LONGTIME FRIENDS

by Joe Brumit

Recently, the Wortham Center (virtually) sat down with Brumit Restaurant Group owner Joe Brumit, whose company operates 61 Arby’s restaurants across North and South Carolina. Joe and his wife Janice are longtime Friends of the Wortham Center and are sponsors on both an individual and corporate level. Both Joe and Janice are passionate about the arts and about giving back to the community.

Who was the biggest influence in your life?

As simple as my father was, he was not a business success by any means. He was a machinist and made around $24,000 a year. The person my father was is the biggest influence on me being who I am today and the person I have become. I am always remembering the influences he had on me and thinking of things he did. One of the things I’m most grateful for is his level-headedness, as it must have rubbed off on me. Being wellgrounded (both spiritually and with good business sense) has helped me make the decisions in my life that I have and use the resources I have gained from people and mentors.

How did you get interested in owning your own business?

I have worked in the fast food industry since I was in high school. I started with Burger Chef, which was bought out by Hardee’s, and continued to work in the industry all the way through college. I was then recruited to Burger King and worked as a store manager, training manager, district manager and eventually franchise district manager, where I worked with the franchisees. I liked what the franchisees were doing and thought, “If they can do it, then so can I.” I was approached by a franchisee with Burger King, who said he was going to buy 13 Arby’s in North Carolina and was looking for an operating partner — “Are you interested?” Six years later, I bought him out and here we are today with 61 stores in North and South Carolina.

I am most proud of the senior team that I built, who now are running the business while I semi-retire. I am still involved with the business, but I am no longer in the office day-to-day.

What might someone be surprised to know about you?

I sing in the church choir at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. Of course, we haven’t sung in person together since March, but we do meet through Zoom on Wednesday evenings. Some choir members are starting to get together to create outdoor, socially distanced recordings in front of the church. The recordings are then played on the Sunday morning virtual service. We were the first church in the area to move to virtual services, daily devotionals, church meetings, etc., when the pandemic lockdown started in March.

What is your best accomplishment?

This is a hard question. Some people would look at Janice and I and say we are so accomplished in our business. Honestly, Janice and I both look at what we can do in and for the community. The time and resources that we have allows us to help all the groups and people that we can.

What is on your bucket list?

Most of the bucket list items are travel. We have had to move some trips around due to the pandemic. Some places we have been include Antarctica, Great Britain, all over the Norwegian area across the arctic. Some places we will be going to in the future are Australia, back to Africa, Prague, and taking a cruise from Rome to Barcelona. If international travel cannot occur, we will do long trips in the United States, out West and across the Northeastern parts of the U.S.

If you could have lunch with one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

My father. I lost my dad when I was 29. He passed when he was 59 and my mom passed when she was 75. Having my mom in my life for much longer (and relatively nearby in Franklin, N.C.), I had more opportunities to have lunch with her than I did with my dad.

What fuels your passion to support the Wortham Center?

One thing we have noticed is that we are so blessed with the arts in Asheville. There are not a lot of people willing to support the arts in many places — and if the arts are going to exist, we need to pull together as a community to support them. We support all of the arts in Asheville, and we feel like the arts are part of the culture, one of the great things of Asheville. We want to see the arts survive and thrive, especially during this difficult time.