Restaurants, markets, coffee shops & more: Here’s what is opening soon in Middle GA

Italian restaurants, bagel and coffee shops and fresh markets are opening up throughout Middle Georgia this spring and summer.

The mix of new businesses includes the Old Mill Market Company that celebrated its grand opening Saturday.

Located at 94 East Adams St. in Forsyth, the family owned and operated bakery and retail store specializes in homemade baked goods and locally sourced produce, meats and other products like honey.

“Over the years, we’ve gone to a lot of markets like this like in North Georgia or South Georgia, and down in Savannah, and we just really love the concept of having like a country store with personal service and really foods that you won’t typically find at Walmart; just things that are kind of special,” said co-owner Eddie Rowland.

“We love to entertain, we love to bake, we love to do yard work and crafts and we just thought we could pull all that together; and also use a lot of people in our community that do have trades … like people that produce honey or jams and jellies or sausage and meats. We’re kinda pulling them together and giving them an opportunity to market as well.”

Customers can expect to find a variety of goods and unique items.

“We have all kinds of bakery products/pasties, meats, casseroles, vegetables, home wares, jams, jellies, sauces, rubs — a lot of cool stuff,” Rowland said. “A lot of dairy products.

“We’ve got some dairy products from Rock House, which is up above Monticello, and they actually have their own creamery. So, we go up there and get it from their creamery. We actually just brought back some milk and cheese yesterday. So, really, good unique items.”

‘Made by family for family’

Rowland, a Monroe County commissioner, and his wife, Kathy, are the owners. He’s a real estate broker and she’s a real estate agent. They own R & R Property Sales & Management.

Their Old Mill Market Company team includes their son, Carson Rowland, who’s the manager over meat and produce, and his wife, Kayla, who’s the office manager.

Their daughter, Katie Rowland, is the designer for the Old Mill Market Company. Her watercolor paintings and postcards are featured at the store.

“She is kind of our Joanna Gaines because our store looks a lot like that type of store that you would see like a lot of home goods and stuff,” Rowland said. “She’s taken an area and made it look like a living room and put stuff that you would buy for your living room in there.

“Then, a place that looks like a kitchen area. Rather than just have a store with shelves in it, she makes it look where it’s actually going to be used in the home.”

Rounding out the team is Saranne Ezelle, a close family friend whose father, Red Ezelle, has been best friends with Eddie Rowland since high school. Saranne Ezelle will help Kathy Rowland in the bakery with making delicious treats.

“I enjoy all good food things,” Kathy Rowland said with a laugh. “I feel like I’ve kinda gone out and we’ve gotten the best of the best of cakes and pies and goodies and we’re sharing those with our community.

“Our motto is made by family for family. We have casseroles, pastry items. People can just come in and get a whole meal to take home. We love food. Everything revolves around food and family in our lives.”

Operating hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The telephone number is 478-993-1678.

Coming soon

Here’s a look at what’s coming this spring and summer, including restaurants with plans to open this month:

• La Bella Vita: Italian Kitchen — Friends and business partners Donny Barnes and Vincent Kelly are gearing up to open their sit down, full-service Italian restaurant and bar at 347 Cotton Ave. in Macon this month. Their vision for the restaurant is a shared love of downtown.
• Saltwater Outpost — Leslie and Josh Sharpet plan to open a fresh fish and meat market in the Galleria Square shopping center at 4027 Watson Blvd, Suite 110, in Warner Robins, in June. They want their customers to “experience the best seafood and quality meats.”
• Macon Bagels — Lauren Bone and Patrick Rademaker of St. Petersburg, Florida, plan to open Macon Bagels at 470 3rd St.in July after falling in love with downtown Macon on a stopover on the way to visit the North Georgia mountains last summer. Their bagels will be baked fresh every morning.
• Fresco Italiano — Christian Torres is planning to open a second location of his Tifton-based, family-owned restaurant in late summer/early fall in Warner Robins. The casual, fine dining restaurant is going into the former Ole Times Country Buffet location at 1208 Russell Parkway with the inside of the building now undergoing a remodel.
• Wrap & Kebab — A new restaurant featuring Mediterranean food and housing a hookah cafe and Mediterranean grocery store is now expected to open by the end of this month at 103 Gunn Road in Centerville. Owner Mohammed Magayreh, a native of Jordan and a Byron resident, is bringing “Jordanian flavor food to our community here.”
• Potato Po-Ta-Toe — Phillip Hinson and his fiancee LaVerne Whipple are opening this month a restaurant that takes a 16 to 20 ounce potato to the next level with a variety of toppings, including a special cheese sauce. Located at 778 Ga. 96, Suite 135, within The Shoppes at Houston Lake, the restaurant will switch up the menu 100% on Sundays by offering only soul food
• Rock N Roll Sushi — Outside signs are up and staff is being hired for this new restaurant at 3010 Watson Blvd. in Warner Robins. True to its namesake, the sushi restaurant has a rock and roll theme with sushi rolls having rock and roll names and menus made from rock and roll albums and memorabilia adorning the walls. It’s the second Warner Robins location..
  
  
• Culver’s — A Midwestern fast food restaurant chain is expected to open a store “soon” in the Metro Diner’s former location at 3710 Northside Drive in Macon, according to the company website. Culver’s has posted key management positions for the Macon location.

Recent openings

In addition to what’s coming, here are some restaurants that opened recently:

• Aroma Essence Southern Cuisine — Lula Williams and Lorietta Brown, a mother and daughter team, opened a Southern food restaurant at 881 Wimbish Road.in April. James Havior bakes up cakes and pies for their restaurant. The women also have a food truck.
• M&M Sandwich and Pastry Shop — Monique Moye and Felicia George, who became friends while working together at a Kroger in Macon, opened a sandwich and pastry shop 3045 Vineville Ave. in Macon. They serve up deli-style sandwiches using only Boar’s Head meats and cheeses that are sliced fresh for each order and they cut up and fry potatoes to make crispy potato chips.
• Huey Magoo’s — This national chicken tender restaurant chain held the grand opening for its first Middle Georgia franchise in Milledgeville at 1972 North Columbia St. in April. Other Middle Georgia franchises are planned in Warner Robins and Centerville, according to a company spokeswoman.
• De’Lani Delights — The dessert shop at 2310 Ingleside Ave. in Macon is co-owned by pastry chef Kanesha Taylor and her fiance Issachar Smith. Taylor offers her made-from-scratch cakes, cheesecakes, cupcakes, mini-cheesecakes, cookies, pies, macaroons, cinnamon rolls and other small desserts. Its grand opening was in late March.

Also, additional restaurants are under construction — such as the first Starbucks coffee shop for the city of Forsyth at 318 Russell Parkway and a Dunkin’ coffee shop off Ga. 49 near Interstate 75 in Byron. Other restaurants — such as a Popeyes and Taco Bell that are coming to Tobesofkee Crossing Shopping Center on Thomaston Road — are in the planning stages.

All of these restaurants join multiple other eateries that opened in the first quarter of this year.

This story was originally published May 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.