The husband and wife team of Malibu Jack’s in the Furys Ferry Station are expanding next door from their traditional bar, restaurant, and live performance stage.  They added the space next door in the former Le Bonbonniere Candy shop and opened in time for Masters with simple tables and chairs to help with the overflow. They have signed up many groups to have private meetings in the connecting space.

Now, they are redecorating and opening a Tapas bar to serve some upscale finger foods with their famous Caribbean feel.

On May 17th, SouthStar Ambulance received a proclamation from Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver as well as from President Barack Obama and from both Governors in Georgia and South Carolina. SouthStar has the contract for 10 local nursing homes, five area hospitals, plus Walton Rehabilitation Hospital, Select Specialty Hospital, the State of GA Prison, Eisenhower and VA Medical.

SouthStar just moved from their Commerce Dr address to Wheeless Rd and bought the property across the street, with almost three acres for growth.

photography by: John Forde

Monday from 12-2pm, we welcome John Patrick off the 10 day disabled list (DL) after recovering from surgery. John joins Neil Gordon as we catch up on area business news. We’ll discuss the opening of the 3^rd Batteries Plus store in the CSRA. We’ll also interview Doug Fine of Defined Performance Solutions as he discusses Employee Motivation. John Forde, the chief buzz ambassador shares with us the week that was in ribbon cuttings\workshops and what is on tap for this week.

We’ll also talk with Brian Tucker of the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce about the failed River House Restaurant. Lastly, we’ll get connected in our technology segment with Knology.

News Talk Sports 1630AM, WRDW AM radio or streaming live at www.wrdwam.com from 12-2pm

“Reporting live from the Partridge Inn, Laurie Ott,”

About 50 business leaders from various medical fields attended the May 13th monthly meeting of Augusta Cares. Laurie Ott is now Executive Director of the CSRA Wounded Warrior Care Project and shared some “buzz” on next week’s ground breaking of 20 new suites at the Charlie Norwood VA.

Currently, there are seven rooms at the Fischer House for soldiers who come home.

She shared the focus of the CSRA Wounded Warrior Care Project:

1. Coordination of Care (Deliver the Benefits and Services already earned)

2. Family Re-Integration (Re-introduce to their Family, Marriage Enrichment for example)

3. Education/Training (Employment, From Soldier to Civilian)

“Big Daddy” John Forde never missed a meal, particularly if it’s free! On Thursday morning, John stopped by one of the many Subway Restaurants to take advantage of a free breakfast sandwich and 8 ounce coffee. John got about
halfway through his Bacon, Egg, and Cheese English Muffin Sandwich when he decided to take a picture with his cellphone! The free breakfast day is over, but all participating Subway’s give you the option of four different breakfast sandwiches with a 16 ounce coffee for $2.50. The stores are open by 7am weekdays, 8am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday.

On Friday morning, May 14th about 80 business leaders had a “power breakfast”, thanks to the management of the new Golden Corral on the Bobby Jones Expressway. The restaurant sits next door to the old restaurant and was re-done to fit into the new floorplans of Golden Corrals across country. There are six stations representing different countries and a total of more than 140 hot and cold items on the lunch and dinner buffet. Chamber of Commerce members got a preview of the Saturday and Sunday breakfast buffet with made to order omelettes, waffles, eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes, French toast and homemade biscuits.

The restaurant will bring more than 200 new jobs, a mix of full and part-time employees, including management, wait staff, line servers and
kitchen staff.

The retailer is getting ready to open next to Firehouse Subs in the shopping plaza in front of the Evans Walmart on Washington Road. The franchise is famous for its batteries for laptops, cellphones, cordless phones, cars\trucks, digital cameras, cordless tools, and more. The first location opened as part of a $5 million renovation project at Walton’s Corner in West Augusta in July 2003. The second store opened on 2645 Whiskey Road in Aiken.

Apparently, the slogan, “Living is Easy” has caught on at the Riverwood Plantation in Evans. There have been sales of 20 homes in 60 days at the Planned Community, which surrounds the Greenbrier School District. Publix is the anchor store in the shopping center at the entrance on Washington Road. Subway just opened it’s store and McDonald’s and CVS should open within a few weeks.

Meybohm is trying to increase the growth by offering some incentives to the hundreds of homeowners who live in Riverwood. It’s their “Choose Your Neighbor” campaign and if a resident refers a new prospect to Meybohm and it results in a home closing in 2010—the resident gets paid!

The referring resident receives $500 off their association fees and a free pool membership.

It’s the official grand opening of the new Golden Corral on the Bobby Jones Expressway. Our own “Big Daddy”, Buzz Ambassador John Forde will belly up to the bar and let us know how the ribbon cutting and turn-out was. If you like the www.buzzon.biz website, then you’ll like our segment at 12:20 with the driving force behind www.newfiresocialmedia.com, Jeremy Mace. We’ll also celebrate the 6th Anniversary of the Bloom Closet with it’s owner Jean Gordon and find out how Mother’s Day went and what’s ahead for their business. Expect some good conversation from Butch and Eddie at Regent Security Vault as we learn about Access Control in the workplace. Who is getting in and out? We’ll cap off the week by walking the tightrope of our careers vs. taking care of our parents with our Rescare Segment. WRDW 1630 am or streaming live at www.wrdwam.com from 12-2pm.

Source: Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce

Nominations for the “Top 10 in 10 Young Professionals to Watch” flooded into our Chamber office, proving that Augusta is eager to showcase that it has some of the most talented young professionals around.

The ten young professionals who are selected will receive a biographical feature article in the June 2010 issue of Augusta Magazine, a submitted nomination for Georgia Trend Magazine’s 2010 Top 40 under 40, as well as recognition at the June 17th Member Economic Luncheon with an award presented by Mayor Deke Copenhaver.

Look for this year’s Top Ten Young Professionals to Watch in the June edition of Augusta Magazine!