February 24, 2022

In March 2020, Arielle Page was baking pastries for the Four Seasons Hotel in midtown Atlanta. Now she controls the menu as the owner of Arie’s Confectionaries, a local cheesecake business. After being laid off due to the pandemic, Page returned to Augusta and was unemployed for about eight months before officially starting her business on Aug. 11, 2020. During that time, she thought about how she wanted to use her extensive baking experience. Page discovered Augusta had no bakeries strictly devoted to cheesecake, and businesses that sold the dessert

Editor’s Note: Wes Hennings never met a meal he walked away from and is an opinionated eater! Each Thursday he shares the results of a business lunch he’s had with a colleague as a way to advise our business community on the good, bad, and tasty across the CSRA. He doesn’t let ABD or the restaurant know where he is going and his opinions are his own. He grades the restaurants he visits on a 1-5 scale with “5” being outstanding. We call this our “Real Business Lunch Review”. Food