Roots Hummus closed? Speculation swirls around Asheville business

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The future of an Asheville company that's been in business since 2006 is uncertain.

Matt Parris founded Roots Hummus in the storage room of a small cafe in West Asheville in 2006. As demand for the product grew, Parris moved the company into a warehouse owned by Highland Brewing Co. in 2018.

But lately, there have only been empty shelves in stores where Roots Hummus should be.

While the Roots website doesn’t give any indication that it's closing, all of the products under its shop tab now say “out of stock.”

On Wednesday, News13 knocked on the door of Roots Hummus and called Parris but didn’t have any luck.

Whoomus Foods, a hummus company in Charlotte, took to its Facebook page Tuesday morning to post about the closing of Roots.

“We just heard that our friends over at Roots Hummus are going out of business. We know this is tough news for them and their community, and we want to do what we can to help,” the post said in part.

Highland Brewing president and CEO Leah Wong Ashburn said she also has many questions.

Ashburn said Roots hasn’t paid rent in months. She said, though she doesn't know the business is closing, she can only speculate from what she’s read online. Since Roots is a tenant, Ashburn said she would like some clarity.

“It’s really sad, honestly. We worked really hard to get them in our building. We were excited to partner with them. We buy their hummus all the time,” Ashburn said.

But, given that she hadn't heard from Parris lately or been paid in several months, Ashburn said she knew something was going on.

Ashburn said nobody is in the Roots warehouse and people have had trouble finding its hummus in grocery stores for a while.

News 13 checked some local grocery stores and found many empty areas where Roots Hummus used to be.

No matter what is going on, Ashburn hopes everything will turn out OK because the Roots employees are a part of this community.

Ashburn said Highland Brewing will continue to wait because there are bigger issues in this situation.

Those issues could involve the lawsuit PNC Bank has filed against Roots Hummus and Parris.

Records obtained from the Buncombe County Courthouse showed that PNC Bank is suing Matt Parris and Roots Organic Gourmet LLC for an outstanding debt of about $2.6 million. That includes the money owed from loans, interests and attorney fees.

Records showed the borrowing began in February 2018. And on Jan. 5, 2023, the bank provided a notice to Parris the loans were in default and immediate payment was due. The letter to Parris said that if he did not pay everything in full by Jan. 13 the bank would pursue filing a lawsuit against Parris and Roots. Parris was served that lawsuit in February after failing to pay.

Parris asked the court for an extension on March 1 and was granted it. He has until April 3 to settle the suit.