By Denise Horton and Mary Renfroe
We strive to offer fresh, locally sourced, made from scratch Meals with an ever-evolving menu.
The fast-casual restaurant, feast26, with locations on historic Jackson Street in downtown Winder and another in Buford, near the Mall of Georgia, is the place you go when you want to feel like family. This family-owned business is run by Tracy Wallace with his daughter Ashlie Gilden. The kitchen is run by Executive Chef Spencer Gomez, Chef Austin Wallace, and Chef Trampis Keller.
After opening their first location, which includes smoked meat that is prepared daily and other prepared from scratch selections, they realized they had a successful recipe. They then began looking for a second location.
Now the feast26 vision is expanding even further with the opening of their new concept “feast26 provisions” in Hamilton Mill. This new location is opening soon and will feature chef prepared family meals to-go and unique, local provision items that reflect their existing Southern and Cajun menu. Some provisions that you look forward to are hot sauces from Louisiana and cheeses from South Georgia.
It’s the Wallace and Gilden family’s commitment to customer service combined with traditional Cajun and Southern fare that has allowed feast26 to transform from just a dream to a favorite restaurant, even though its first location is only two years old and the Winder location opened six months ago, in the midst of the pandemic.
Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people eat together.”
Guy fieri
“We’ve done a little bit of everything to stay open,” says Ashlie. “We were fortunate to have established relationships with several athletic teams through our Buford location so our catering was able to continue to grow beyond what we ever expected. We often cater for the Atlanta Falcons, as well as several minor league baseball teams including the Gwinnett Stripers. As soon as we could though, we began providing curbside service and progressed to re-opening our dine-in opportunities.”
The feast26 dining atmosphere is one of the things customers love about the restaurant. Ashlie has drawn on her design background to create a comfortable setting that maintains the history of the building while updating its look by stripping away the old stucco and using primarily a black-and-white palette for the interior with teal-green textured subway tiles providing a pop of color behind the counter.
Likewise, Ashlie uses the T-shirts worn by restaurant staff to convey its vibe further. The back of one T-shirt features a hand with two fingers raised in a traditional peace sign and the phrase “Feast Out,” while another encourages diners to “Feast, Drink and Be Merry.”
While thrilled with the positive reviews for their food, Ashlie says the true goal of feast26 is to take care of the customers.
“When we hire, we’re looking for attitude more than experience. We can provide the training, but you can’t teach people to be warm and kind.”
While others might take a breath as business returns to normal, feast26 is not resting on their laurels. Negotiations are under way for a fourth feast26 location in the greater Atlanta area.
“We’re having fun rolling with each new opportunity that comes along,” says Ashlie. Or, as they say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bons temps rouler!”
