WellStar Chamber Luncheon Series: Focus on Small Business Resilience and Opportunity – Ryan Pernice, RO Hospitality, Amanda Wilbanks of Southern Baked Pie Company, and Taylor Neary, Restaurant Holmes

Three outstanding entrepreneurs, Ryan Pernice of RO Hospitality, Amanda Wilbanks of Southern Baked Pie Company, and Taylor Holmes, Restaurant Holmes, share their stories on how they’ve successfully navigated the pandemic. It’s a episode which is both instructive and encouraging.

The host of “The GNFCC 400 Insider” is GNFCC CEO Kali Boatright and the show is presented by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®. John Ray and North Fulton Business RadioX served as the media sponsor for this event.

**Scott Hilton, Georgians First Commission**

Moderator: Scott Hilton, Executive Director, Georgians First Commision

Scott Hilton serves as Executive Director for the Georgians First Commission under the Office of the Governor. The Georgians First Commission is laser focused on streamlining government to make Georgia the most attractive state for small business.

Prior to this role, Scott spent a career in commercial banking at a regional financial institution, providing small businesses with the valuable capital needed to fund growth. Scott also served as a State Representative in the Georgia General Assembly. During his tenure as representative, Scott was appointed to a leadership role as deputy whip and was recognized as “Legislator of the Year” by numerous organizations, including the Georgia Charter School Association and Council of Municipal Court Judges.

Amanda Wilbanks, Southern Baked Pie Company

Amanda Wilbanks is the owner and founder of Southern Baked Pie Company, and the author of Southern Baked: Celebrating Life with Pie.

With family recipes, Southern charm and an all-butter pie dough that melts in your mouth, Amanda and her team of bakers create gourmet sweet and savory pies for all of life’s special occasions and celebrations. Southern Baked Pie Company masterfully creates a variety of decadent flavors and specialty selections utilizing seasonal fresh fruit from local Georgia farmers and businesses. They offer pies in a variety of sizes including: whole pies, petite pies, and bite-size tassies. While they’re born and baked in Georgia, Southern Baked Pie Company ships pies to corporate and individual clients nationwide.

Taylor Neary, Co-owner and Executive Chef, Restaurant Holmes

Co-owner and Executive Chef of Restaurant Holmes, Taylor Neary grew up in the Roswell-Alpharetta area and prior to opening his own restaurant, worked at several well known restaurants in metro Atlanta. Restaurant Holmes lives in The Historic Jones House (built in 1915) in downtown Alpharetta’s City Center development. Holmes opened in July of 2018 and continues to specialize in plates to share, offering local hyper seasonal vegetables and other unique chef creations – all cooked on a wood fired grill.

Ryan Pernice, Owner, RO Hospitality

Ryan Pernice and his brother Daniel, a co-owner in the restaurants, have lived in Roswell for 25+ years, both graduating from Roswell High School many years ago. RO Hospitality currently owns three restaurants: Table & Main and Osteria Mattone in Roswell and Coalition Food and Beverage in Alpharetta.

Ryan graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration with distinction in 2007. Afterwards, he lived in New York City working for acclaimed restaurateur Danny Meyer at Maialino, an Italian trattoria, before moving home in 2011 to open Table & Main.

Ryan’s restaurants are currently back to full operation and trying everything under the sun to remain top-of-mind for potential guests amidst all this craziness. Early on in the pandemic, they transformed Table & Main into a soup kitchen donating meals at no charge to the newly food insecure. They are proud to have fed 9,750 people during this difficult time.

About GNFCC and “The GNFCC 400 Insider”

**Kali Boatright, President and CEO of GNFCC**

“The GNFCC 400 Insider” is presented by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce (GNFCC) and is hosted by Kali Boatright, President and CEO of GNFCC. The Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce is a private, non-profit, member-driven organization comprised of over 1400 business enterprises, civic organizations, educational institutions and individuals. Their service area includes Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Roswell and Sandy Springs. GNFCC is the leading voice on economic development, business growth and quality of life issues in North Fulton County.

The GNFCC promotes the interests of our members by assuming a leadership role in making North Fulton an excellent place to work, live, play and stay. They provide one voice for all local businesses to influence decision makers, recommend legislation, and protect the valuable resources that make North Fulton a popular place to live.

For more information on GNFCC and its North Fulton County service area, follow this link or call (770) 993-8806.

For the complete show archive of “The GNFCC 400 Insider,” go to GNFCC400Insider.com. “The GNFCC 400 Insider” is produced by John Ray and the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

WellStar Chamber Luncheon Series: Focus on Small Business Resilience and Opportunity – Ryan Pernice, RO Hospitality, Amanda Wilbanks of Southern Baked Pie Company, and Taylor Neary, Restaurant Holmes