Washington Street Deli
Washington’s Wharf
Rise and Slice

For these three restaurants, starting around April of 2024 and ending Mid-March 2026, I handled all the Design, Branding, Social Media account setup and maintenance on both Facebook and Instagram, Employee manuals, Payroll, Tax Accounts setup, DOL Accounts Setup, Hemp Licensing, Food and Alcohol Permits, Menu Design (not Rise and Slice), POS interface design, product creation and maintenance, Customer menu ordering screen design, implementation, online menu design and implementation, POS and menu screen product updates as needed, Product photography, interior/exterior promotional photography, special event promotional photography (Cruise-Ins, Hot Rod Shows, Kringle Krawl, Cookies with Santa, etc.). I created Washington’s Wharf google listing, yelp listing, all social media posts (not for Rise and Slice, credit to Sam, Jeremy, etc.), built all websites, created all logos and branding for all properties, designed T-shirts for employees, Alcohol license notice signs, print vinyl window graphics for the deli, bathroom signs, drink stickers, etc. Every creative job, every clerical job, I handled as needed. Reliably and efficiently I’d like to think.

Logo I created for “Rise and Slice” the third restaurant in the project.

Logo I created from a drawn image (not mine) for “Washington Street Deli”

Original Logo for “Washington’s Wharf” in later versions the fishes mouth is closed more.

An “April Fools” variant to shake up our regulars

On Screen Menu I designed. Visible on large ordering screens inside the restaurant above the register. This setup is done through the free Roku Backdrops service on Roku Smart Televisions already in the restaurant. I was able to use existing tech and free apps in order to save on customizable menu display screen options costing thousands of dollars. Accessible remotely. The menu panels are multi-layered photoshop documents that can be edited and changed fairly easily, saved down, and uploaded remotely from any internet capable computer to display in the restaurant. All this was achieved for the cost of an internet connection, which had to be there for the POS system anyway. You could say this menu system cost them nothing. A bargain by any measure.

At first glance this looks like a simple menu panel but it’s more than that. When we first opened for business our servers were fielding the same questions each and every single time a customer would step to the register. It was wearing on their patience, holding up the line considerably, and wasting time when it could easily be displayed for the customer. The implementation of this sped the ordering process and gave customers an idea of what they wanted before they even got to the counter and helped the servers keep their sanity on long shifts. This panel was designed and implemented by me.

Another menu panel designed by me. Setup to highlight the majority of our alcoholic beverages in the beer and wine categories. Spots to highlight for sale products, etc. All design and layout done by me.

This is the cocktail menu I designed. I sourced half the cocktails on this menu. Coca-Cola Reps were originally going to create a cocktail menu but after months without one I took care of it.

In addition to helping complete all the above tasks (and more) needed to open and operate, I also served as the front of house manager of Washington’s Wharf since opening day January 26th, 2025. 50+ hours a week most weeks. Where my hard work to help make the restaurant a success, manage and train the staff, bartend, change kegs, update menus, expo and run food, Wash Dishes, keep the dining room and bathrooms spotless, provide a warm welcoming environment for customers, while also helping the kitchen properly do their job when busy or short staffed, all while taking care of customer needs, dealing with issues, and being a diplomat earned the restaurant a 4.9 Google rating with over 90+ 5 star reviews. I also created the yelp page where “The Wharf” now has a 4.8 rating! I took the time to personally thank each and every person who left positive reviews on either site.

In addition to my “On the Clock” duties, I learned how to use CAKE‘s pos system to track employee hours, then learned ADP procedures and did payroll for free, for a year, on my day off, to make sure the hardworking cooks and servers who made those review numbers possible, got paid on time for their effort. In addition to that unpaid work I began coming in 4 hours early several times a month to help make sure the restaurant had all the food prep (British chips in particular) it needed for the days ahead when we were short staffed just to be sure things ran smoothly for the other employees and the customers had a great experience with no 86’d items on the menu. I fully invested myself physically and emotionally to the success of the restaurant, Even lost 50+ pounds one way or another. I never really knew if I was doing a good job as FOH manager, but I’d say the customers, the regulars, the wait and kitchen staff I worked with, and the yelp and google reviews told me all I needed to hear anyway. In the end that’s what matters. That I took care of the employees in my charge, the customers in my care, and did so with professionalism and courtesy. It was certainly a learning experience for me, the time I spent in the restaurant industry.

These are the GOOGLE BUSINESS LISTING stats for Washington’s Wharf. I managed to achieve this level of interaction and online presence for my employer in a six month period with a brand new business and they never spent a single solitary dollar on Google Ads, Facebook ads, Online ads, Print ads, or any other ads for that matter, ever. I believe the Facebook ad I ran for them out of my own pocket was the only money spent. So this is mostly organic traffic which as you know, is the traffic you want!. Just lots of late nights and hard work and knowledge put to work for literally pennies on the dollar of what that work yielded in sales. I always try to bring maximum value to my clients ad budget even if there isn’t one. If you succeed, I succeed. In most cases that is.

In only 6 months (the stats shown) 133k people viewed our business profile. We showed up in 72,852 searches. Thousands of website visits, phone calls, and online orders resulted from this.

Our YELP PAGE was nonexistent before my creation of the page. In the first year I drove 116k more sets of eyeballs by being attentive, responding to reviews, thanking customers directly, and making them feel like they matter. Responding to reviews is important. Responding properly to negative reviews in a non confrontational and diplomatic way was also my job. Have a look at the reviews and it becomes clear.

These are our 12 month Yelp stats. You can see the slow season hit after December. 116k additional sets of eyeballs from setting up and promoting the account. This was all me.

If you search for Pubs in Cumming, Georgia on YELP We’re #1.

I employed new AI technology and my knowledge of this developing tech to quickly design relevant ads (saving man hours) and crafted the accompanying images to cultivate a vibe, a feel, a youthful spirit to a quirky almost self effacing old world pub vibe. Customers and social media users consistently praised my posts. If they remembered it enough to mention it at the counter or at the bar, I felt like I’d done my job well. I learned a lot about training an AI to craft specifically for your preferences each and every time. If you are looking to build a custom AI engine to generate ads and relevant content for your business I have experience in that with proven success. I also used mobile and desktop video editing software to create relevant reels for social media outlets. As I near the two year mark I am a little saddened at how it’s all turned out. But I smile knowing that the work experience of it all can’t be taken away from me. I keep growing as an artist and as a person. Enough being sad. Time to be a goldfish. Onward. Forward.