Rebuilding Asheville: How The Scheffer Group Is Leading Local Efforts to Restore Access to Clean Water After Hurricane Helene
Scheffer Group Restaurants Reopen, Offering Safe, Potable Water and Exceptional Hospitality
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the Asheville, North Carolina community has faced a monumental hurdle: a clean water shortage impacting many of its beloved local restaurants. With the region still grappling, restaurants have struggled to reopen their doors to serve their communities. The Scheffer Group has taken a proactive role in bringing safe water access to not only their establishments including Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian, Jettie Rae’s Oyster House, and Gan Shan West, but to nine other restaurants across the city as well. Eric Scheffer, owner of The Scheffer Group, and his team have become instrumental in connecting Asheville restaurants with potable water, working tirelessly to ensure that this cherished mountain city’s dining landscape recovers and thrives.
Large water tanks sit prominently outside of Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian, Jettie Rae’s Oyster House, and Gan Shan West, each filled with safe, health department-approved water transported by Topwater Energy Solutions, a company based in Baytown, Texas. Topwater delivers clean, potable water to these tanks, while Moody Plumbing has installed new pumps that allow this water to flow directly into the buildings, ensuring full access to safe, potable water for all restaurant operations. For an added layer of security, The Scheffer Group has installed UV filtration systems, going above and beyond health and safety standards to ensure Asheville’s guests and staff have peace of mind. They are serving bottled water to guests, conserving the water in these tanks to maintain kitchen operations and other essential services.
The Scheffer Group has stepped forward to manage and coordinate clean water access for nine other restaurants in the area as well. Through the leadership of Eric Scheffer and Directors Jordan Taylor and Sean Cudmore, we have served as the main point of contact between Moody Plumbing, Topwater Energy Solutions, and fellow Asheville restaurateurs, streamlining the logistics and administration of clean water access. They are helping to arrange routes and coordinate so that these resources are more affordable and accessible, and they’re making notable suggestions such as bringing in smaller tanker trucks so that more restaurant locations can receive the water they need.
“We’ve always been about creating spaces where people can gather, find comfort, and heal. Right now, we’re focused on making that happen for the whole Asheville restaurant community,” shares Eric Scheffer. “We’re all in this together, and by standing with our fellow restaurateurs, we can rebuild and strengthen the heart of our community.”
This isn’t Eric Scheffer's first time stepping up for Asheville. In 2003, he co-founded the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association (AIR), a collective that has grown to include over 170 members, advocating for local restaurants and fostering collaboration. His commitment to community service extends to numerous nonprofit initiatives, including his role in bringing Dining Out for Life to Asheville 22 years ago, an event that raises vital funds for the Western North Carolina AIDS Project. In response to the economic downturn of 2008, he decided to close his fine dining establishment, The Savoy, and reinvent it as Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian, providing the community with a welcoming, affordable dining option that reflects the warmth and family spirit of his upbringing. Eric’s unwavering dedication to Asheville is evident in both his business decisions and his philanthropic efforts, always seeking to uplift and support those around him.
With the municipal water supply still disrupted for many, The Scheffer Group’s commitment to Asheville is helping to lift the area’s restaurant community back onto its feet. Through careful planning and local expertise, The Scheffer Group is maximizing every opportunity to extend safe water access to as many restaurants as possible. This orchestration is vital for a quicker reopening, as each newly supplied restaurant brings Asheville one step closer to recovery.
For Asheville residents and visitors alike, the reopening of these restaurants is more than a return to business; it’s a return to normalcy, comfort, and community. Thanks to The Scheffer Group’s diligent efforts, each restaurant that reopens brings with it a familiar sense of place and warmth, an essential part of the healing process for a city that has weathered not only a hurricane but the challenges that follow. By playing such a critical role in this recovery effort, The Scheffer Group has underscored its unwavering commitment to Asheville’s people, its businesses, and its future.
This collective effort by Eric Scheffer, Jordan Taylor, Sean Cudmore, and the rest of The Scheffer Group team embodies the spirit of “relentless generosity” that has defined The Scheffer Group’s legacy. Their work is a testament to the belief that even in the hardest times, there is hope to be found in community. Through their work, they continue to prove that by working together, Asheville’s restaurants, and its spirit, will thrive once more.
