Update Nov. 20: Reliable source says multiple local restaurants were contacted and offered the spot before Iron Hen took it.
Original post Nov. 18: The Greensboro-based Iron Hen restaurant will be opening its second location inside the Hilton Garden Inn at the corner of Charlotte and College streets in downtown Asheville, according to the Triad Business Journal.
The independent Iron Hen, a Greensboro favorite for the past six years, is the work of Lee Comer. More from the biz journal:
“Part of the Hilton Garden Inn concept had to include a restaurant,” Comer said. “They knew in order for it to be successful in Asheville, it could not be a hotel restaurant. It needed to be an independently run, owned and operated space. So they contacted us.”
Comer says she will be leasing 5,200 square feet there from Quality Oil. That’s more than three times the 1,621 square feet that Iron Hen has at its Greensboro location.
More about the Iron Hen:
We are an Owner operated coffee shop, café, and catering company, with an award-winning chef. We serve organic, fair trade coffee; local, seasonal, and sustainable food daily. It is our mission to connect the food we serve, to the farm it came from, and to the people at our tables. We favor organic and North Carolina grown, but make concessions in both areas in order to highlight other farmers and producers with time-honored methods and very good products. We pride ourselves in being responsible both locally and globally, by recycling, reducing waste, and insuring all disposable products are eco sound. We look forward to exchange between chef/staff and community in order to grow, and to meet the needs of those we serve.