Atlanta Business Radio

Michael Lennox with ATLFAMILYMEAL

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Michael Lennox, Founder and CEO of ATLFAMILYMEAL, is an Atlanta native known for his restaurant concepts on Atlanta’s BeltLine, Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall, Muchacho and Golden Eagle.

Inspired by the redevelopment of the Beltline and Atlanta’s culinary scene, Lennox left his career in law to enter the restaurant industry in 2014 with Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall, situated on the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail. Following Ladybird’s success, Lennox opened sister restaurants Muchacho and Golden Eagle in the fall of 2017 to much acclaim.

When the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of Michael’s three restaurants (Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall, Muchacho and Golden Eagle) this March, Michael created ATLFAMILYMEAL, a nonprofit initiative with the mission to feed, nourish, and support hospitality workers experiencing food insecurity and joblessness.

The initiative brings together a community of local chefs, restaurant owners, hospitality workers, and business/non-profit leaders to purchase, prepare, and deliver free meals to hospitality workers in need across the metro Atlanta area. Since launching, the organization has delivered more than 86,000 meals to unemployed hospitality workers from over 200 metro Atlanta restaurants, breweries, and hospitality businesses.

Most recently, the organization received a donation of $2 million from a local donor in honor of two Atlanta restaurant servers. This generous donation will allow the organization to continue feeding, nourishing, and supporting hospitality workers experiencing food insecurity and joblessness in Atlanta as well as allow the organization to pursue its goals to grow its small team and add initiatives in the months and years ahead that are focused on food and hospitality education, workforce development, and community resources.

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn and follow ATLFamilyMeal on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• The inspiration behind ATLFAMILYMEAL
• How ATLFAMILYMEAL works (meal production, delivery, onboarding, etc.)
• Total number of meals delivered to date
• Corporate partners like Lyftand Zifty
• $2 million donation
• How to get involved (donate,volunteer and/or shop)
• Feed the Fam online auction

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’s payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Atlanta Business Radio

Maria Fundora with Purple Pansies

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Maria Fundora founded nonprofit Purple Pansies in 2008 following her own mother’s death from pancreatic cancer. She felt called to raise awareness and crucial research dollars for this chronically underfunded but deadly cancer.

The mission of Purple Pansies is to raise funds for research, clinical trials, early detection through TGen (Translational Genomics Research Institute) and to aide families in our community who have a family member suffering from pancreatic cancer and financially can use our help. Purple Pansies has raised over $2 Million dollars since the organization began. Last year with the help of generous donors and partners like Kroger, Kraft/Heinz, Anheuser Busch and Coca Cola we were able to raise $500,000. This year they have set a goal to raise $600,000 with an anonymous donor willing to match the amount.

Maria was once again motivated to step up and help the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maria and her team from Purple Pansies have provided meals for over 14 teams of front-line workers at various hospitals and Kroger (their premier partner) grocery workers across Cobb, Forsyth , Fulton and Gwinnett counties, as well as to Meals by Grace, Safehouse Outreach and Operation Smile and pancreatic cancer survivor families. Maria knows the front-line health care workers around Atlanta and beyond are working incredibly hard and providing care for those who are sick (including cancer patients) during this crisis. Cancer doesn’t go away because of COVID-19, it just makes it more difficult for cancer patients during the crisis.

Maria’s goal is to give just a little bit back in honor of her mother and so many others who have died from pancreatic cancer by giving compassion and making a lasting difference in the lives of others. Year to date, Purple Pansies has granted four pancreatic warriors, monetary support in their continued fight against pancreatic cancer.
Maria is also the owner of Casa Nuova Italian Restaurant as well as Cork & Glass in Alpharetta.

Follow Purple Pansies on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Purple Pansies started
• How Purple Pansies is raising pancreatic cancer awareness
• How Maria raises money for the nonprofit
• How Maria’s restaurant is involved with Purple Pansies

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’s payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Atlanta Business Radio

Christi De Ved with Safe Hands Company

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Christi De Ved is Co-Founder of Safe Hands Company, a research-backed, visual communication system and re-entry consulting company, that just launched in response to COVID-19 as many businesses and individuals transition back into society.

Founded by Nurse Anesthetist Monica Burrell and marketing veteran, Christi De Ved, Safe Hands was born out of a 30 day public opinion polling project on the impacts of the Coronavirus outbreak on society conducted by Wick, a market research technology start-up that their husbands co-founded along with Atlanta designer Blaise Pericas.

The Safe Hands communication system is a color-based visual communication tool that is simple to train, and quick and easy to adopt. It allows users to indicate their personal comfort levels so that interactions are made with understanding, respect and empathy. The system facilitates clear communication through colors that can be translated on any medium, and classifies users into three categories:

Orange: Home At-Risk
Orange wearers have a “home at-risk” meaning they or a loved one are vulnerable to COVID-19 and would like to maximize distance from others or minimize interactions.

Blue: Seeking Space
Blue wearers are “seeking space” and hoping to honor social distancing measures wherever possible.

Green: Comfortable Interacting
Green wearers are in an environment where they are “comfortable interacting,” even in close proximity with others.

Follow Safe Hands on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• What Safe Hands Company does
• About Wick Research
• Color based visual communication system
• Safe Hands Hidden Victims pledge
• Artists network

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’s payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Atlanta Business Radio

Corey Hewett with Gimme

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Cory Hewett is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gimme, a company dedicated to helping food service and grocery delivery operators automate merchandising with computer vision and artificial intelligence.

While Hewett isn’t your typical techie startup founder, he has a wealth of experience and track record of profitability under his belt. His 10+ years of vending experience began back in high school after his parents told him if he wanted to drive, he’d have to buy his first car. Not only did Cory grow his route to 26 machines, but he eventually hired a close friend to service the machines.

When the iPhone released, Cory was first in line (and still Apple’s biggest fan). This leap forward in technology sparked an idea in his mind: using an iPad to connect vending machines and provide 24/7 status. Hewett ran with this idea and convinced his smart friend Evan Jarecki to help him develop the technology.

Since then, they have raised over $2M, and have learned from hundreds of vending operators exactly what they were looking for before crafting Gimme into the award-winning technology it is today. The company’s flagship hardware product, the Gimme Key, is now the #1 wireless DEX adapter for direct store delivery, using Bluetooth Low Energy technology, replacing outdated legacy handhelds previously used in the industry.

Unrelenting in their pursuit of success and digital transformation, Hewett and Jarecki have developed a solid infrastructure, far surpassing the competition, and implementing new technology that didn’t exist just a few years ago and are now on a path toward transforming the unattended retail industry.

Connect with Cory on LinkedIn and follow Gimme on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• What Gimme does and how they got started
• How Gimme is changing the vending industry as we know it
• How COVID is effecting the retail and unattended retail industry
• The adoption rates for cashless options in the market right now
• Increasing energy in the space for cashier-free checkouts

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’s payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.