The sandwich chain Firehouse Subs recently opened a new location at 333 Shallowford Road in Gainesville.
Each Firehouse Subs location has a fire station theme from the menu to the decor. Keeping with the firehouse theme, subs like the Hook & Ladder and New York Steamer are both named after fire trucks.
The new restaurant seats 60 and features gear donated by the Gainesville and Hall County fire departments. Like all Firehouse Subs restaurants, the new location features a hand-painted mural. This particular mural depicts fire engines throughout the years, ranging from a historic horse-and-carriage style to the modern-day truck.
"Firehouse Subs restaurants are second to none, and we are truly excited to provide our customers with quality products and a family friendly atmosphere in a new location," said Brian Hammond, franchise co-owner.
This is Hammond's eighth Firehouse Subs restaurant. He and co-owners Donavan Carr, Kevin Crowley and Eliot Stone plan to continue expanding the Firehouse Subs brand, starting with the opening of another location in Columbia, S.C.
Jackson EMC ranked high by J.D. Power
In a study released by J.D. Power and Associates, Jackson Electric Membership Corp. ranked highest in customer satisfaction among midsize utilities in the South, as well as all utilities in the nation. This was the first year that Jackson EMC had been included in the study.
"We are deeply honored to receive this recognition," said Randall Pugh, Jackson EMC president and chief executive. "Jackson EMC's employees have a long-standing dedication to providing service that exceeds our members' expectations, whether that means quickly restoring power after a storm, making sure bills are correct, promptly handling members' requests, or planning infrastructure additions to ensure adequate power supplies."
The study ranked both large and midsize utilities in the East, Midwest, South and West. Midsize utilities serve 125,000-499,999 residential customers, while large utilities serve 500,000 or more customers.
Factors examined by the study included power quality and reliability, price, billing and payment, corporate citizenship, communications and customer service.
Integrity Bank of Alpharetta fails
NEW YORK -- Integrity Bank of Alpharetta on Friday became the 10th U.S. bank to fail so far this year, done in by the very business it was built on: real estate lending.
Regions Bank of Birmingham, Ala., is assuming all of Integrity Bank's $974 million in insured and uninsured deposits in 23,000 accounts, and about $34.4 million of the bank's $1.1 billion in assets. The remainder of Integrity's total assets are being retained by the FDIC. The FDIC said it estimates that Integrity's failure will cost its deposit insurance fund $250 million to $350 million.
Integrity operates a branch in Forsyth County.
Integrity Bank, which opened for business in November of 2000, specialized in real-estate lending in the Atlanta area with a self-described "faith-based culture." FDIC spokesman Rickey McCullough said late Friday the bank failed due to its aggressive pursuit of construction loans, coupled with falling real estate values and "inadequate risk management."