Consumer Stories

Keeping restaurant food safe is the topic of the training program

In Dec. 1992, Lauren Beth Rudolph, a six-year-old girl from California, died of E. coli poisoning after eating a hamburger from a Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant. That incident was part of a larger outbreak on the West Coast. That’s just one of many examples Cathy Watson shares with restaurant employees and owners as a certified ServSafe training instructor and proctor. Watson, the owner of a business called Helping Restaurants, teaches a one-day ServSafe certification course that covers a variety of topics, including proper food handling practices, food storage,

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Shawna Woodward

Free Access: Real Talk Real Estate: How tech is changing residential real estate

There is no doubt in my mind that the internet is the single most revolutionary technology we have adopted in our modern society. Every other innovation since has been built off this highway of information. It has connected us directly to our neighbors and drastically changed the way we interact with others. This information we can grasp instantaneously has also warped our perception of time. Everything now has to be available on demand. If you haven’t been in the real estate market for a while, you may find this shocking,

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B2B Stories

Local startup owners pitch businesses to local community

Joanne Williams has lived in Augusta for years, but she’s never been able to find a restaurant in this area that serves New York deli sandwiches. So the Helms College graduate decided to start one. Williams, the owner of AKUA, New York Deli Style Sandwiches, recently graduated from Make Startup, which is a three-month entrepreneurial training course, followed by a six-month mentoring program offered by theClubhou.se, a small business incubator and shared workspace located at the Georgia Cyber Center in downtown Augusta. On Wednesday, she and eight other graduates of

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B2B Stories

Augusta’s economic developers receive national honor

In his role as President of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, one of Cal Wray’s responsibilities is to bring new businesses to Augusta. For the second year in a row, his efforts have been recognized. Wray has been named one of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers for 2022 by Consultant Connect, a national firm that helps to connect site selection consultants with economic developers. He was also selected in 2015. Honorees are chosen by their peers and site selectors. “To me, it’s always exciting because those you work with

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Consumer Stories

Business Lunch Review: Pizza Joint

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

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Expo Preview

Free Access: Expo Preview: Ex-Major Leaguer makes pitch to help CSRA businesses save on health benefits costs

Drive, hard work, and asking questions propelled Tom Mastny to a three-year Major League baseball career. Now, he’s using those same attributes to help CSRA businesses contain health care costs. Mastny is CEO of The Pennant Group, a health benefits company that helps employers dig deeper to discover the reasons for high health costs and then find ways to reduce or contain those costs. “It’s the ‘hidden paycheck,’” Mastny said about the health care costs. “Most employees don’t understand all the things taken out of their check, and if you

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Top Story

Taps will stop flowing at Evans restaurant after county revokes its alcohol license

The beer will soon stop flowing at an Evans eatery, thanks to a decision by the Columbia County Board of Commissioners, which voted 4-1 to revoke its alcohol license Tuesday evening. Last month, Renee Hajek, owner of Stay. Social Tap & Table located at 7025 Evans Town Center Blvd., received a letter from Development Services Division Director, Paul Scarbary informing her that her license is being revoked because the restaurant violated the county’s alcohol ordinance. The ordinance mandates that all restaurants serving alcohol receive 50 percent of their gross sales

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Darin Myers

Free Access: LinkedIn profile mistakes and how to fix them

Darin Myers is the local facilitator of The Alternative Board (TAB), a peer-to-peer advisory board designed to help company leaders maximize their opportunities and work through challenges. Darin recently retired after a 30-year career in the nuclear industry as the leader of Plant Vogtle I and II. He has proven success in strategic planning and alignment, employee development, organizational performance improvement, accountability, and coaching. Recently, he started a family business in Augusta focused on home health care, providing him the knowledge and experience surrounding small- to medium-sized business operators. Every

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B2B Stories

13-year-old entrepreneur set to open a pizza business

Who knows pizza better than a teenager? After all, it’s one of their favorite foods. It’s certainly true for 13-year-old North Augustan, Phinehas Esser, which is one of the reasons he is set to launch his own pizza business, PDog’s Pizzeria, on October 11. “I started making pizzas last year, perfecting my recipe, and about a month ago started planning my business,” Phinehas explained. The average age of most entrepreneurs is 42, according to the Harvard Business Review, but entrepreneurship is not new to him. At the age of 8,

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Expo Preview

Free Access: Expo Preview: Dynamic duo finds the best solutions for local offices

It takes two to make a thing go right. That’s how you could describe the tag-team approach Robin Baxley and Sandi Shields have to run Best Office Solutions. The pair manages everything a commercial business needs: furniture, supplies, promotional products, and more. For more than 20 years, they have worked together to help set their company apart from the rest. “We both worked for a similar company that went out of business after 63 years,” Baxley said. “Our customers asked us to continue in the same type of business, and

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