Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Corey Kelley.
Hi Julie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In my early years in business, I lived on the island of St. John and had a restaurant with my then-husband. It was a pretty amazing place to start a business and family. But as the children grew, we realized we wanted more for them than our tiny island could provide, so we started looking to relocate stateside. We were lured to WNC by a vacationing real estate agent from this area and found our new home. We started a restaurant in Brevard, and our kids had their early school years there.
Fast forward several years, and my career path led to Asheville: out of the restaurant industry and into the world of weddings. I met Monroe Moore, who would become a dear friend and mentor. He hired me at Homewood, a wedding venue which was conveniently located half a mile from our new home, to help manage and grow the business.
As the business established itself, there was a growing need for bar services at Homewood and in the larger event industry, and the opportunity presented itself for me to team up with Monroe and Homewood to form a beverage company. Therein, Asheville Beverage was born.
Eventually, I bought Monroe out of Asheville Beverage and expanded the business to offer services to venues throughout Western North Carolina, build a retail arm of the company, and establish a keg program for customers with home kegerators.
Present-day, my oldest daughter Colleen is working with me, managing the company. She had relocated from LA back to Asheville several years ago and was looking for employment, and Asheville Beverage was growing and in need of a strong manager. The business has never run smoother since Colleen came on board. It’s been highly rewarding to be able to team up with my daughter as a female-owned- and operated- family business. My middle child Erin also helps out with the business, picking up occasional bartending and delivery gigs. My husband John is a great support in life and as a business consultant, and he’s slung a drink or two for us over the years in a pinch. My son Joe has so far eluded being roped into the business – but there’s still time.
When I moved to St. John, I was 19. I have lived far from my family all of my adult life. To be able to work with 2 of my 3 children, and have a connected relationship with them as adults is everything to me. I have a lot to be grateful for!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
So far, we’ve made it through the 2007/08 recession and a paralyzing pandemic by using a simple business model, being adaptive, and keeping overhead costs low.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have served in the hospitality industry most of my adult life, primarily in start-up businesses in an ownership role. My first endeavor as a restaurant owner was at age 20. So, I haven’t done things the easy way, but I have learned a ton experientially, through many successes and failures, and most of all by observing and learning from the incredible, talented, generous mentors I’ve had the pleasure of working with over time.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in Norwalk CT to a surgeon father and nurse mother, and with 5 sisters. I had a wonderful childhood, and am very close with my family. I was perhaps the variant sister in a family of intellectuals. The classroom may have failed to contain me, but the world was calling, and I was an excellent student in the school of life! We all learn differently, and I feel very fortunate to have been supported along the way by people who believed in me as the person I am, and strived to become.
Contact Info:
- Email: ashevillebev@gmail.com
- Website: www.ashevillebev.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avlbev/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshevilleBev/
