Hurricane Helene Business Edge Fund Grant Success Story
Devil’s Foot Beverage, Asheville, NC
Submitted by: Barbara Darby, Business Services Leader, Mountain Area Workforce Development Board/Land of Sky Regional Council
Devil’s Foot Beverage Company is a local brewery located on Sweeten Creek Road in south Asheville. Mountain Area’s business services team had scheduled a tour of Devil’s Foot for the morning of September 27, 2024. With the weather looking unpredictable, the tour was canceled on September 26. No one could have imagined what the next day would bring, nor the next weeks, months, and year. Nearly one year since the Hurricane Helene disaster, Devil’s Foot Beverage is in business but still recovering.
On September 28, Devil’s Foot CEO, Ben Colvin, found himself in waist deep water in the parking lot of his business to check on any damage. Luckily the water did not breach the front door but entered the back door, leaving up to half an inch of water in their facility. A half mile downstream, Biltmore Village businesses were under water or severely impacted. His first task was to ensure the safety of his employees. He found everyone safe and available to work. Next, he feared staff leaving the area or possible layoffs, so laptops and iPads were made available to his crew to apply for UI if needed. For 6 days Ben had no cell coverage; for 9 days he had no electricity; for 14 days he had no water; and for 53 days he had no potable water. Because of the strength of this team, the business never missed a payroll and relied on the crew’s diversity of skills and flexibility to fill gaps and keep everyone onboard. For 2 weeks, Ben traveled one hour outside of Asheville to do payroll and banking to keep everyone afloat.
The day after Helene, the brewery was transformed into a major distribution hub for water and supplies. His staff worked 12-hour long days getting supplies to the community, eventually helping to get over 16,000 gallons of drinking water and tons of food and supplies to the people of WNC. Water was at a premium, and tankers of water were purchased to clean and sanitize the machinery and the building in an effort to become operational, which took 4 weeks. Devil’s Foot experienced major revenue and production interruption due to utility outages, water availability and quality, and destruction of the local economy. Ben estimates losses of spoilage and business loss to be around $350,000.
In June of 2025, Barbara Darby contacted Ben to check on the business and to make him aware of a recovery grant. Ben immediately applied for the Hurricane Helene Business Edge Fund Grant and was awarded $10,000 on July 30, 2025. This grant has been part of the business’ recovery. The grant reimbursed expenses for repairing a forklift and damaged mechanical tools, hoses and fittings for water transfer, water and chemicals for sanitizing, and replacement of a compressed air tank and pump. These expenses were not reimbursed by insurance or other grants. Ben is grateful for the support of the Hurricane Helene Business Edge Fund Grant funded by the NC Department of Commerce.
