Consumer Stories

FAITH FRIDAY: The Proof (and Faith) is in the Cheesecake

Arielle Page puts the “small” in small business. Her homemade cheesecake pastries are primarily online/pick-up only right now. However, that is slowly changing. Since August of 2020, when Arie’s Confectionaries officially began operating as a business, the pastry chef’s sweets have been making their presence–and taste–known. While she’s the sole baker, her mom helps when it’s time to do a pop-up shop or a farmers’ market. “We offer a variety of cheesecake flavors!” she exclaims. “What makes this company unique is that we provide mini, assorted cheesecakes. Customers are able

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Consumer Stories

New restaurant to open at site of old problem

The intersection of Washington Road near the Bobby Jones Expressway can be bumper-to-bumper, especially around lunch or dinnertime. Publisher Neil Gordon says a new restaurant is going to take a chance that traffic won’t keep customers away.

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B2B Stories

Augusta chosen over 350+ cities for tourism honor

Lindsay Fruchtl of Destination Augusta, just gave a 30-minute audio tour of the Garden City and area businesses and community activities. The CBS affiliate in Atlanta chose Augusta as the first city to be profiled. This podcast is expected to create economic impact for the CSRA, because Atlantans like to take the few hour drive to Augusta to showcase our community’s unique local restaurants, small shops, and fun things to do. The photo is a view from the Hyatt House in downtown Augusta.        

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Consumer Stories

Wild Wing to return to Augusta/Grovetown

ABD’s learned that a deal is in place for a developer and franchisee to build a two-story Wild Wing near restaurant row on Washington Road—not far from the Masters and another one in fast-growing Grovetown. “There will be a rooftop bar along with a music patio upstairs and downstairs along with an airstream bar and a sunken fire pit,” said Wild Wing CEO, Steve Weigle via phone from headquarters in Charlotte. He said the restaurants will be ready sometime after the Masters in late 2022, but he expects to do

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Consumer Stories

New Tex-Mex restaurant to take on competitors in Augusta

You’re probably familiar with Moe’s, Chipotle, and Diablo’s, but a new Tex-Mex restaurant is coming to Augusta. Surcheros Fresh Mex will be located at 2907 Washington Road in Washington Crossing, a shopping center that already includes Bonefish Grill, Half-Moon Outfitters, and The Joint Chiropractic. Surcheros serves a variety of dishes, such as tacos, burritos, bowls, and salads (see photo above story). The restaurant’s menu even includes a dessert called s’mores quesadilla, which is made with a tortilla, s’mores filling, Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup, and powdered sugar. Like other Tex-Mex chains, Surcheros

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Consumer Stories

Business Lunch Review: McAlister’s Deli via DoorDash

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 the 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”.

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Consumer Stories

Home-based vegan bakery opens in Evans

Kim Schortinghuis’s passion for baking vegan desserts was born out of necessity. Schortinghuis’ 3-year-old son Camden, suffers from severe allergies to both eggs and dairy products, so she needed a way to serve him treats that don’t include those ingredients. “I couldn’t get him a cake pop from Starbucks or cupcakes from a bakery,” says Schortinghuis. “I began reevaluating food in general.” Using her experience baking for him, she launched her own vegan and allergy-friendly bakery, The Vegan Turtle, on Sunday, Jan. 30 and quickly received her first order for

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B2B Stories

Top Business Sale Killers

Selling a business can be a complex endeavor and unfortunately not all businesses that go under contract end up getting to the closing table. Below are the top reasons for a business sale to fall through. Time – the amount of time it takes to complete a transaction can be up to 6 months and during this time period a business is constantly changing. Customers come and go, employees come and go, key vendor relationships can change, the business’s financial performance may change and all the while a buyer is

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Consumer Stories

SIMON SAYS: Poor job outlook in the CSRA

Editor’s Note: Despite hearing companies are willing to hire, the numbers in the CSRA don’t bear that out. Since June, the local economy has struggled to add jobs. With fewer job openings the outlook, at least in terms of overall employment, for the beginning of 2022 isn’t any better. The A.U. and ABD economist, Dr. Simon Medcalfe shares the numbers with some perspective on outside influences. Job openings in Georgia fell by 8.0% to 379,000 and by 6.6% to 170,000 in South Carolina in November 2021 according to data just

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B2B Stories

Georgia on an economic upswing

    In today’s Georgia business update, Atlanta reporter Mike Petchenik says Coke and Coors are teaming up and state economic leaders predict a rebound year for the Peach State in 2022.  

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