3pm, and the Lunch Menu plus some extras from 3pm to Close. Extra things like Loaded Fries, a Pimento Cheese Plate with house-made Pimento Cheese and Accidental Baker crackers, Trout Dip Plate, and Mexican Torta. A Cheese Plate and Charcuterie may be offered at some point.