Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1466725
APRIL/MAY 2022 | maconmagazine.com 125 BRICK-AND-MORTAR BUSINESSES Debbie Arledge owns Simply Southern Sweets Bakery at 1002 Ball St. in Perry where they offer "yummy stuff." The shop is on the square downtown across from the old courthouse parking lot, which the Perry market calls home on Saturday mornings. Arledge loved baking as a youngster and admits she might have been a teacher's pet in home economics classes. Arledge has always baked and done for others but started selling publicly at the Peaches to Beaches Yard Sale that runs through Perry to the coast. Then came tables at the Warner Robins and Perry markets, then a small donated space in Perry. Now, there's the storefront bakery. "I do miss being outside in the sunshine and the great people who are always around," she said. "But being able to open our shop is such a blessing. Miss Jodi gets a lot of the credit." Clay Oliver's Oliver Farm Artisan Oils is in Pitts, where they now have a store called The Station at 110 7th Avenue West. They make products highlighted by sunflower oils, peanut oil, pecan oil and other seed-based oils. There's also gluten- free flours and other items. The oils are cold-pressed and unrefined to be less greasy, and retain the beneficial nutrients and flavors found in the whole seed or nut. Oliver Farm products are sold wholesale and online to restaurants and individuals and have become one of Georgia's hot-ticket items. They've been featured on the "tasteMAKERS" television program, which celebrates the "makers, farmers and chefs who are redefining the flavor of American cuisine." Oliver said Daley played a significant role in the business' advancement and that she shows how one person with dedication and passion can have a far-reaching impact. "Jodi provided one of several platforms we used, and helped create a market for us when there wasn't a demand," he said. "Farmers and other entrepreneurs may not know what others are doing or how to get products in front of people to gain customers. Jodi helped solve that around here. We were able to let people try our products and they liked them. People still come up to us and say, 'I first tried your oils at the International City Farmers Market.' Week in and week out, what you do there may seem small but, for us, it turned out to be huge. I'm thankful for Jodi and the people she put together who got behind our products." One of those people is Rikki Waite who, at Daley's invitation, began selling empanadas made from her grandmother's recipe at the Warner Robins market. They were a hit and Waite now owns a popular Panamanian-themed café called My Grandma's Empanadas at 120 S. Armed Forces Blvd., across from Robins Air Force Base. Waite is another example of someone now committed to using locally sourced products and one who readily acknowledges Daley's role. "I was surrounded by such great people and started using their products, which were really, really great," she said. That included Oliver's oils and flours and meats from Marview Farms as well as locally sourced eggs and even flowers for her restaurant's tables.