Restaurants/Food

Anna and Pedro Figueredo, owners of Paella South, serve up their Spanish symbol of great family food. Pedro, an M.D. in orthopedics, followed his wife to South Carolina, where with her degrees in English, Spanish and a Masters in Curriculum Design, she teaches English to Spanish-speaking children and Spanish to English-speaking kids at Newberry High School. She is teaching English to her husband so he can work in medicine, but their dream now is to open a family restaurant, with their three daughters, somewhere in the Aiken-Newberry-Columbia area. In the

Like many Augusta residents, Tammie Harvell lives in a food desert, so she must drive several miles to the nearest grocery store. Harvell lives in McBean – a tiny rural community in Hephzibah. “It’s nine miles to Food Lion and thirteen to Waynesboro,” she states. Harvell explains she wishes there were closer grocery store options, but she doesn’t prefer shopping at Walmart. While large grocery store chains, such as BI-LO have gone out of business, Dollar General fills in the gaps in food deserts. Hephzibah alone has a few Dollar

Editor’s Note: Wes Hennings never met a meal he walked away from and is an opinionated eater! Each Monday 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”.

Editor’s Note: On the Nextdoor App in many Evans subdivisions and on social media, there are passionate discussions and grassroots efforts going on about “buying local” as coffee giant Starbucks legally purchased an outparcel 50 yards from the existing Rooted Coffeehouse—which is locally owned. Can they both survive? We sent Josh Heath on a random morning to grab a cup of Joe or two and some food at both while seeing how business is going for both. This is just a one morning sample, but some good patterns developed. ********************************************************

Editor’s Note: Wes Hennings never met a meal he walked away from and is an opinionated eater! Each Monday 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”

Derek and Rebecca with their two sons and dog. (Photo courtesy of Derek Marsik) For Derek Marsik, selling produce is what he’s done most of his life. Marsik and his wife, Rebecca, opened Roots Produce in April 2020 – a month into the pandemic. “I’m 33, and I’ve been doing this since I was 12, except for my four years in the Navy,” he states. He graduated from Athens Technical College with an associate degree in marketing management and tried other jobs before returning to the produce business. Located at

Keosha Parris launched Picnic N Parris – a luxury pop-up picnic business – on Saturday, June 19. Keosha Parris has started a business that’s the first of its kind in the CSRA. Parris – owner of Picnic N Parris – offers clients a luxury pop-up picnic experience. She officially launched her business, which provides elegant picnics for various occasions, including dates, anniversaries, birthdays, and baby showers, on Saturday, June 19. “I just moved here in Sept. 2020, but there wasn’t much opportunity to explore” because of COVID, says the military