An open house celebrating the groundbreaking for the $100 million Windward Preserve LLC housing development at 4201 Webb Road was held on May 3. The open house wass from 10 a.m. to noon and included brunch and music by Dan Landrum. Groundbreaking was at 10:30 a.m.

A check presentation to The Partnership for Families, Children and Adults will take place during the festivities. Also, a 2007 BMW 750Li will be given away during the grand opening activities to a lucky visitor to the site.

The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce is helped with arrangements for the event.

Homes at Windward Preserve are in the mid-$500,000 to over $1 million range. Homes feature gourmet kitchens, optional elevators and home theatre centres.

In addition, there will be over 16 acres of walking paths for homeowners to enjoy, as well as a clubhouse and other amenities. The site, located 11 miles from downtown, is five minutes to Enterprise South, making it the perfect place for executives to live, work and play.

Rick Wheat is CEO of Windward Preserve and Jeff Ritchie is president. While this is their first project in Chattanooga, they have developments in several states, including Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida.

BB&T (Branch Banking & Trust company) held a grand opening and ribbon cutting on May 11 in celebration of its new branch located in the Maclellan Building at 721 Broad Street.

The ribbon cutting, which was arranged by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce

The branch, which opened in February, offers banking, insurance and investment services.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Rex Rutledge, BB&T assistant vice president, has seven years of banking experience.

My Family Dinners, a meal assembly service, celebrated its grand opening May 11-12. The business, which opened in 2004, will be relocating to 541 Signal Mountain Road, Suite 225, in the new Wal-Mart shopping center.

The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce made arrangements for the ribbon cutting.

My Family Dinners offers delicious, nutritious dinners for $17.50 a meal or about $3 a serving. Customers come to My Family Dinners and prepare 12 family-friendly dinners which feed four to six people each.

"Customer have a great time and take home a cooler full of 12 assembled entrees ready to go in their freezer to be cooked whenever they want them," says Bevelle Puffer, who operates My Family Dinners with her husband, John. "That's three dinners a week for a month. Smaller families may double up on packing and have 24 meals on hand."

My Family Dinners' customers sign up for a session time and spend two to three hours putting together 12 different dinners. Every month the business offers 14 different dinner selections. Monthly menus and session dates are posted at the business's website, www.myfamilydinners.com.

The preparation stations at My Family Dinners have pre-packaged meats and all the necessary ingredients for a particular recipe along with mixing bowls, measuring spoons and measuring cups. Following the recipe at the station, customers will add seasonings and/or prepare a casserole. Customers may tailor the recipes to suit their family's tastes.

Each meal is packaged in a casserole dish or freezer bag for easy storage in the customer's freezer. A label applied to each dinner provides customers with a description of the dish, date prepared and cooking instructions.

My Family Dinners started in the Puffers' home?? on Signal Mountain in November of 2004. Since that time, the business has served over 600 customers from as far away as Cookeville, TN and Rome GA.

Mrs. Puffer has a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia, ten years in advertising in Houston and five years working with senior adults at a large Houston church. Mr. Puffer, who was an independent consultant to oil and gas companies in Houston, handles the accounting for My Family Dinners. The couple's daughters, Gilliam, Ellen and Susan, enjoy helping out with the family business when they're available.

"At My Family Dinners, our goal is to bring families together to enjoy the simple things in life-- a good meal, conversation and memorable time with loved ones," Mrs. Puffer says.

My Family Dinners is open Tuesday through Saturday. Call 423-902-7642 for information or to schedule a session.

Northwest Georgia Bank broke ground May 15, for an Ooltewah office on Lee Highway near Wal-Mart.

"Our new Ooltewah office will help enhance our solid reputation for friendly, convenient and accurate service as we continue to expand into Chattanooga’s neighborhoods," said Scott Smith, President & COO. "Customers who live, work or shop in the Ooltewah community can look forward to this new facility to serve their banking and investment needs. It’s a natural fit for us."

The architectural design of the 5,000-square-foot facility is based on the Northwest Financial Centre prototype on Battlefield Parkway in Catoosa County and at Hamilton Place and Hixson. It will offer the same amenities for customers, including full-service banking, investments by Raymond James Financial, mortgages, Internet access and free gourmet coffee.

This will be the third of several new branches planned for the Chattanooga area based on this design. Northwest will continue to build branches in accessible areas of Chattanooga and North Georgia and is currently negotiating for a branch site in downtown Chattanooga.

"Strong banks build strong communities," Smith said. "As we have grown, Northwest has stayed true to its mission to remain a neighborhood bank and continues to help families buy homes, finance businesses and pay for college, just like we have for more than a century. Northwest is now the Chattanooga area’s oldest and largest community bank, and we hope our customers will be pleased with the results."

The Ooltewah office is expected to open in 2008 with a staff of approximately 15.

Excalibur's Grand Opening May 18



The public was invited to the grand opening of Excalibur Integrated Systems’ new Wireless Lab on May 18. The Lunch and Learn occasion included mini-seminars and demonstrations on the latest in data collection and mobile computing, wireless networking, mobile application development and wireless network security.

The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce assisted with arrangements for a ribbon-cutting at Excalibur's corporate office at 6121-A Heritage Park Drive (just off of Bonny Oaks Drive).in Chattanooga.

Goin’ Postal, a shipping center, celebrated its grand opening on May 16 at its location at 9413 Apison Pike, Suite 112 in the Four Corners Shopping Center in Ooltewah.

The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce assisted with the grand opening festivities.

The store owners are Michael and Darlene Porter. Michael Porter is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and has worked as a commercial builder for the past 15 years. Darlene Porter is an agent for Randstad Staffing Agency.

Goin’ Postal will provide a variety of services such as, shipping through DHL, FedEx, USPS and UPS, full service printing and copying, post office boxes, fax and notary services and money orders.

The ribbon cutting celebration for the brand new Fat Daddy’s Pizza and Ice Cream took place Friday, May 25 at 5084 South Terrace near the Rave Motion Pictures complex in East Ridge. The grand opening celebration continued the whole day.

The official ribbon cutting program included comments from the owners and various members from the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. Samples of Fat Daddy's foods will be provided.

With pizza sold whole and by the slice, a coffee bar featuring Stone Cup Coffee, hand-dipped Clumpies Ice Cream, and select beer by the bottle, Fat Daddy’s Pizza and Ice Cream is a totally new concept for Chattanooga, providing true New York flavor pizza with the entire restaurant experience.

Finest ingredients mixed and prepared fresh daily for large hand-tossed pizza will create a premium pizza. Their real granite conveyor oven combines stone oven pizza flavor with conveyor speed to excellently prepare 180 pizzas per hour.

The approximately 1,800-square-foot store will provide a family atmosphere and be open 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. These hours will accommodate delivery and dine-in experience for everything from morning espresso to after-movie meals.

Those involved in the project include DeWayne Williams, a Fort Oglethorpe, GA native. Williams is the former owner of the California-based frozen distribution company, Safron Systems. Also involved is John Cate, a native of Chattanooga and graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Business. His work history includes being a financial and investment consultant. Jamison Cross completed graduate studies at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and is the third main party involved.

For Fat Daddy’s Pizza and Ice Cream and its parent companies, Cate serves as president, Williams is CEO, and Cross is the vice president of operations. They wish Chattanooga, "Buon Appetito!"

Fat Daddy’s Pizza and Ice Cream—Providing Chattanooga with the true New York pizzeria experience.

El Metate Mexican Restaurant celebrated its grand opening with ribbon cutting on May 25.

El Metate, which is located at 9332 Dayton Pike, Suite 112 in Soddy-Daisy, specializes in quality Mexican dishes with friendly service. They offer a full menu of Mexican dishes such as fajitas, tacos and specialties with fish and shrimp. The restaurant has a full service bar with house drinks and margaritas. Another El Metate is located in Dunlap.

Hours of operation are Monday- Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The restaurant, which is owned by Raul and Jackie Onate, employs 10 people.

The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce assisted in the day’s festivities.