Being a great bartender is the sort of thing your parents can lose track of. They know you work in a nice restaurant—one like Tavola, for instance. They glean from your calls home that the hours are long and the work is hard. But greatness? At making a gin and tonic? That’s tough for Mom […]
One name has long been absent from discussions of Charlottesville’s great restaurants: The Old Mill Room at the Boar’s Head Resort. Once a local standard bearer for high-end cuisine, the hotel dining room was overtaken during the past decade by a growing collection of top-tier local eateries with a fresher, trendier feel. The Boar’s Head […]
One morning last April, Afton Mountain Vineyards winemaker Damien Blanchon stood under a canopy in the rain, his yellow rain slicker a bright spot on the gray day. Smoke streamed out from the firepit he tended. The night’s meal, a freshly butchered pig, dripped fat onto the coals. Blanchon’s on friendly terms with Polyface Farm’s […]
THEN: A&N, closed in 2006 / NOW: Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, opened in 2011 If you grew up in Charlottesville, you probably remember stopping by A&N in the summer to shop for back-to-school gear. For several decades, A&N, a popular, Richmond-based sportswear chain founded in 1868, operated on the Downtown Mall (among other locations in […]
As the U.S. population grows less homogeneous, organizations are increasingly seizing on opportunities to incorporate diversity and inclusion programs and policies—or in abbreviated corporate parlance, “D&I”—into their workplace cultures. Diversity covers the spectrum of human differences, including age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexuality, language, national origin, and socio-economic status. Inclusion refers to a culture […]
Smart-tech companies Lime and Bird introduced dockless electric scooters to Charlottesville late last year, as new “micromobility” options have swept in to urban areas nationwide. Forty-six percent of vehicle trips in the U.S. are under three miles, and scooters are fast, green alternatives to climbing into the car. Smaller cities with university populations like Charlottesville […]
Producers of handmade or uniquely sourced goods often start with an idea, a shoestring budget, and word-of-mouth buzz to launch their dream. Whether scaling up or staying small, here are three who have made it work. Stephanie Williams started La Vache Microcreamery, her gourmet caramel enterprise, after the ‘08 downturn temporarily dried up her architecture […]
Most small farmers could use a little green. That’s the idea behind Slow Money Central Virginia, a micro-finance nonprofit that helps local small farmers grow. The venture is affiliated with the Slow Money Institute based in Boulder, Colorado. Named in tribute to the slow food movement, the Institute provides what it calls “nurture capital” to […]
If your business isn’t on social media, some say, it doesn’t exist. It’s only been a scant 13 years since social media hit the mainstream. Yet as “new” as social media still is, it has become so pervasive in our lives that most businesses today need it to compete and thrive. For companies that are […]
From its origins in 1975 as a public service corporation transporting elderly and disabled customers, JAUNT (that’s Jefferson Area United Transportation) has grown to cover a six-county, 2,600-square-mile service area while welcoming the general public onto its 85 vehicles. Recently, the organization has been expanding into commuter routes for areas underserved by public transit. JAUNT’s […]