Vinnie’s Willy Meadows Named 2026 Hero of Hospitality
There are a lot of ways to talk about hospitality, but if you spend any real time inside a restaurant, you know it usually comes down to a person.
Someone who remembers your drink. Someone who can read the room. Someone who keeps the night moving without making anyone feel rushed. Someone who turns a regular dinner into the kind of experience people want to come back for.
At Vinnie’s, that person is Willy Meadows.
This spring, Willy was named one of Explore Asheville’s 2026 Heroes of Hospitality, an annual recognition honoring hospitality workers across Asheville and Buncombe County. He was celebrated alongside five other honorees during the Awards at The Omni Grove Park Inn as part of National Travel and Tourism Week.
For Vinnie’s, the recognition feels especially fitting.
Vinnie’s has always been built around the feeling of a true neighborhood restaurant: old school Italian food, familiar dishes, a room full of regulars, and the kind of service that makes people feel like they belong there.
That kind of place only works when the people inside it believe in the room.
Willy does.
He embodies hospitality at his core and has long been considered part of the fabric of Asheville’s community. Additionally, The Scheffer Group had a record number of culinarians recognized among the 41 nominees.
Congratulations to Willy, Josh, Amparo (Vinnie’s) and Jess (Jettie Rae’s) on this well deserved recognition.
