Consumer Stories

B2B Stories

Company expands to 3rd location in time for Masters

A successful grad from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts is adding onto her Evans brick-and-mortar bakery and her longtime location at the Augusta Market. Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake shop is moving into the former Dirty Dough cookie spot off Walton Way Extension near Wheeler Road in West Augusta. A big part of Arielle Page’s business is event catering, corporate gifts, and selling wholesale to restaurants, hotels, and coffee shops. Page worked with Jordan Trotter Commercial Real Estate, the plaza management company, and shared this statement with them.

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Consumer Stories

Why Medicare Consulting Should Be Built Into Employer Group Plans (Especially in the CSRA)

Several years ago, I was talking to a CFO of a local company that had around 250 employees and was receiving, on average, around 15-20% increases every year on their health insurance. After an audit, we discovered several fundamental improvements we could make to improve both the quality of the plans and contain costs.  One of those fundamental improvements was providing thorough Medicare consulting for both the employee and the company. Five years later, we were able to deliver on both of those goals, saving the company over half a

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B2B Stories

New restaurant aims to melt your heart

After a false start in North Augusta, the Melty’s franchise just moved into the CSRA with a focus on different cheeses on all of their sandwiches. Melty’s is now open each day at 10:30 in the Aiken Towne Park near Whiskey Road. Sandwiches start at $7 (4 cheese Grilled Cheese) to $11, and selections include Chicken, Pulled Pork, Cuban, Cheeseburger, Turkey Avocado, French Dip, BBQ Brisket, Club Sandwich, Caprese, and a patty melt. For another $5 to $8, customers receive a drink and a premium side order. S.D. Clifton Construction

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B2B Stories

New Golf Car Unveiled at PGA Show

E-Z-GO staff members are just heading back from last week’s PGA show in Orlando. They introduced a new vehicle that will be available pretty soon in the CSRA. Buyers for golf facilities and courses, golf tournament directors, and golf course owners were at the show to visit E-Z-GO’s booth and about 1,000 other exhibitors. They unveiled the 2027 E-Z-GO Liberty that is big on new features and technology. On board is the following: 10-inch ECOXGEAR infotainment touchscreen 28-inch ECOXGEAR soundbar with LED lighting, wireless Apple CarPlay, and Android IntelliScreen™ speed,

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Consumer Stories

Simon Says: National study involves Augusta

Diversity has become a bit of a dirty word recently, but economic and management research suggests there are benefits to diversity in team settings. True diversity, which goes beyond race or gender, and includes diversity of skills, experience, abilities, and thought, may increase team performance. However, diversity may result in lower group cohesion and increased conflict. These conflicting benefits and costs of diversity mean that the overall relationship of diversity on team performance may be positive or negative. In a recently published paper, I and Dinesh Hasija from the Hull

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Consumer Stories

Windsor Jewelers, Doctors Hospital, and Gerald Jones Auto Group

Scouts honor a small business legend in the CSRA. Donnie Thompson will be the guest of honor next week at a special award ceremony put on by the Georgia-Carolina Council Scouting America chapter in Columbia County. Thompson will receive the distinguished citizens award at a luncheon next Tuesday, February 5th.  He’ll be introduced by a good friend and business colleague, Andy Jones from the Gerald Jones Auto Group. Each year, the two businessmen help pay for a free, patriotic fireworks show called “Thunder over Evans.”  The keynote speaker will be

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B2B Stories

FBI man becomes CSRA businessman to continue investigations

Chuck McKee spent 20 years working for the FBI. Now he leads the FBIS (Forensic Brothers Investigation Services) unit in the Augusta/Aiken area and TrustVault.  TrustVault is a “Good Housekeeping-like seal of approval” for people’s character and perhaps the companies they work for. McKee’s FBI career brought him to the Augusta region in 2005, and he worked in the following fraud divisions: Healthcare Mortgage—McKee investigated those who misrepresented their mortgage applications related to employment, bank account information, property repairs, and more. Counterintelligence—McKee looked into employees at Fort Gordon, NSA, Plant

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Consumer Stories

Connecting CSRA medical needs with business good deeds

The founder of the nation’s largest human resource company for small and medium businesses has made a $50 million investment in the Wellstar Children’s Hospital of Georgia (WCHOG).  The investment by Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex, brings WCHOG into a national consortium of children’s hospitals.   “Children’s hospitals are essential to the health and future of our communities, and each one serves families with unique needs and challenges,” said Golisano in the news release announcing the investment. “The team at Wellstar Children’s Hospital of Georgia has a deep commitment to advancing

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Consumer Stories

Growing # of jobs at the airport

The next generation of airport employees in the CSRA may just come from area high schools. A new internship is introducing high school students to a diverse number of career opportunities at Augusta Regional Airport. Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) and the Richmond County Board of Education (RCBOE) have announced AIR EDU. Lauren Smith, Assistant Director of Marketing and Public Relations, said the goal is to address a growing workforce shortage in operations, maintenance, air traffic controllers, and airport management. The forecast is that the industry will need more than two

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Consumer Stories

Community groups receive nearly 3/4 million dollars

A local organization celebrated its 30th anniversary by distributing $735,000 in grants to 59 area nonprofit, educational, arts, and historical groups. The Community Foundation of the CSRA (CFCSRA) grants will support groups in Richmond, Columbia, Burke, and McDuffie counties in Georgia and Aiken and Edgefield counties in South Carolina. “The Community Foundation really exists so that we can give back,” Shell Berry, President and CEO, explained for ABD. “It is a community endowment that’s been contributed to, most significantly by the Masters Tournament for 29 of those 30 years. And

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