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Augusta is home to the legendary Masters Tournament, and before long Stewart was able to insinuate herself into that culture and become the go- to caterer for the yearly luxe, lucrative golf event. But resting on her laurels has never been Stewart's strong suit, and she found herself thinking: What else could I be doing? She didn't exactly want to open up a restaurant. She still had young kids at home and didn't want to be away from them every evening, but she did want to situate herself in a brick-and-mortar location, absorb the overhead costs and diversify her income flow. In 1993, Stewart launched her VeryVera mail-order business with a small but solid repertoire of cakes based on her grandmother's traditional recipes. When Southern Living published a full-page spread on VeryVera two years later, "I made a sale in every state in the USA in 10 days' time," Stewart says. Shortly thereafter, a recent transplant to Augusta from California approached Stewart about building a website for her burgeoning business, so in 1996, she became an internet innovator as well. "Food wasn't really all over the internet then like it is now," Stewart says, "so we had one of the first food blogs. People were into it." In 2002, Stewart opened a cafe and retail space that sold the items offered by her mail-order business. VeryVera had branched out to include savory casseroles alongside sweet treats. at same year, Stewart's accountant suggested that, because of the expense increase that came with the retail location, she needed to find another way to generate revenue. Stewart's local fans had expressed interest in the idea of cooking classes, so VeryVera's hands-on cooking camps for kids seemed like a natural progression. at first summer, the camp lasted for three weeks and enrolled 12 students. Currently in its 18th year, the cooking camps, aimed at children ages 6-14, now are franchised to several cities (including Macon) and regularly sell out all six weeks of sessions. Because of COVID-19, no franchise locations chose to hold classes in 2020, but Stewart continued as usual, with 100 percent occupancy. Mentorship is deeply important to Stewart, and she's offered invaluable experience to many young people. Most of her staff and interns are former cooking camp students, and she has nothing but high praise for their skill and work ethic, which she finds doubly impressive since most of them are high school or college students as well. "Seeing what these kids accomplish, I have very little patience for adults who can't manage to get anything done," Stewart laughs. "Never underestimate what you can learn from hiring a young person. ey see you and your business through a different lens, and that could easily magnify itself into another way to engage your customer base." Smiling for the cameras In 2011, Stewart was contacted by the Food Network to film a show. "I thought it was something called 'Top at Cake' for a new channel that was premiering that summer," she says, but when she showed up on set and saw Bobby Flay, host of the popular cook-off show "rowdown," she knew it was time to get competitive. Stewart went head-to-head with Flay for a carrot cake challenge. She bested him easily, with spitfire-sassy Southern charm, humor and class – and, of course, with a better cake. is exposure inspired a local TV manager to offer Stewart the chance at her own show. "e VeryVera Show" is a lively, likeable, tailor-made vehicle for Stewart's skill set. Her years of teaching experience translate to easy on-camera confidence, her hospitality industry connections make for amazing guest appearances and her theme – classic Southern recipes with a modern twist – is accessible and appealing. e first episode was filmed in 2013, and now, in its ninth season, the show is available in 30 metro markets, including Macon, where it has aired on 13WMAZ on Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. since 2016. In 2013, Stewart closed her cafe and mail-order business. She broke the news in a letter that opens, "I am excited to announce this next chapter in my career," setting an uplifting tone for her loyal fans – don't be sad about what's leaving, look forward to what's new and next: a cookbook. Stewart and her dedicated team spent years perfecting the content, and in 2018, "e VeryVera Cookbook: Recipes from My Table" 3131 US-41, FORSYTH, GA 31029 • 478.808.0513 • Mon-Fri 10-6 p.m. • Sat 9-5 p.m. • Closed Sun ARBORS, LARGE TREES, CONTAINER PLANTS AND MORE 46 maconmagazine.com | APRIL/MAY 2021