How Georgia’s economy will look in blue

Welcome back to Georgianomics. What a week it has been after a ground-shifting election.

In times like these, we’re looking for insights into how people are affording life in Atlanta. What are your tactics to survive and thrive in this economy? Email us at businessnews@ajc.com.

Now, here’s some of what we’ve got in store for you today:

• What’s fueling some restaurant chains’ explosive growth
• How to get a job in tech
• The outlook for online holiday shopping

But first, let’s dive into what Georgia under a Democratic governor will look like.

1. What the blue wave means for the ‘No. 1 state for business’ 🌊

Gov. Brian Kemp has bragged for years about Georgia’s top ranking for business by several publications. This year is the 13th the Peach State has held the title, for instance, in Area Development magazine.

The ranking by site consultants is influenced by factors, including:

• Incentives
• Skilled labor
• “Cooperative and responsive government”
• “Overall speed to market.”

Kemp has prioritized attracting large-scale projects, including the Hyundai plant near Savannah and the Audi factory planned for Middle Georgia. 🚗

The state also exempts large-scale data centers and bulk computer equipment purchases from sales taxes. OpenAI in July announced plans for a $20 billion data center complex near Savannah.

🔍 March 2026: ‘It’s how we compete’: Georgia business recruiters plead to keep tax breaks

2. KLB’s agenda 📋

How might Democratic Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms switch things up compared with Republican leadership for the past 23 years?

That’s the multibillion-dollar question.

Bottoms has given some indications of her priorities.

• She said she will restructure the state Department of Economic Development “to better serve Georgia’s smallest firms.”
• She plans to “ensure a fairer share of Georgia’s business investment dollars goes to smaller firms, which employ nearly half of the state’s workforce.”
• She plans to create “a path to free technical and community college.” 🎓

Bottoms has also called for Georgia to temporarily halt new data center projects.

Metro Atlanta Chamber CEO Katie Kirkpatrick told the AJC foreign investment drives 30%-40% of job creation in metro Atlanta, and it “needs to remain a high priority.” She called incentives and tax credits “important.”

• “We should have probably a routine review of credits and incentives … and even removing some that aren’t working well,” she said. But she advocated against “a wholesale wipeout” of incentives.
• Kirkpatrick added that a shift toward a balance for small businesses is “not a bad thing, and actually, it could be positive” because they can grow into larger companies.

Georgia Chamber of Commerce CEO Chris Clark said he hopes there won’t be a shift from the state’s approach of putting funding toward shovel-ready sites for large projects, which has attracted Hyundai, Amazon, Aspen Aerogels. and other companies.🪏

• “That model works better than pretty much any other state out there,” Clark said.
• He said the economic benefits of projects like the Hyundai plant trickle down to smaller businesses.

More to come from the AJC on this.

🔍 READ MORE: Nikki Porcher as labor commissioner wants to have conversations about raising the state minimum wage

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3. How to grow fast 🪴

What do metro Atlanta-based Primrose Schools and Chicken Salad Chick have in common?

Private equity has helped drive their expansions — in some cases supercharging it.

📈 The AJC’s Amy Wenk reported last week that Atlanta-based Chicken Salad Chick now has more than 350 restaurants.

• Under the ownership of private equity firm Brentwood Associates, it could double in size in coming years.

💸 Atlanta-based private equity firm Roark Capital has dozens of companies in its portfolio, ranging from Orangetheory Fitness to Merry Maids.

🍟 Roark also has ownership in Hardee’s, Jim ‘N Nick’s, Subway and many other eatery chains, along with Arby’s parent company Inspire Brands and Cinnabon parent GoTo Foods.

🔍 READ MORE: How an Atlanta chicken salad chain went from niche to mainstream

It’s not just chains that are growing with private equity backing. Atlanta’s accounting industry is also seeing private equity investment.

• Atlanta-based advisory and accounting firm Aprio is one of the many services companies that has been expanding through private equity fueled acquisitions, including of Garner Asset Management of Texas most recently.
• Atlanta-based tax and advisory firm Smith + Howard, newly backed by TPG Growth, on Tuesday announced it is acquiring firms in Alabama and Mississippi.

🔥 “Our industry definitely has been white hot,” Smith + Howard CEO Sean Taylor said. “We do have more competition to win (deals) now, because private equity has invested in some of our competitors.”

Acquisitions have allowed Smith + Howard to expand its services, including executive search, tax credits, human resources and office of the CFO.

“Our clients buy a certain set of professional services. Five years ago, we offered a very small subset of that,” Taylor said.

4. On the beat 🖊

🧮 Atlanta-based accounting firm Frazier & Deeter has acquired JamisonMoneyFarmer PC, a CPA and advisory firm in Tuscaloosa.

✂️ Cable and wire manufacturer Southwire marked the opening of its innovation center with a Nov. 3 ribbon cutting in Carrollton, where it is based.

🧯Alpharetta-based Pye-Barker Fire & Safety is acquiring St. John’s Fire Equipment in St. Augustine, Florida.

Upcoming events

Georgia Chamber CEO Chris Clark will speak at a Georgia Perimeter Chamber luncheon Nov. 18 in Sandy Springs.

5. How to get a job in tech? She shows how. 👩‍💻

Decades ago, Sherri Sims met someone who told her they made $30,000 working in computer science. “It was the most money I’d ever heard of at the time,” she said.

💰 She decided that’s what she wanted to major in.

⌨️ Now she runs Per Scholas Atlanta, a nonprofit that trains people for technology careers, including work in data centers.

🔍 Read more about Sims’ career path and her current mission in this week’s AJC Her+Story piece.

Stat of the week 🧮

7%

📦 That’s the share of UPS package deliveries delayed over the holiday season last year. Sandy Springs-based UPS performed better than rival FedEx, which had a delay rate of about 8%, according to a report from LateShipment.com.

🎁 If you order gifts online for the holidays, you might want to get ahead of the game: LateShipment.com forecasts 8-10% of package deliveries will be delayed this year. It said online orders continue to grow, and that means “more delivery promises to keep.”

🔍 READ MORE: UPS says a busy holiday season will boost business

Moving on and up 🪜

🪿 Frederic J. Simard is being promoted to president of Aflac U.S. for Columbus-based Aflac, from the role of deputy president.

🏨 Trilith Guesthouse has appointed Raees Harris as general manager.

AJC Quiz 🤓

🖼️ Former High Museum of Art chief operating officer Brady Lum has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to a felony theft charge. Prosecutors say he embezzled more than $600,000.