Asheville award-winning restaurant group plans 2024 expansion

ASHEVILLE - Months after Katie Button relinquished the title of CEO of Katie Button Restaurants, the chef/co-founder of Katie Button Restaurants has no regrets about hiring a replacement and said it was an easy decision to make.

Last September, Button passed the chief executive officer reins to Susan Aplin, a 30-year business veteran with experience as a corporate leader.

“I realized that I wanted to get back into the sphere of home cooking and working on cookbooks and getting creative again,” Button said. “I also realized that I am not the best person to be the CEO of our company, which is because my strength and my passion and what I love to do is cook and teach people how to cook.”

Aplin oversees the James Beard Award-winning Cúrate Bar de Tapas and La Bodega by Cúrate restaurants, Cúrate at Home, Cúrate Trips and Cúrate Wine Club, as well as Katie Button Media which facilitates projects like the chef’s cookbook.

Button and her husband, Felix Meana, remain active in decision-making and operations. However, bringing in a new leader to focus on leading, strengthening, and growing the company was necessary for the entity’s success and allowed the co-founders to get back to the basics.

“This is a step toward our growth,” Meana said. “It’s felt like for the past year and a half, Katie and I have been a little bit stuck. We did well in pandemic time. … How do we keep growing? How do we help our leadership time? That’s why we’ve brought in a CEO.”

Welcoming a new CEO

While Katie Button is the face and namesake of Katie Button Restaurants, the company was co-founded by the James beard-nominated chef, Meana and Button’s parents, Ted and Liz Button.

Over the years, the restaurateurs considered ways to sustain and grow the business which led to the induction of the e-commerce marketplace, Cúrate at Home, an international guided culinary tour program, Cúrate Trips, and a membership program for wine enthusiasts, Cúrate Wine Club.

In 2022, after the closure of Button & Co. Bagels, another sister restaurant to Cúrate was introduced, La Bodega by Cúrate, which serves as a multifaceted destination with a Spanish market and café and a full service Spanish restaurant specializing in pintxos with a wine bar upstairs.

After Aplin took on duties, Button said she immediately witnessed the new CEO’s applied talents, knowledge and experience come into play that’s made operations more efficient.

“It was a very obvious ― yes, this was the right move, this is very fitting, it’s all working out,” Button said.

Over her career, Aplin’s held executive roles in large global brands including Williams Sonoma Inc., The Gap, Bambeco, The Sports Authority, Staples, BillMeLater and The World Trade Center Institute.

Before Cúrate, Aplin consulted and served as co-CEO for Asheville gourmet food company, Poppy Popcorn. For a brief time, Aplin said she was brought on board to help navigate challenges to get the company back on solid footing, which included recapitalizing the business, finding a new warehouse and equipment, and hiring new talent.

Then, Aplin met Button and Meana, and they found a common ground. Button said it was a clear decision.

“For a few months, we’d had a lot of conversations with her because she would join us in our advisory board, and she was very aware of our situation and she was listening and understanding of our needs,” Meana said. “One day, we were having a conversation more focused on creating a job description for our CEO for our company. … and she was helping us to define that and all of a sudden I stopped her and asked, ‘So, Susan, tell me again, what are you doing these days?’ Katie said, ‘I think Felix is offering you a job right now, Susan.’”

More serious discussions followed that led to negotiations and hiring Aplin, who said Cúrate triangulates things she loves in her life ― food, wine and travel.

“If this was going to be the last thing I do in my career, what a wonderful business to work in,” Aplin said.

Aplin said she was drawn to Button and Meana for being “smart and committed, talented founders.”

“This isn’t a business that needed help surviving. This was already a business that was thriving,” Aplin said. “It’s just how do you take it to the next level, and that’s exciting to me. How do you take an organization with this wonderful culture and cohesiveness but how do we bring it together and make it more high performing?”

Cúrate's evolution

Button’s parents' retirement called for an evaluation of how Button and Meana would move forward.

For about a year and a half, Button had stepped back from regular chef duties at Cúrate.

“For many years, we were kind of dividing and conquering these different areas,” Button said. “My dad was leading finance, my mom was leading HR (human resources) and then it was like, ‘You guys deserve a real retirement like everyone else in life.’”

Button, a James Beard Award chef finalist, stepped into the roles while simultaneously launching the televised culinary documentary series, “From the Source,” which filmed three seasons on Magnolia Network.

“That shift was both enlightening and also extremely challenging. It made both Felix and I realize that first of all, during the pandemic we wanted to diversify what we do. We didn’t want to have all of our businesses only in dining rooms and restaurants,” Button said.

In assisting with the additional duties, Meana pulled away from his area of interest and expertise, too, which includes connecting with customers, creating outstanding guest experiences, and upholding the customer service standard at their restaurants.

“It became very clear to us that we needed someone who’s an incredible CEO and could lead our company to this next place, and I felt like I was learning how to be a CEO and reinventing the wheel with every single decision because it’s not something I studied ― not a position I’d done before, and that wasn’t the best for our company or the best for me,” Button said.

Button said filming “From the Source” reminded her of what she missed about cooking.

“I light up when I’m giving cooking demonstrations, and I had to pull back really far from participating in events. I didn’t have time for recipe testing. It was pulling me from all the things I wanted to do,” Button said.

What’s next for Katie Button Restaurants

Katie Button Restaurants employs 169 people with the majority working in the restaurants.

Since the fall, Aplin has been working to implement ideas and has more rolling out in 2024 as a part of a three-year strategy plan in collaboration with the leadership team.

“The first thing a CEO or any executive should do is come in and do a lot of listening to understand, not only to gauge where the employees are but where people are in their thinking and innovation,” Aplin said. “We’ve already made a significant amount of progress on that, and that’s been getting translated down to a specific (2024) plan with the rest of the company this month.”

She said a key part was launching an improved performance management system.

“People need clarity on roles and responsibilities and goals so that we’re all going in the same direction and compensation that’s aligned with driving the behavior and the results that we want,” Aplin said.

This year, Cúrate at Home will relaunch with a new, improved website for online shoppers.

Cúrate at Home has allowed the company to reach customers they may not otherwise have access to once they leave the restaurant, and it served as a method for getting food to people during the COVID-19 pandemic, Button said.

The Asheville-based e-commerce marketplace is in the process of expanding, with distribution moving from its downtown warehouse where it shares space with Cúrate's offices into a larger dedicated facility in the city.

The first phase of the relaunch will be focused on the kitchen, entertaining, barware, cooking tools, Button’s favorite items and other interesting products, Aplin said. A goal is to extend the feeling people have when visiting restaurants to their homes.

“Over the next few years, we will evaluate expanding that store, but the vision could be that it’s for the whole home, so think about this Spanish lifestyle and taking time to be present and engaging not only with people but in your world and space when you’re gathering and doing it in a way that makes you feel good,” Aplin said. “Not just a beautiful glass, but how does it feel in your hand and how does it make you feel?”

The award-winning charcuterie program will be expanded to nationwide distribution with a wholesale division that will put products into specialty stores and perhaps big box stores later. Select Cúrate at Home products may be a part of the wholesale expansion.

“I’m not going anywhere. Felix, Susan and I sit in the room together and make plans; we meet with our managers,” Button said. “We’re all still very much involved in managing, the success, the goals and the future of the company. We’re not going anywhere; we’ve just added a very important third leg of the stool that we desperately needed.”

The Cúrate and La Bodega experience

Daily culinary services are led by Cúrate and La Bodega’s chef de cuisines with advisement by Button and Meana.

Cúrate's chef de cuisine is Matt Caudle. Recently, James Jeffries was promoted from sous chef at La Bodega to chef de cuisine.

“We laid the groundwork on the original menu, and at Cúrate that’s mostly been continuing on, but as they create new things ― our team wants the opportunity to grow and move up. It’s important to let go in those areas with guidance," Button said. "We want to make sure everything they put out is delicious and wonderful, so we are still involved in giving input and ideas, but now our chef de cuisines. … that is their thing and where they get their pride; they’re doing an incredible job as they work on some seasonal things.”

In the restaurants, Meana said they are fortunate to have an amazing team with many employees who have been with the business for more than a decade.

“People have been very loyal to us, and we are in a good spot there. Plus, Susan being in this new role of CEO is going to allow me to spend more time in the restaurants,” Meana said.

In March, Aplin and select staff will visit Spain to learn more about the food and culture.

“I want her to see it and feel it. We’re trying to bring that lifestyle that we started with the Bodega to Cúrate (at) Home so people can connect more with us,” said Meana, who is from Spain.

In 2022, Cúrate won the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Award for Outstanding Hospitality. In March, the restaurant will have its 13th anniversary.

“This year is going to be even better because you’re going to see more of us,” Meana said. “We’re excited.”

Cúrate has garnered a high reputation among diners, national media and in the industry. Button said constantly aiming to be better and listening to feedback is how the team manages high expectations.

“A big goal for ourselves is to continue pushing ourselves in the experience of hospitality and restaurants,” Button said. “We want to be the best, and we want to offer the best dining experience to our guests that can exist in the world. That means that limit of where we’re striving for is a constant improvement, and there are goals this year that ladder up to that improvement.”

What’s next for Katie Button

With her newly reclaimed time, Button has several projects in the fire.

Recently, Button completed a proposal to pitch for a new cookbook, and a new undisclosed television series is in the works that Button said will tie together two things she loves ― Spain and Asheville.

“Those are things I never had time for, so instantly I’ve gotten back some time to focus on the creative pieces and things I love and what I’m good at,” Button said.

Button said she will have more time to attend more local events.

“Now I can say yes to more events, so I’m excited about that, and I think you’ll see me more in the home cooking space. That’s where I fell in love with cooking,” Button said.

For more, visit curatetapasbar.com and katiebutton.com.

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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Cúrate chef Katie Button steps back as CEO, focuses on love of cooking