Restaurants/Food

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

If a traditional gift bouquet of flowers seems too passé, a basket overflowing with popcorn from Mack’s Poppin Kettle Corn might do the trick. In 2018, Mack’s Poppin Kettle Corn began selling its snacks at events and fundraisers in Augusta and Columbia. The business has since grown and opened its own storefront in Evans. Located at 4272 Washington Road in the Publix Plaza behind Evans Cinema, Mack’s sells kettle corn in a variety of flavors, such as bacon cheddar, caramel, ranch and even pizza. The store also offers gift baskets

Michelle Cooper has survived severe asthma and four strokes to become a boiled peanut entrepreneur. Cooper, owner of MC Homemade Boiled Peanuts in Augusta, officially founded her business on Oct. 25, 2020. She sells and delivers peanuts throughout the CSRA and charges customers a small delivery fee based on the distance she drives. Cooper said she has also shipped her products to various locations throughout the U.S. and as far away as Haiti. She got the idea to start the business when her brother came to her house with a

As a young girl, Alea Garvin had no idea her first time serving up scoops, cones, and sprinkles as an ice cream shop employee would eventually lead to her becoming an employer, the sole proprietor of not one but two ice cream shops of her own. She and her husband of 17 years, Ronnie, opened their first store, Whipped Creamery, in the Augusta Mall in 2018.  A few years later the store relocated and opened in Grovetown in 2021. This year is poised to see the opening of a second

In a world where 70 percent or more of restaurants fail within the first year, Rae’s Coastal Café in the heart of Augusta is a rarity. The popular restaurant celebrated 30 years in business this month. Owner Walter Clay, who also owns French Market Grille, said he never thought he’d one day end up owning two restaurants. It was simply a career evolution that started as a cook at Calvert’s and progressed to being the first manager at French Market Grille after Chuck Baldwin opened it. He worked there for

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