AND BEST FRIENDS –
Dec. 24, 2025 – “It has grown in a way we never anticipated.”
When Mickey Bakst and fellow hospitality industry vet Steve Palmer founded Ben’s Friends in Charleston, S.C. nine years ago, they were doing so to honor their late friend Ben Murray, who took his life due to addiction. Today, there are 30 in-person meetings held weekly around the country as well as daily Zoom options that cover the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe. There has been a Richmond group meeting, started by chefs Joe Sparatta and Jason Alley, since 2018. A femmes branch — designed for women, trans and femme-identifying people in food and beverage — of the group started online “quite some time ago,” says Bakst. When Richmonder, industry vet and Ben’s Friend member Kailie Smith reached out about starting a femmes chapter here, Bakst says it “was just a natural [fit]. I can’t tell you how happy that makes us.”
In advance of New Year’s Eve, during the oft difficult holiday season, we caught up with Bakst and Smith to learn more about the safe space they’ve created for hospitality folks in recovery.
