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Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
She Strnes
gainesvilletimes com
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Don’t get up: Restaurants will
now bring dinner to your door
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
McDonald’s locations in Gainesville went live on the Uber Eats app Thursday, Nov. 29, with the first food delivery order
coming to the Jesse Jewell Parkway restaurant.
Third-party food delivery a growing trend in Hall County
Gainesville Coffee Shop’s Nikki Forrester makes a delivery of food Wednesday,
Dec. 12, during lunch. The restaurant has been using the app ChowNow for
deliveries and other types of food orders for five years.
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Ordering food through a third-
party delivery service isn’t just a
big-city thing anymore.
Several companies are making
inroads into Hall County, partnering
with area restaurants to help satisfy
the mealtime cravings of customers
too busy or tired to make the cross
town drive to a favorite eatery.
With a few clicks on a website or
mobile phone app, customers can get
food rushed to their home or office.
Uber Eats, once confined to metro
Atlanta, is now pushing farther out,
including an area stretching from
Gainesville to Oakwood. GrubHub,
which also operates Seamless, has
food delivery in the Gainesville and
South Hall areas.
Suwanee-based Choices to You
expanded last year beyond Gwin
nett County serving fast-growing
South Hall.
“We’re planning on heading to
Gainesville the first part of next
year,” Choices to You owner Tom
Vooris said. “Business is definitely
picking up.”
One of Grubhub’s most predomi
nant partners is Taco Bell, and that’s
not just a local move for the fast-
food Mexican restaurant chain.
“Taco Bell delivery is currently
available in thousands of restau
rants as we continue rolling it out
nationwide,” spokeswoman Gideon
Anstey said in an email. “Through
our partnership with GrubHub,
we’re focusing on the convenience
of delivery to ensure Taco Bell is
available for any and all occasions.”
In October, Uber Eats announced
that by the end of 2018, it would be
“rolling out into new cities to cover
70 percent of the U.S. population,” a
company press release states.
McDonald’s of Northeast Georgia
Inc., which owns and operates local
McDonald’s restaurants, joined with
UberEats in Gainesville-area loca
tions last month, launching with a
test order at the restaurant at 707
Jesse Jewell Parkway, Gainesville.
Uber Eats has delivered from the
McDonald’s location off Friendship
Road in Buford/South Hall for more
than a year, said Kimberly Dobbs
Scott, vice president of operations.
Before launching at locations far
ther north, McDonald’s of Northeast
Georgia held a training session at
the Friendship Road store.
“It’s just another way to reach our
customers,” Scott said of the ser
vice. “It’s serving the customers in
a manner in which they want to be
served.”
Online food ordering lines up
with McDonald’s Vision 2020 plan
to modernize all its restaurants,
largely with technology enhance
ments, “giving customers what they
■ Please see DELIVERY,3C
Study: UNG
fiscal impact
$620 million
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
The University of North
Georgia, across its five cam
puses and online programs,
had an estimated $620 mil
lion economic impact on
Northeast Georgia in the
2017 fiscal year.
The study measures direct
and indirect spending that
contributes to the univer
sity’s service region.
“This study is a timely
reminder of the significant
role UNG has in
advancing eco
nomic growth and
prosperity in the
areas we serve,”
President Bonita
C. Jacobs said in a
press release. “The
report comple
ments our ongo
ing work with
industry and
community part
ners to increase
educational
attainment and
regional eco
nomic develop
ment efforts that
enhance this
region.”
While this
figure, reported
this month in
an annual study
by the Univer
sity System of
Georgia, comes
with caveats,
it reveals the
growing impact
UNG has had on
Hall County and
the wider region
since its estab
lishment in 2013
with the con
solidation of North Georgia
College & State University in
Dahlonega and Gainesville
State College.
“At best, economic impact
numbers indicate a positive
contribution ... but none of
them are infallible,” said
Tim Evans, vice president
of economic development at
the Greater Hall Chamber of
Commerce. “The economic
impact is a measure of insti
tutional spending and short
term benefits.”
The report even acknowl
edges that “there was no
attempt to evaluate the long
term impacts of the Univer
sity System’s institutions on
the economic development
of the host communi
ties and the state.”
“More than that,”
the report states,
“there are long-term
benefits to improv
ing skills and lifelong
learning in the com
munity that are not
accounted in an eco
nomic impact of
spending.”
And it’s these
potential long
term benefits —
the direct impact
of jobs and ben
efits and spend
ing from UNG’s
employment —
that have Evans
and officials at
UNG focusing
on future growth
and develop
ment because
of the potential
impacts on com
munity quality
of life.
“Sometimes
what’s lost ...
is (these stud
ies) don’t con
sider the future
value of earned
income from degrees
received from UNG Gaines
ville (graduates),” Evans
said.
■ Please see UNG, 3C
Jacobs
This study
is a
reminder of
the significant
role UNG has
in advancing
economic
growth and
prosperity in
the areas we
serve.’
Bonita C. Jacobs
President of UNG
DA: Woman not
active participant
in armed robbery
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Prosecutors have decided to dismiss an armed robbery
charge for an Oakwood woman, as the district attorney’s
office determined she was not an active
participant, according to court documents.
Jennifer Luna-Flores was originally
charged along with Damon Jackson, of
Oakwood, in an armed robbery case from
November 2017.
“Through further investigation, includ
ing interviews with (Luna-Flores), the State
determined that she had suffered domestic
abuse and forced sexual servitude at the
hands of her co-defendant, Damon Jack-
son,” according to a dismissal order signed by Northeastern
Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh. “These con
versations with (Luna-Flores) also indicated she was not an
active participant in the armed robbery.”
■ Please see ROBBERY, 2C
Luna-Flores
Soldier returns from Middle East to surprise daughter
BY KENNETH HUCKS
khucks@gainesvilletimes.com
A University of North Georgia
student found herself with an extra
guest attending her graduation
on Saturday when her deployed
father surprised her and the rest of
the family at the ceremony on the
school’s Dahlonega campus.
Col. Norman B. Kirby Jr. made
plans to surprise his daughter
Taylor Kirby two weeks prior to
UNG’s graduation after his superi
ors granted him permission to fly
back home from the Middle East.
Norman Kirby was originally set to
fly back in May for his son’s high
school graduation, but when the
prospect of seeing Taylor Kirby’s
graduation came up, his colleagues
were more than supportive.
“The person I work for, my boss,
she was in a meeting and one of
my peers had an opportunity to
do this for a different event,” Nor
man Kirby said. “We were sitting
in a room and I brought up my son
and I said, ‘Well hey, I can only
do this once and my daughter’s
graduating in about two weeks.’
She stopped, looked at me and said
‘put your leave form in. You’re
going home.’ It just happened just
like that. It wasn’t even thought out.
I just had to react. As soon as she
said ‘go home’ I put the leave form
in, everybody supported me, and
I was out of there in less than two
weeks. It was really just because
my leadership supported it more
than I pursued it. It was awesome.”
The surprise was nearly ruined
when the charges for the plane
ticket appeared on Norman Kir
by’s wife Jan Kirby’s bank state
ment, but she kept the secret in the
weeks leading up to her husband’s
surprise appearance.
“Oh, it was so hard,” Jan said.
“It’s been two or three weeks. He
started it and I saw he had a charge
for airplane tickets, and I thought
‘Oh gosh, he’s already bought his
tickets to come home for our son’s
graduating in May.’ And he was
like ‘no,’ and I was like ‘what?’
It was a surprise to me. So then
we started this and the school got
involved, which was a big help.”
Taylor Kirby said up to the
moment of her father’s reveal
she had no idea he was going to
be there, having been told he’d
be watching remotely through a
livestream.
“He just messaged me this
morning saying he had the web
site pulled up to watch it online, so
I had no idea,” Taylor Kirby said.
“My mom didn’t tell me anything.
It’s nice that she lives far away so
it’s been easier to hide.”
Prior to graduating, Taylor
attended UNG for four and a half
years as a biology major. Both of
Taylor’s parents graduated from
the college in 1993 when it was
known as North Georgia College
and State University. Norman
Kirby said she made the decision
to come to attend the same school
without prompting from her
parents.
“Taylor’s a real special person,”
■ Please see SOLDIER, 2C
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Taylor Kirby, a biology major at the University of North Georgia, cries when
her father, Chip Kirby, a deployed soldier, surprises her at graduation on
Saturday, Dec. 15.
