Evan Campbell: The Stables

In an effort to start 2021 on a sunny note, Eat It, Virginia!
asked listeners to nominate the chefs, restaurant owners, and
food industry people who seem to remain positive, even during the
darkest days.


Chef Evan Campbell was one name that appeared over and over again
in the nominations.


As chef at both The Stables and The Franklin Inn, Campbell has
had to navigate a most difficult time in the restaurant industry
as COVID has changed the way everything worked. So how does he
stay positive amid this chaotic time?


“I just woke up like this,” Campbell joked with Scott and Robey
before he dove into the real reason behind his seemingly
permanent smile. “Life's too short to not approach every day with
at least some semblance of positivity. I tell every person that I
hire in any place that I work, we all have to be here every day.
And for a lot of us, we spend more time in the restaurant than we
do in our own homes. So let's make it a fun place to be. I've
never been a leave-your-problems-at-the-door kind of guy because
certainly, you have problems. But if you understand that your
workplace, especially in this industry, is for a lot of folks
more like home, especially now where we can't see anybody else
really get to see each other. It's best to keep it positive.”


With stops in Boston and New Orleans, the Virginia native
returned to the Commonwealth to leave his mark at the Stables and
later the Franklin Inn. Now he’s had to transform the restaurants
for the times, coming up with foods that worked well in a to-go
format. 


“We have not stopped. I mean, the minute that everything shut
down, I created a new menu strictly for take-out food that was
budget-friendly, because I knew everybody was afraid about what's
going to happen with their own jobs,” he said. “Once that settled
for a bit, we were losing money at quite a fast rate. I pivoted
again and I created a menu that was more stylistically what we've
always done here at the Stables but could be put in plastic
containers and sent out without majorly impacting the food."


Campbell said restrictions, plus rising prices, have put most
restaurants in a perilous position.


“Most weeks we aren't making money and we're booked almost every
night. With restrictions where they're at half capacity with
limited takeout and delivery, most of the restaurants in town are
just losing money really slowly. If you're doing well, you're
losing money slowly. If you're not, then you're losing money
really quickly, “ he said. “If one more person in Richmond says,
‘well think of all the new places that are going to open,’ 
I'm going to smack somebody across the face. For us to be working
so hard and for people to not understand that. It's going to
majorly change the food culture in Richmond.”


Despite the hardships, Campbell wanted to put a positive spin on
the situation.


“We're looking at end of January, beginning of February, for
vaccines to start coming to restaurant workers. And I can't speak
for everybody but I could not be more excited just to get the
ball rolling to make sure that we're continuing to be as safe as
we can so that we can keep doing what we're doing,” he said. “My
hope is that in conjunction with these vaccine rollouts, we can
start seeing some lifting of restrictions, at least to the degree
that you know, we are able to serve more people in a safer and
reasonable fashion.”


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