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Consumer Stories
Consumer Stories

Local restaurateur strikes while the waffle iron is hot

You’re probably familiar with chicken and waffles, but Dallas Hooks offers a unique twist on the Southern favorite. On Friday, April 26, Hooks launched Café on 8th, a waffle bar located at 226 Eighth St. in downtown Augusta. The eatery serves not only a variety of traditional waffles, but also savory options, such as The Down Home, which is chicken and collards baked into a waffle. Other flavors include shrimp and grits and biscuits and gravy. “There are a lot of things we can do with a waffle,” he said.

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Josh Heath May 30, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Local meal prep business owner makes healthy eating more convenient

In April 2020, LaTreal Strickland started her meal prep business for local truck drivers and hospital employees who were working around the clock. Strickland owns DSD Boards, Meals, and Treats, which serves healthier versions of popular dishes, desserts, and charcuterie boards. DSD stands for Do Something Different. About a month ago, her business joined OPP Kitchen, a shared kitchen space located at 359 Furys Ferry Road in Martinez. One of the meals she serves is chopped steak with smashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. “You’ll never know it’s cauliflower unless

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Josh Heath May 30, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Pioneering women honored for blazing a trail in local history

Art and commerce met on James Brown and Laney Walker boulevards in an area that was once vibrant with black-owned businesses. The art featured a mural by artist, Salonika Rhyne, honoring a group of six pioneering women who helped shape those neighborhoods. The “Women of Empowerment” mural features the faces of Ursula Collins, Rosa Tutt, Marjorie Carter, Margaret Louise Laney, and Rosa Beard, all of whom are no longer alive. The sixth woman was Ruth Crawford, who, at age 108, attended the event and was honored by the crowd. The

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Dana Lynn McIntyre May 29, 2023 No Comments
Consumer Stories

CSRA personal injury attorney helps local students pay for college

Chris Hudson worked in a grocery store while attending college and understands the financial burdens many students face. Hudson owns the Chris Hudson Law Group, an Augusta practice that specializes in various types of personal injury cases, including accidents, workers’ compensation, and product liability. Since 2021, the Chris Hudson Foundation has provided need-based scholarships to students living in Columbia, Richmond, and Burke Counties. Each year, two students are selected to receive one-time awards of $2,500 each. “We choose two deserving, smart, motivated but underprivileged high school seniors to help with

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Josh Heath May 29, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Airport celebrates Air Show and Masters’ numbers

Members of the Aviation Commission heard the preliminary report on the Augusta Air Show held May 13 and 14. Final attendance numbers are still being tallied, but Bryan Lilley, CEO of AirDotShow which organized the event, called it a very successful inaugural event, with Saturday as the biggest day. “Tens of thousands of attendees inside the airport and over a hundred thousand local residents in the surrounding area we flew over enjoyed the air show,” he said. Destination Augusta is also adding up the final numbers on the air show’s

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Dana Lynn McIntyre May 25, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Local auto group opens much larger CSRA dealership

The former Kia of Augusta recently moved across the river and has been replaced by a state-of-the-art dealership that’s three to four times the size of its predecessor, according to Greg Hodges II. Hodges serves as platform manager for Stokes Hodges Kia, which opened for business on Monday, May 1 at 5425 Jefferson Davis Highway in Beech Island. On Thursday, May 18, he and his staff celebrated the grand opening of the more than 46,000-square-foot dealership with a ribbon cutting hosted by the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce. Hodges said

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Josh Heath May 25, 2023 No Comments
Consumer Stories

CSRA retirement community offers medical “house calls”

When was the last time your doctor made a house call? The very term elicits images of a Norman Rockwell painting. The height of physicians coming to a patient’s home happened in the 1930’s, 40’s, and early 50’s. Now, they’re back. Brandon Wilde is the first retirement community in the CSRA to offer house call services to their residents. In many respects, the facility, founded 33 years ago, mirrors the history of the medical practitioners who almost 70 years prior covered a general field of medicine that included all the

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Mitzi Oxford May 25, 2023 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Business Lunch Review: Craft and Vine

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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Wes Hennings May 24, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Local mom launches mobile ice cream business

Rebecca Skinner has been a stay-at-home mom for the last six years and wanted to find a way to recapture her identity, so she decided to open her own mobile ice cream business. In March, Skinner launched Blue Sky Ice Cream, LLC, but she didn’t start selling ice cream until the second week in April. She uses a concessions trailer, not a truck, to sell frozen treats at birthday parties, school celebrations, and other local events. “We just did Murphey Middle School’s end-of-the-year party,” Skinner said. “Next month, we’ll be

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Josh Heath May 24, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Local baker expands business by opening second CSRA location

Tiffany Holley opened her first bakery in Thomson in Oct. 2019, but she just added a second location in Columbia County. Last Friday, May 19, Holley, the owner of Tippy Cakes Bakery, LLC, celebrated the soft opening of her new bakery located at 5110 Wrightsboro Road, Suite B, near Papa John’s Pizza and Armando’s Grill & Pizzeria in Grovetown. She said it will officially open for business on Wednesday, May 31. “I’ve always wanted to come to Grovetown and bring our cupcakes here,” Holley said. “I’m going to plan a

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Josh Heath May 24, 2023 No Comments
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