Foothills Grange brings history, culture and honest meats to Broadway
Local business celebrates 20th year with downtown Black Mountain expansion
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
July 13, 2022
Casey McKissick and his sons, Arlo, left, and Cash, right, work on the site of Foothills Grange, a 250-seat indoor-outdoor eatery that will open on Broadway Avenue in Black Mountain later this summer. Photo by Fred McCormick
In 2002, when Casey McKissick and his family started farming land in Swannanoa and Old Fort, loading their truck weekly with “ugly” heirloom tomatoes and locally raised meat to sell from a creaky folding table in the Black Mountain Tailgate Market, they branded their burgeoning co-op, Foothills. The unmistakable quality of fresh food that completed its journey from farm to table in mere minutes quickly made it a favorite among locals.
While its beginnings were as humble as its mission to serve “honest meats,” the community’s appetite for locally sourced steaks, chops, hot dogs and hamburgers sparked the business’s evolution from a modest wholesale operation to a butcher shop, and eventually food trucks and other retail locations and catering services in the Swannanoa Valley and Asheville.
This summer, as McKissick and his team celebrate 20 years of local food and farming with the opening of Foothills Grange, the 250-seat eatery in downtown Black Mountain will represent a triumphant homecoming.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since we were selling meat from coolers just over there,” McKissick said, pointing south towards the grassy area behind the former SunTrust Bank, the previous site of the tailgate market that now operates weekly on First Street. “Now we’re seeing the culmination of the support we’ve received from this community with something that will celebrate our food, our heritage and our people, right in the center of town.”
Foothills Grange, which is scheduled to open in late July or early August, will introduce a unique indoor-outdoor concept at 120 Broadway Avenue, with covered picnic tables, a large patio and permanent food truck that will serve the restaurant’s classic menu. An indoor bar will include 16 taps dedicated to local craft beer, a wide selection of cans and bottles and slushies and sodas for children.
“Like all of our locations, this will be a family-friendly environment, where you can enjoy a meal while your kids play with Tonka trucks on dirt piles,” McKissick said. “At night, it might be a little more ‘honky-tonk.’”
The house-made hot dogs from Foothills will be among the menu items available at Foothills Grange, which will open in downtown Black Mountain later this summer. Photo courtesy of Foothills/Catherine Campbell
Inspired by several historical and cultural elements, Foothills Grange is named in honor of the 135-year-old progressive farming movement which took its name from the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. Responsible for creating organizations such as 4-H and the Future Farmers of America, Grangers also spearheaded a national effort to improve social and economic conditions for farmers, including equal voting rights for women and farmers of color.
The name pays homage to a movement that advocated for farmers and advanced agricultural methods across the country while giving a nod to Foothills’ roots.
“Our start was similar, in the sense that we worked to bring farmers together,” McKissick said. “Farming is obviously important, and it’s a hard business, so we’ve always made an effort to support the people who do it. We still have the same folks who bring us our pork and beef, and they’ve been our primary producers for almost six years now. ”
While McKissick and his family are not growing crops this year, as work continues on the new project, their experience in the agricultural industry has been a key component in establishing long-term relationships with area farmers. The whole animal philosophy practiced by Foothills represents a significant component of its mission to provide honest meats.
“What small farmers need is for somebody to buy the whole pig, not just somebody who wants tenderloin because it’s on the menu,” McKissick said. “Someone running a small farm can’t do anything for you if you need 125 tenderloins, because that’s only a tiny piece of the pig.
“They need someone who will take the whole thing and knows how to use it, and that’s where the tradition and craft of the butcher shop comes in,” he continued. “Every single piece is utilized, which is respectful to the farmer and pig, and we use it to create delicious things.”
That approach inspires innovation in their female-led butcher shop, which has gained national media attention on the Food Network, and in publications like Zagat and Food & Wine. Foothills’ homemade burgers, traditional hot dogs and handmade deli meats are consistently among the most popular offerings in its butcher shop on Black Mountain Avenue.
The Foothills Butcher Bar on Black Mountain Avenue will close temporarily later this summer, as the company opens a fourth location nearby. The Butcher Bar will reopen in the fall with a new menu that will focus on dry-aged steaks, chops, classic sides and feature a refreshed bar program. Photo by Fred McCormick
The adjacent Butcher Bar restaurant will temporarily cease operation when Foothills Grange opens this summer, but the space will reopen exclusively for dinner service, and with a new menu focusing on dry-aged steaks, chops, classic sides and refreshed bar program with a “casual date night atmosphere” in the fall.
While the heritage of farming will be honored by Foothills Grange, the land care skills McKissick and his sons Arlo and Cash sharpened while working on their own farm have been instrumental in bringing the vision for the new space to fruition. Foothills Land Care, a service the business began offering at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been responsible for a significant portion of the work on the 0.35-acre site.
“We have a lot of the skills needed for this project, but not all of them,” McKissick said. “We have the equipment, and we’re fortunate to have good relationships with a lot of skilled tradespeople. But having my boys here, working side-by-side with people in this community, has been absolutely priceless to me.”
Breathing new life into the property, which includes a structure that has served as a livery stable, coal house, metal arts workshop, yoga studio and tea house, is another rewarding aspect of the project, he added.
“There’s this historical aspect to this spot that made it feel like an ideal location to bring the community together in an outdoor setting right in the middle of town, so it feels right,” McKissick said. “We’re so grateful to have the opportunity to still be doing what we do here, 20 years later, and now to be able to do this.”
The new location, which marks the next chapter in the evolution of Foothills, will require the business to hire additional staff for its 32-person team.
“We have people from right here in this community, and some of them have been with us for a long time, who get what we’re doing and want to make it happen, everyday,” McKissick said. “I get up for them, everyday, because they make this all possible. So, we’re looking forward to adding to this community and culture that we’ve built.”
The McKissick family began selling farm-to-table products on a table at the Black Mountain Tailgate Market in 2002, under the name Foothills Family Farms. The business, which grew into a butcher shop and several retail locations, will open Foothills Grange in downtown Black Mountain later this summer. Photo courtesy of Foothills/Danny Secor
While it would've been impossible to imagine what the future would hold for Foothills when the McKissicks started selling their farm-to-table goods two decades ago, the growth of the family business has been nourished by the community that’s backed it.
“To this day, customers who used to come to our table at the tailgate market, and now they buy meat from our butcher shop,” McKissick said. “Having that kind of support from the people who see and taste the difference in our food is another one of the reasons we do this.”