Our Team

Little Jumbo is only as good as the people who show up every day. Our team is what makes 241 Broadway feel less like a bar and more like a living room; the kind of place where the bartender knows your name and your drink, and every guest feels like they belong.

Proprietors

Chall Gray

Chall has spent his career in hospitality, and in 2018 he wrote the book on it, literally. His The Cocktail Bar: Notes for an Owner & Operator, published by White Mule Press, is regarded as one of the leading guides for the bar industry. At Little Jumbo, he oversees the bar program and brings a philosophy rooted in quality, restraint, and genuine hospitality. Off the clock, he could have gone pro on the golf course, is ruthless behind a chess board or a backgammon cube, can laugh exactly like Eddie Murphy, and likes old German sports cars and motorcycles. He is a partner at Slings & Arrows with Jay Sanders and Lucia Gray.

Lucia Gray

Lucia holds an MFA in Theatre and Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. Her plays include Better Strangers, Off the Rails, and The Family Tree. That a playwright would co-found a bar named after a 19th-century literary figure and then open Character Study, a literary-themed cocktail bar in West Asheville, surprises no one. She is the culture maven of Slings & Arrows, skillfully keeping everyone on point and in good spirits, which, given the personalities involved, qualifies as its own form of art.

Jay Sanders

Most people know Jay as a musician, composer, and artist, but he has led a secret life as an entrepreneur and technologist for years (if for no other reason than to supplement the income from his art habit). In addition to curating the Creative Music Series, Jay manages the financial side of the operation. He also writes code the way some people journal: compulsively, at odd hours, and in service of making the beautiful things run. Our custom cocktail database is named Ophelia, after the girl who cataloged flowers into meaning.

(Not to be confused with the other Jay Sanders, the award-winning mixologist behind Drastic Measures and Wild Child in Kansas City. We hear he's great too.)

Management

Elaina Haile

Elaina hails from the last cowboy town in the West, which explains both the grit and the warmth. She loves dogs, gardening, writing birthday cards, planning themed parties, organizing a proper Beerlympics, and drinking beer. Yes, beer. At a cocktail bar. We don't talk about it. Her title is culture management. As general manager, she oversees both Little Jumbo and Character Study, making sure the teams feel happy, loved, supported, and held to the standards that make these places what they are. She's deeply proud of the people here, and it shows.

Kristie Kahr

While Kristie may call Asheville home, her beloved Chicago is always present in the sparkle of her eye, the directness of her humor, and her unwavering loyalty to the Bears. She can build you one of the most beautifully balanced cocktails you've ever had, something with fresh citrus and a perfect foam and a garnish that makes you want to take a photo. But if you ask her honest opinion, she'll tell you to skip all that and drown it down with a nice shot of Malort. She means it, too.

Lead Bartender

Millita Gonzalez

Millita came up through Lafayette, Nashville, and New Orleans before landing in Asheville, and she brought all of it with her. She loves to garden, is no stranger to the music scene, and cooks the way she bartends, with instinct and a heavy hand on the flavor. She is our lead bartender and creative designer at Little Jumbo. Big idea haver. Makes a mean pincho. She keeps the plants alive, the drinks creative, and the whole place a little more interesting than it was yesterday.