This story was originally published by the Ledger-Enquirer.
Columbus resident Bradley Harp wanted a job at Wood Stone Restaurant in 2016 and began following one of their chefs on Facebook to get her attention. She blew him off and Bradley unfriended her.
As time passed, Bradley became a contributor on the Columbus, GA Foodies page. His reviews caught the chef’s attention. Her name was Noor and now goes by the last name Harp as the two are more than Facebook group friends.
“I don’t know why,” she said. “But I just need this guy to have my food. He just has to eat my food.”
Noor sent a friend request to Bradley and added him to her professional chef Facebook page. She convinced him to try her cooking a few times. In January 2023, Bradley made another post on Facebook offering any of his friends a night out to dine at Epic. Noor answered the call and a more personal connection was established.
Noor and Bradley are now the active administrators - and plan to marry soon - on the Foodies group they credit with bringing them together.
The group, which has swelled to about a quarter of the entire population of Columbus, has the power to drive a restaurant to success or reduce its chances.
Supporting local restaurants
Benjamin Sutta had previously been stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado, which had a Foodies group that helped him find a lot of good restaurants in the area.
When he moved to Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) in January 2021 as a Calvary instructor, Sutta couldn’t find a comprehensive list of local restaurants to try rather than going to the regular chain restaurants. He wondered if he started his own Facebook group, like he saw in Colorado, whether other residents would join and engage with it.
“Heck, why not?,” Sutta decided before creating the Columbus, GA Foodies group on Feb. 18, 2021.
The group quickly grew to have about a couple thousand members and became harder for Sutta to keep up with by himself. He began looking for help.
Bradley was an early member of the Foodies group, and a regular contributor. He was also local, having grown up in the region. He’d messaged Sutta a couple of times, sending him restaurant recommendations and other bits of information.
“This is the perfect person to bring in,” Sutta thought.
When Bradley became an administrator, he and Sutta believed the group was already huge with 5,000 members. Soon after , Bradley brought in Noor to become an admin herself.
Sutta and the Harps watched as the Columbus restaurant scene grew more vibrant over the past couple years along with the growth of the Foodies group. The group had about 10,000 members when Noor became an admin last year, she said, and has grown to about 51,000 members now.
Its members make up about a quarter of the population of Columbus, Noor said.
“The goal was to create a space for people in Columbus to talk about local restaurants,” Sutta said. “And I definitely think we have more than accomplished our original mission.”
Power of social media
As the Columbus, GA Foodies numbers grew, so did their impact on the success or failure of local restaurants.
In July, reviews of a new restaurant on Moon Road, Toasted, disrupted the owners’ plans to have a soft opening. Brothers Skylar Toole and Aspen Jones put up a welcome sign unaware that one of the stragglers wandering in for a meal would soon post a positive review on the popular Facebook Group.
That weekend Toasted served around 200 chairs in less than two hours and ran out of food because of the high demand, Toole told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Credit: Aspen Jones
Credit: Aspen Jones
Jason Martinez, owner of the new Pour Decisions Sports Bar, had a similar experience. Martinez didn’t advertise the bar’s soft opening and anticipated serving a couple dozen customers.
But news spread after a post on the foodies group, and he had to limit his menu to avoid running out of food.
It quickly became apparent that reviews on the Columbus, GA Foodies group could make or break a new restaurant.
“That part did scare me,” Sutta said. “I was very worried about that because I know that being a small business owner is incredibly difficult. And I didn’t want to make their lives any harder. I wanted to make them better.
‘People really love drama about food’
After Sutta moved to California almost a year ago, Bradley and Noor became the primary admins trying to manage ensuring the group stays engaged, while staying fair to local business.
Before becoming the main admins, negative posts were more common on the page, Noor said, and one restaurant owner was hurt by the comments.
An uptown Columbus restaurant, Vertigo, received negative comments in the group before they became more diligent, she said. It was an experience the Harps hope to avoid in the future. Vertigo closed permanently in May.
The couple spends up to two hours each day moderating the page, Bradley said, and they want people to post their honest, constructive reviews. Bad language or posts that “horribly bash” restaurants will not be approved to publish on the page. Their goal is to not tear down local restaurants, he said.
Although not all negative reviews get approved to publish on the page, Noor said, they are often forwarded to restaurant owners who can speak with individuals personally to resolve problems.
Her hope is that if a particular dish isn’t working or something is going wrong, local restaurant owners have an opportunity to correct the problem.
“We have to stay on top of (the moderation),” Noor said. “Because people love drama. And they really love drama about food.”
Credit: Mike Haskey
Credit: Mike Haskey
Noor is now one of the head chefs at 405 Broadway, or Goetchius House, which is planning to open later this month. Bradley works with her as an assistant. They realize it might well be their own food and restaurant being highlighted on the Foodies page soon.
They plan to allow reviews of their own food get published whether they’re good or bad to avoid any bias, Noor said.
The Columbus, GA Foodies group helps make people more adventurous when it comes to trying new local restaurants, she said.
“I feel like people are trying more things,” Noor said. “That page has definitely done that.”
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
MEET OUR PARTNER
Today’s story comes from our partner, the Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus. The Ledger-Enquirer provides daily coverage of community news, events, and sports in Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley at ledger-enquirer.com.
If you have any feedback or questions about our partnerships, you can contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams via email at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
