Chamber Membership BBQ Features Top Business Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Carrollton, GA): Chamber Membership BBQ features top business awards

The annual Carroll Chamber Membership BBQ held October 4^th at Milltown Music Hall featured business awards, great food, and outstanding country music. The crowd enjoyed entertainment by Benton Blount, an America’s Got Talent finalist and regular Milltown opening act. The highlight of the annual event is recognition of the Small Business Person of the Year and the Start-Up Business of the Year. These awards are given to businesses who have notable success, overcome adversity and are community supporters.

The 2018 Small Business of the Year award was presented to husband and wife team, Tano and Christi Phommasith of Carrollton’s Little Hawaiian Seafood Grill & Tiki Lounge. Little Hawaiian has experienced amazing growth since opening their doors in 2003. Originally located on Bankhead Highway with less than ten employees, the restaurant moved into their location in downtown Carrollton on Rome Street in 2008. Though reopening during the financial crisis, “the risk has paid off in so many ways,” stated Phommasith.

They continue to improve customer service with ongoing training of their management and staff and have focused on technology for improved efficiency with iPads for ordering. They are a local favorite for business meetings and group events in their banquet area.

The company also continues to grow with a specialty bakery and catering kitchen. They have a far-reaching reputation catering throughout the metro Atlanta area for large corporate customers such as Chick-fil-A and Delta.

Their newest venture includes Venue on Cedar opening this month with pre-scheduled events hosting over 4,000 people during the month of December.

When Little Hawaiian is not serving exemplary Polynesian cuisine, they are giving back to the local community. Their donations to various organizations exceed $25,000 to great causes such as Taste of Carrollton, Night of Lights, March of Dimes, Leukemia Society, the Carroll County Soup Kitchen, local schools, Sertoma, CASA, Alice’s House, The Blake House, and many more.

The Chamber’s 2018 Start-up Business of the Year is another success story for the cities of Bowdon and Villa Rica. Melissa Wilson, the owner of Cover Me Southern Boutique, was guided by divine intervention to pursue her dream of owning a clothing store.

In January 2015, Melissa’s husband Curtis, a firefighter was working two jobs to make ends meet. While responding to a fuel spill, he was hit by a full-size truck going 55 miles an hour and dragged over 40 feet. He was showing signs of head trauma, internal bleeding and was only breathing four times a minute.

On her way to the hospital, Melissa asked God to spare her husband’s life and she would do anything to just have him live. While Curtis was being life-flighted to Atlanta, he suddenly woke up with no signs of trauma. That night, Melissa heard the word ‘Bowdon’ and knew exactly where her new clothing store should be.

Fast forward to April 2015, she found a small building for rent in Bowdon. When signing the lease, she had to write a check from an account that held only $40 which she asked the landlord to hold for one week. She had faith that she would get the needed rent money by then. Three hours later, she received a check for the exact amount of the rent.

In June 2015, Melissa opened the doors of Cover Me Southern Boutique, a women’s clothing store. As the market changed with more online purchasing, she opted to follow her heart and open a second store in downtown Villa Rica, her hometown. As her customer base grew in both stores, she opened an online store. With this growth, Melissa has recently acquired a warehouse in Bowdon to manage the online sales.

Melissa and her family do not take their success for granted and continually give back to the community through school spirit nights, the Soup Kitchen, Fullerville Mission and Hope for the Journey. They regularly sponsor families at Christmas and provide care packages for foster teens and the homeless.

Thanks to Randall Redding for hosting the evening at Milltown Music Hall, to the 2018 Forward Carroll Sponsors for the meal and Sugar Foods for sponsored the entertainment.