About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2020)
4A Weekend Edition - October 17-18, 2020 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com LOCAL Award-winning Collegiate Grill fights to stay alive Photos by THOMAS HARTWELL I The Times Above: Jeff Worley adjusts plastic coverings in the restaurant on Oct. 15, as it undergoes a renovation. Top: From left: Donna and Jeff Worley, co-owners of The Collegiate Grill in downtown Gainesville, stand in front of the restaurant on Oct. 15, with their son, Brandon. BY KELSEY PODO kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com When The Collegiate Grill, located on the square, closed in 2008 after going through a short period of owner changes, Jeff Worley said he would drive by it every day and look at the darkened windows. Worley grew up eating at the diner and started his first job there at 12 years old. “It just grabbed at me,” he said. “God gave me a vision of simplicity. I kept thinking, ‘Why is nobody doing it right? Everybody was messing it up and complicating it.’” In November 2008, Wor ley and his wife, Donna, acquired the business. Wor ley said they picked up the pieces and restored it back to how it looked when its origi nal operators, George and Margene Brown, ran it from the late ‘40s to the ‘80s under its founder, Curtis Sewell. “I basically from mem ory set it up the way it was before,” Worley said. “I’d been here so long, to me it was like riding a bike.” After the Browns retired in the ‘80s, Worley said The Col legiate Grill was purchased by Cathy and Hank Holder- field. When Worley gradu ated from high school, he said the couple hired him to work as the restaurant’s gen eral manager. During that time, he learned the ins and outs of the business and the Holderfields even offered to sell him the diner. Unfortunately, he said the deal fell through, and then the restaurant went on a long journey of going from owner to owner. At one point, Wor ley said The Collegiate Grill transformed into a Cuban- style restaurant. When he revived the res taurant to its old glory, Wor ley said he kept the menu the same as when it opened over 70 years ago, sticking to the Browns’ coleslaw and other original recipes. “Dec. 13, 2008, was our first day of business,” Wor ley said. “We opened on a Friday, and we were blown away with volume. We did that first day what I’d con sider good numbers even today, 13 years later.” For the last five years, Worley said The Collegiate Grill has received the Best Burger award from The Times’ Best of Hall, and more recently was named Family Business of the Year along with Tipton Construction dur ing the Greater Hall Cham ber of Commerce’s 2020 gala. One blow after another Although the restaurant has experienced a lot of growth, Worley said huge obstacles have been thrown his way, starting with a month after they officially opened. For 18 months, he said construction workers rebuilt a four-story parking deck directly in front of their busi ness, causing customers to walk nearly two blocks to enter the building. The Great Recession also hit at the same time, hurting the res taurant even more. Through the power of God and help from the building’s owner, Dr. John McHugh, Worley said they were able to pull through. “It was a God thing,” he said. “There were days when Donna and I would sit and pray before we opened. Our faith played a big role in that.” Around a year-and-a-half later, Worley said the city started an infrastructure proj ect to install new sewer lines, which caused more fencing to go up in front of his restau rant for several months. The fence was erected again around three years ago when two levels were added to the parking deck in the square. “When they did that, I had nightmares,” Worley said. “The biggest crane I’ve ever seen was parked outside my front door. They’d let it run and the exhaust fumes would come through the front door. That was a huge interruption for six to eight months.” In February 2019, Worley said the business was able to regain its rhythm through the help of a Small Business Administration Loan. For a year, he said things were going great, then another obstacle struck — the pandemic. “In March, COVID came and changed everything,” Worley said. “When Kemp did the shelter in place, we had to shut immediately down for two weeks. Since that time, our sales have been all over the place.” During the pandemic, Worley said The Collegiate Grill went from serving 80% of customers in-house, to instead serving 80% to-go. Worley said the restaurant became overwhelmed with to-go orders, which caused the wait time inside to sky rocket, making many in- house customers angry. “For every in-house ticket, there were eight to-go tickets, and there may be 10 items on one individual to-go ticket,” he said. “There may be only two people inside waiting 45 minutes for a burger.” Before the pandemic, Worley said he had never witnessed a high level of upset customers at his busi ness. After working long hours six days a week and not making any progress, he made a tough choice. On Wednesday, Sept. 30, The Collegiate Grill tempo rarily closed. “I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath mentally,” Wor ley said. “I was working so tirelessly that I couldn’t pause and identify what the problem was. It was a Wednesday morning, and I called Donna and said, ‘I can’t doit.’” During their temporary closure, Worley said both he and his wife have been able to focus on the restau rant’s renovations — includ ing redoing its floors — and decide how to restructure the business. Worley said right now they are considering only taking to-go orders Monday through Friday and opening the restaurant on Saturdays for in-house dining only. By early December, the co-owners aim to reopen The Collegiate Grill. “We look forward to a very sunny bright and opti mistic future,” Worley said. “We’re really excited about the improvements we’re making. We’ve just got to navigate through COVID like we’ve navigated through everything else.” From left: Carol Slaughter, co-owner of Occasions Florist at 100 Washington St. NW on the Gainesville square, and assistant Dee Reising arrange flowers Wednesday, Oct. 14. Slaughter’s business was recognized as 2019-20 Small Business of the Year at the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce’s 112th Annual Meeting & Gala on Thursday, Oct. 8. JEFF GILL I The Times - ; gl Local florist shop gets very personal with arrangements BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com For Carol Slaughter, put ting together flowers for a funeral is more than show ing beauty through nature. It’s about expressing deep, emotional sentiments. Just ask her close busi ness assistant, Dee Reising. “She takes (her work) very personally. She will ask what the person was like ... and she incorporates the whole concept into a piece,” she said. “We both do,” said Slaughter, getting a big hug from Reising. It’s that kind of passion that helped Occasions Flo rist at 100 Washington St. NW on the Gainesville square, earn a 2019-20 Small Business of the Year at the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce’s 112th Annual Meeting & Gala on Thurs day, Oct. 8. Occasions Florist “always goes the extra mile and give their very best to please customers,” said Kit Dun lap, chamber president and CEO, at the gala. Slaughter, the store’s co owner, and Reising worked on flowers as they talked Wednesday, Oct. 14, about the business, which has operated for 10 years. Slaughter, originally from Orlando, Fla., bought the business with her sis ter, Susan Epps, almost on a whim. The previous owner convinced the pair to buy the business. For Slaughter, who has been in the flower and plant business for 35 years, it was a logical step. And she hasn’t regretted the move, despite the fact that “we don’t make any money here,” Slaughter said. “This is what we do. We just make flowers.” Slaughter specializes in funerals and Reising in wed dings and other events, but they often pool their talents. “We enjoy our job,” Slaughter said. “People think a flower shop is a very laid-back business. It might seem like it is, but trust me, we get the pressure.” She said they may sweat an approaching wedding when they end up with wrong or half-dead flowers. “We scramble,” Slaughter said. The chamber’s award, which hangs neatly on a wall in the business next to plants, was an affirmation of sorts. “I was just proud, tick led to death,” Slaughter said. “We work hard for the money.” As for many businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic presented steep challenges. Events, such as weddings, canceled or postponed on Occasions. One of their other annual jobs is the chamber’s annual gala, which was moved from an in-person event at the Chat tahoochee Country Club in Gainesville on May 14 to the virtual one on Oct. 8. “I want my country club dinner,” Slaughter said, jokingly. In presenting the award online, Dunlap recognized the business’ contribution to the gala. “We’ll do that again,” she said. Overall, “we have been very blessed,” Reising said. The flower shop did see an uptick in business as the year moved on, thanks to community support and important holidays. “Mother’s Day was the biggest one we’ve had in years,” Slaughter said. “It had been falling down because (children) would rather take mom out to dinner and buy them some thing off Amazon. This year, everybody was sending flowers to their mothers.” But there’s also been a sad side to the year. “We’ve been busy with funerals,” Slaughter said. “Anyone who doesn’t believe there’s something with (coronavirus), there is. We know when they (die) and why.” Legacy Link is Closed to Visitors. Walk-in Counseling is now Virtual Counseling. Call for an appointment today with a certified Medicare SHIP counselor 770-538-2650 PLANS CHANGE. SO CAN YOUR NEEDS. What will you find during Open Enrollment? Better deals on prescriptions, lower co-pays, a plan that works better? & <$> LEGACY LINK Area Agency on Aging GeorgiaCares Local help for people with Medicare
