FOOD & DRINK. LET'S SHAKE ON IT.
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You found our "real" staff bios
HOPE RAY: OWNER & CHIEF OPERATOR
Hope Ray arrived fully formed in the guise of a human adult somewhere around the middle of the 10th century in what is now known as Lichtenstein. After conquering the surrounding kingdoms, she hung up her sword and disavowed all further violence. This led her to a nine hundred year hibernation in the rugged mountains of Patagonia where she was finally awakened with an overwhelming vision of helping the people find meaning and purpose through ice bathing while playing the pan flute. Her efforts were met with limited success, however, and she finally settled on making prosthetic limbs for primates who were the victims of jaguar violence. After all the monkeys had been mended, she teleported her current physical manifestation to Fayetteville in search of her next quest. It was there the vision for Handshake emerged from an empty bottle of Jaggermiester alongside Town Branch creek. Hope now funnels all her passion and creativity of human (and animal) happiness into HANDSHAKE. It has been her sole driving motivation ever since.
JAMESON HALL: OWNER & EXECUTIVE CHEF
Legend has it the Jameson ended up on the doorstep of his adoptive parents after the last remaining pirate ship operating in the Gulf coast was shipwrecked not far from where he was found. Something of the salt air and a swashbuckling spirit has stayed with him. From before the time he could talk, Jameson would mix and match his foods in interesting and novel combinations, serving his recipes to the family dog who unfortunately died after Jameson left the house by refusing to eat anything other than what Jameson would feed him. Of course Jameson had no idea his childhood pet went on a hunger strike leaving as suddenly as he did. At the age of six Jameson jumped a train intending to ride it just a few days to gather new ingredients. Little did he know the train was the private property of an erratic sultan and he was pressed into service in the kitchen. So taken was the Sultan with his skill he jealously guarded him indulging in anything Jameson made for him. Unfortunately the sultan died after Jameson escaped in Siberia as he refused to eat anything other than what Jameson would feed him. Jameson worked his way across the Russian tundra, traversed Europe and eventually ended up in Fayetteville, settling down, for the time being because he has yet to come up with a satisfying recipe for a vegan alternative to the giant salamander. But he is nothing if not persistent. Hearing that HANDSHAKE was in need of a chef, it has been his sole driving motivation ever since.
ASHLEY WORTHEY: EVENTS MANAGER
Duchess Ashleymonda Eugenia Beatrice Grosover Worthey the 13th of her name, aka DJ Monarcracy, was born into the rarified air of international royalty and educated at the most prestigious and exclusive needle point academies in the world. However after achieving international acclaim for her innovative and technically daring designs by the age of 12, she fell in love with another kind of needle, skrattccccchhhhh, the kind on the end of a stereo arm. She quickly set the standard for lo fi ambient hillbilly goth punk house techno and played sold out stadiums from Rio to Rome. Having most of her catalogue stolen by Daft Punk, she gave up the international jet setting lifestyle and settled in Fayetteville longing for a relationship with someone who shared her passion for seeing mutilated South American primates who had lost limbs to jaguar violence fitted with prosthetics. Failing to find such a person, she took a job at HANDSHAKE to pass the time. It has been her sole driving motivation ever since.
AMBER EGGLETON: MARKET & GROCERY MANAGER
Born the 4th of a liter of 12 ocelots in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Amber made her transformation into human form after flirting with becoming a Chachalaca or prickly pear cactus. But Amber’s hunting instincts have only grown with her transformation. She has searched the deepest cave system in the world for elusive mushrooms, stolen cheese samples from forbidden monasteries, and hand harvested night blooming flowers from the Amazon rain forest. She has also formed artisan cooperatives of disabled former child miners in Uganda and retried trapeze artists in Buffalo. Upon hearing of the opportunity to showcase her hunting finds and the creations of her artisan cooperatives, Amber flew her hot air balloon to Fayetteville and joined the HANDSHAKE team. It has been her sole driving motivation ever since.
HANNAH RAY: MURALIST
Who is Hannah Ray? No one knows for sure, but we’re damn sure it’s not the person who goes by that name. No, the person using Hannah Ray as a nom de guerre is an absolute mystery, an enigma wrapped in a warm tortilla of questions. How can one person be so utterly talented yet at the same time seem so earthy? So relatable? Surely this is an act. Surely this is a reality TV show as we are all the dupes who buy into her act. But no, no, no, no, no! We will not be deceived, whoever this person is we refuse to play this game. We will not be hornswoggled and hoodwinked into accepting this as reality. Maybe she is just one of the prosthetic wearing primates dressed as a human coming back to thank Hope? Maybe she is the Pirate mother of Jameson yearning to be near her long lost son? Maybe she is a groupie of DJ Monarcracy waiting for a secret house show? Maybe one of the retired trapeze artists from Buffalo looking for one last high wire act?
If you found our HANDSHAKE Secret Bio's email Hope Ray with the subject line SNEAKY SNEAKY and receive a $10 HANDSHAKE Gift Card. Way to go!