More than serendipity on a recent Monday afternoon brought together the powerhouse culinary figures of chefs Mike Lata, Jason Stanhope, Jacques Larson, Daniel Heinze, Kevin Johnson and others at a lunch at Brasserie La Banque.

They joined to celebrate and support 10 years of Ben’s Friends , now a multi-city coalition of food and beverage people committed to their sobriety.

Co-founded in 2016 by the then-general manager of Charleston Grill Mickey Bakst and Indigo Road Hospitality Group founder Steve Palmer, Ben’s Friends still has a simple mission: to help those in the food and beverage community who are struggling with addiction. It is named in honor of Indigo Road employee Ben Murray who took his life because of his addiction that same year.

With more than 70 years of combined sobrie

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