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Restore your health. Energize your life. Get back in motion.
Orthopaedic Physicians Specializing in:
Sports Medicine • Joint Replacement • Neck and Back Surgery
Foot and Ankle Surgery • Non-Operative Spine Care
General Orthopaedics • Hand Surgery • Arthroscopic Surgery
Trauma Care • Shoulder & Elbow Surgery
Midtown
St. Joseph's
Windy Hill
550 Peachtree St.
5671 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd.
2550 Windy Hill Rd.
1 9th Floor
Suite 900
Suite 31 7
Atlanta, GA 30308
Atlanta, GA 30342
Marietta, GA 30067
(404) 215-2000
(404) 847-9999
(770) 933-1900
Fax (404) 215-2001
Fax (404) 531 -8466
Fax (770) 951-9958
Visit our website and make an appointment today
resurgens.com
A Collaboration between the Dunwoody & Sandy Springs Chambers
Greater Perimeter
BUSINESS EXPO
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Thursday, May 2, 2013
10 am to 4 pm | Free Self Parking
Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia
4355 Ashford Dunwoody Road, NE, Dunwoody, GA 30346
Breakfast Speaker: Wendy Kinney | Luncheon Keynote Speaker : TBD
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PERIMETER BUSINESS
U 5^ 'll Rui^oody SandyJp
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PERIMETER BUSINESS
Local entrepreneurs looked in
the mirror to find new bosses
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
Myers said she succeeded be
cause she didn't have a choice.
Her husband, Matt, lost his fi
nancial industry job in 2008, and
she had two toddlers at home.
What began on an afternoon spent
picking strawberries turned into
an income for Myers during the
worst of the recession. Her family
still depends on it, she said.
"I tell people literally, when they
buy jam I can pay for my kid to go
to soccer," Myers said. "There's a
direct correlation between my abil
ity to do things for my family and
how successfully this company is."
Her company, Emily G's, has ex
panded to include sauces and rel
ishes. Emily G's products can be
found at 180 stores nationwide.
Myers had worked as a sous-
chef in Ohio, so making jam wasn't
a challenge. The hard part was
missing her kids' soccer games,
working late and learning how to
make money off her ideas. In some
ways, the job was harder than be
ing a mom, she said.
"If I screw up, my kids will for
give me," Myers said. "The bank
will not."
Dempsey has brewed
beer at home since the
1980s. In 2009, he wanted
to step up from bottling
small batches at home to
putting six-packs on store
shelves. His first test batch debuted
at the 5 Seasons Brewing Compa
ny in Sandy Springs and went over
well. Milestones flowed: in April
2010, O'Dempsey's shipped its Big
Red Ale to Savannah Distributing,
followed by Inukshuk IPA in Sep
tember 2010. Today O'Dempsey's
is sold in five states.
"One of the unexpected plea
sures is, you
go into a bar,
you sit down
and I order my
own beer and
I pay for it,"
Dempsey said.
"I'm buying my
beer and paying
retail price for
it happily. For
some reason, I
get a kick out of
it."
Both Smith and Dempsey still
hold day jobs. Dempsey designs
trade shows and Smith runs an
other small business, CFO Advi
sory Associates. Smith handles
“I personally love to cook,
love to entertain. I’m
passionate about food
and healthy lifestyles, and
this product fits within
everything I believe.”
— Jaime Foster, NaturAlmond
O'Dempsey's finances and nav
igates the maze of state alcohol
regulations standing between the
product and retailers. Every state
is different, she said.
"One of the key things is do
ing enough research to make sure
that you choose good distributors,
because once you're tied to a dis
tributor you're kind of stuck with
them for good or bad,"
Smith said.
Both O'Dempsey's and
Emily G's manufacture
their products elsewhere.
O'Dempsey's production
facility is in South Carolina, and
Emily G's is in south Georgia to
keep production costs under con
trol.
Foster operates her commercial
kitchen in Chamblee because shar
ing a kitchen could potentially ex
pose her homemade NaturAlmond
almond butter to gluten and pea
nuts, she said. She produces the
brand as a prod
uct of her com
pany, Hinsdale
& Foster Provi
sions.
The com
pany official
ly opened in
April 2012. Fos
ter said she left
the lucrative
and exhausting
world of med
ical sales be
cause she wanted to focus on what
was most important.
"I traveled a lot," Foster said. "I
was gone all the time and had two
small children. My mother's sick
Cover
Story
You can learn more about the
products featured in this story
by visiting the following links:
Emily G’s:
www.emilygs.com
O’Dempsey’s:
www.odempseys.com
Hinsdale & Foster Provisions:
www.naturalmond.com
12 | FTJB. 22—MARCH 7, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
