After being closed for over a year, Stay. Social Tap + Table has not made a payment toward the loan from Columbia County.
Several potential restauranteurs responded in 2019 to the Columbia County Development Authority’s incentive program, which was approved by the commission and was launched to attract businesses to Evans Towne Center.
The authority was offering up to $500,000 with the money coming from Georgia’s motor vehicle property tax, and potential restaurateurs applied for the incentives.
Several businesses, including Buzzed Bull Creamery and Roll On In, a dessert shop and sushi bar respectively applied, as well as Stay. Social Tap +Table, a cafe.
All of those businesses have since failed; however, according to Columbia County Development Authority Chairman Rick Evans, while the first two businesses listed are reimbursing the county as per the individual agreements, Stay Social has not honored the agreement and is now in arrears to the county.
The company opened in 2021 after receiving $62,025 in grant money and a loan of $37,975, for a total of $100,000. The language of the promissory note states that the grant was simply a grant with no strings attached; however, the loan came with conditions.
According to the promissory note issued to the restaurant, Stay Social’s loan would be forgiven if the company “remains operational and compliant with all applicable federal, state and local laws for a period of two years.”
The tap room owners were not able to abide by Ordinance No. 18-12, section 6-2, which states that restaurants “with a full-service kitchen offering food service every hour such establishment is open, and deriving at least 50 percent of its total annual gross sales from the sale of prepared food items which shall not include the sale of any alcoholic beverages.”
Alcohol may be sold in Columbia County at retail stores and served at restaurants; however, bars that serve snacks are not permitted.
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An annual audit showed that Stay Social’s owner Renee Hajek was not able to meet the food sales requirement and therefore, under the ordinance, the business was operating as a bar, according to Columbia County Manager Scott Johnson.
Since the business was in violation of the ordinance and had to shut down, under the terms of the promissory note. Hajek is responsible for paying back the loan.
Prior to being shut down for the ordinance violation, Hajek also caused a bit of controversy by scheduling drag performances at the venue.
Some area residents didn’t feel it appropriate for dancers in drag to be dancing on the public sidewalk in front of a public park.
Hajek previously told The Augusta Press that certain individuals, whom she did not want to name, made threatening phone calls to the event’s sponsors.
“They would boycott their businesses if they continued to provide sponsorship,” Hajek previously said. “They’ve threatened to take away their business from these other businesses. They’re calling me a child groomer, personally, for having an all-ages event.”
Columbia County Manager Scott Johnson says that the drag shows had nothing to do with the eventual closing of the business; but some believed differently, and Johnson said he had to deal with anonymous social media posts that claimed he and the county were violating Hajek’s civil rights.
Johnson points out that he does not legislate or have a vote on the commission and is only tasked with enforcing county ordinances. Ultimately, the official reason the business was forced to close was that its alcohol sales exceeded its food sales, making it a bar rather than a restaurant. Hajek appealed the closure decision, but it was ultimately upheld in the courts.
Since the business closed in December 2022, the Development Authority has sent invoices for the outstanding loan, but according to Johnson and Columbia County Commission Chairman Doug Duncan, Hajek has not been making payments as of this week.
The promissory makes no mention that collateral was required or provided in the original agreement, meaning that there is likely very little recourse to demand the money back. Johnson says that pursuing the matter will likely result in a bankruptcy, potentially costing taxpayers’ legal fees to secure a judgement that the county would likely never be able to fully collect.
“Right now, we have been given no direction in terms of trying to get the money back,” Johnson said.
Hajek did not respond to a request from The Augusta Press for comment.
But, Hajek has taken to social media and has offered up the remaining restaurant equipment for sale to pay off her debts, commenting, “I’m “tapped out” trying to deal with them, and frankly, ready to move out of that county all together!”
Duncan says that the county was only trying to stimulate business, especially in the wake of the pandemic, but ultimately concludes that offering the incentives was a “bad idea.”
“We definitely learned a lesson on this one,” Duncan said.
According to Duncan, the incentive program was ended before all of the $500,000 in taxpayer funds were distributed, meaning right now, the county is only on the hook for the $37,975 loaned to the now-defunct Stay Social.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
