West Sixth Brewery partners, left to right, Ben Self, Joe Kuosman, Robin Sither and Brady Barlow made community improvement part of their business plan. Photos by Tom Eblen
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As so many businesses become consolidated and conglomerated, the only things that seem to matter are profit, shareholder value and excessive executive compensation. Communities, like employees, become expendable.
But the trend with small, locally owned businesses seems different, at least in Lexington. You don?t have to look far to see it.
Since its creation in 2008, Local First Lexington, a non-profit alliance of locally owned and independently operated businesses, has made community enrichment a priority. And many business people do things on their own, such as insurance agent Debra Hensley, who spends a lot of time on public service and community-building.
These business people are doing great things for Lexington. But they are quick to tell you that their efforts also are good for their businesses. There?s a term for it: ?Doing well by doing good.?
Stella?s Kentucky Deli does regular ?dining for a cause? nights, donating 15 percent of sales to a local charity. Thai Orchid, Nick Ryan?s Saloon and many other restaurants do similar fund-raising nights and events.
Lexington retailers often donate merchandise or gift certificates for charity auctions, or they sponsor events and non-profit organizations. Some examples: Joseph-Beth Booksellers has book fairs for organizations, giving them as much as 20 percent of sales. The Morris Book Shop sponsors several local non-profits, makes donations and opens its store for events.
?I think you?re seeing a lot more of it,? said Ben Self, one of four partners who opened West Sixth Brewery in April. ?I think people are starting to understand that it?s not a one-way street. It?s beneficial all the way around.
?That?s the future of building communities: businesses and non-profits working together for common goals.?
West Sixth Brewery has some of Lexington?s most ambitious community outreach efforts, beginning with the 90,000-square-foot former bread factory the partners bought for their brewery and tasting room.
They rent space in the rambling building to artists, writers and a variety of community-minded businesses and non-profit organizations. Those include Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop, Magic Beans Coffee Roasters, Roller Girls of Central Kentucky, and FoodChain, a sustainable urban agriculture non-profit started by Self?s wife, Rebecca.
?It?s nice to see the synergies and cooperation among the different groups,? said partner Joe Kuosman, noting the Roller Girls have after-hours events at the brewery, where its resident artists? work is displayed.
?We committed from the very beginning to giving 6 percent of our profits to local charitable organizations,? Self said of the brewery, ?and we far exceeded that the first year.?
In addition, the brewery sponsors an event for a different local non-profit each month, donating 6 percent of sales that night. The next one, on Wednesday, benefits the Community Farm Alliance.
The events often bring in people who have never been to West Sixth, but then come back again and again, partner Brady Barlow said.
West Sixth?s partners also set sustainability goals for their business, from rehabilitating an old building with reclaimed wood fixtures to recycling waste, and canning rather than bottling their beer since it?s easier to recycle.
Bourbon n? Toulouse restaurant owners Will Pieratt, left, and Kevin Heathcoat.
Bourbon n? Toulouse, a Chevy Chase restaurant that serves good, cheap Cajun food, has made community outreach the core of its marketing strategy since it opened in 2004. Partners Will Pieratt and Kevin Heathcoat give away a lot of gift certificates for charity and frequently sponsor events where as much as 25 percent of that day?s sales go to a non-profit.
The restaurant?s two biggest annual events are Empty Bowls, a partnership with Kentucky Mudworks pottery studio that benefits Moveable Feast, which provides meals to local people living with HIV/AIDS; and one for the Race for the Cure, which benefits research into breast cancer, which killed Heathcoat?s mother.
Other events have focused on disaster relief, such as Bow to the Brow day last March that honored University of Kentucky basketball player Anthony Davis and raised money for Eastern Kentucky tornado recovery.
?Some of our very best customers came here for the first time for a charity event,? Heathcoat said. ?We just can?t believe more businesses don?t do this.?
Beyond growing their business, though, Pieratt and Heathcoat think community support is simply the right thing to do.
?We opened on seven credit cards and $10,000 I borrowed from my brother,? Heathcoat said. ?If it wasn?t for this neighborhood, we wouldn?t have made it. Our philosophy from day one has been that the community supported us so we have a responsibility to give back.?
Wyn Morris, owner of The Morris Book Shop, feels that sense even more acutely. His father, lawyer Leslie Morris, was among the 49 people killed when Comair Flight 5191 crashed on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport on Aug. 27, 2006.
?Lexington truly came through for all of us,? said Morris, who opened his bookstore two years later and decided to put community engagement at the core of his business plan. ?I just realized I hadn?t done much of anything for the community. It was a kind of a wake-up call.?
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