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Consumer Stories

Local restaurant owners request community support to stay afloat

In June 2022, Georgia Alexander opened a vegan restaurant in Augusta, but just one year later, she and her mother and co-owner, Diane Francis are struggling to keep the business afloat, thanks to mounting debts and rising food costs. Alexander and Francis own Soca Vegan Kitchen, which serves a variety of Trinidad-inspired dishes and is located at 630 Crane Creek Drive, Suite 103, near Sprouts Farmers Market. Alexander recently started a GoFundMe with a goal of raising $500,000. As of Friday, she had received 10 donations totaling $735. “We are

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B2B Stories

Entrepreneur creates a different kind of Amen Corner

Amen Corner at Augusta National sports one of the more challenging, but beautiful three holes in golf. With a stone bridge across Rae’s Creek, it provides iconic “beauty shots” during the Masters. Augusta National has trademarked the name, “Amen Corner.” That Amen Corner was born in 1958. Ethan Hammond wasn’t even a glimmer in his parents’ eyes back then. His business, Amen Corner Ponds, while a nod to his community, stems more from his church upbringing and honoring his faith, because to be successful in business and life, we all

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B2B Stories

Mobile mechanic puts the brakes on high car repair costs

Austin Cravey understands many can’t afford to wait days or even weeks for costly car repairs, which is why he helps his customers save both time and money. About two months ago, Cravey launched Cravey’s Car Care, a local mobile mechanic business in Martinez that offers a variety of services, ranging from oil changes to engine rebuilds. “We also do light and heavy diesel work,” he said. “We work on foreign and domestic vehicles.” Cravey said some of his customers have already spent thousands of dollars at other repair shops,

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Consumer Stories

Takosushi founder starts another specialty restaurant

Kevin Goldsmith is at it again. He started Takosushi more than a decade ago and it’s become a local and regional success. The European native is celebrating 50 years in the food and beverage industry. Trattoria Polipo is an ode to his childhood, when he enjoyed the understated, affordable neighborhood restaurants that were gathering, eating and drinking spots for family and friends. Most meals are $18.50, plus a little more for meat or shrimp, which includes a house salad and freshly baked bread. The restaurant is open for dinners beginning

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ABD Extra

Doing some homework on new school coming to the area

Students in Aiken County have just started enjoying their summer vacation; however, school district leaders are working this summer to prepare to open a new school for the 2023-2024 school year. Highland Springs Middle School is under construction just off Belvedere-Clearwater Road and is phase one of a two-part project. Phase two will be the construction of an elementary school. The middle school will be two stories, 134,000 square feet, and able to accept 750 students. Once built, the elementary school will add 61,500 square feet, also two stories, with

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Consumer Stories

Huge hiring event coming this week

If you want to reach the summit of job opportunities, this is your chance. Almost 100 employers will be looking for thousands of employees this week at the annual Fort Gordon Career Summit. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Gordon Transition Assistance Program (TAP) are the hosts for the Hiring Our Heroes event on Thursday, June 22, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gordon Catering and Conference Center. While the hiring fair is primarily intended for military members transitioning out of the service and military spouses,

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Awards/Celebrations

Leaders in business and family: Father’s Day tribute

Editor’s note: I grew up in Tennessee. My Daddy was a horse trainer and farrier with four daughters. He instilled in his girls a strong work ethic and helped us believe that there was nothing we couldn’t accomplish. One went into drafting, one became a seamstress, another followed in his footsteps as a trainer, and I worked in television. He was proud of each of his girls, just as ABD is proud to salute all the dads this weekend who set examples for their children to follow. Successful business owners

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B2B Stories

Military-themed restaurant opens in Evans

The O’Neil’s, a pair of military veterans, are the nation’s first franchisee of the Rally Point Grille concept, originally developed by another military family in Woodstock, Georgia. Yesterday, Fast Signs of Augusta put up the sign and the O’Neil’s and their staff got trained on food preparation. Rally Point is in the same shopping center as Shane’s Rib Shack and across from the Evans Wal-Mart. Their hours are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. this week to get everyone acclimated. Food is hearty, American fare including burgers, meatloaf, grilled cheese, braised

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B2B Stories

Developing cyber skills gets a jump start

Students from Georgia and South Carolina are spending this week learning from the experts about all things cyber. One of three scheduled CyberPatriot Camp 2023 sessions kicked off Monday at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center in Augusta and Aiken Technical College. The middle and high school students come from the seven-county Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Dr. Tom Clark of the Alliance for Fort Gordon, which is one of the coordinators, says students apply to participate in the camp. They receive about 100 applications and choose students to

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Consumer Stories

New eatery to replace long-time chicken restaurant

Bill and Melissa Hoard will soon open a new restaurant in a well-known Columbia County location, and countless people have already stopped by that location to find out when it will open. The couple has renovated the former Maryland Fried Chicken, located at 6008 Clarks Hill Road at Pollard’s Corner in Appling and are replacing it with Granddaddy’s Kitchen, an eatery that will specialize in Southern cuisine. “We’ve wanted to open a restaurant here forever,” Melissa said. “We are the talk of the community; everybody wants us to open.” But

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