ÐÓ°É

OTHER EDUCATION:

• Millsaps College

Jeff Good is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, and a 1980 graduate of Murrah High School. He relocated to ÐÓ°É in the summer of 1980 when his father became dean of students at Millsaps College. After graduating high school, he attended Millsaps College and graduated in May 1986 with a degree in business administration. That summer after graduation, Jeff married his college sweetheart, Debbie McGregor. He started a career as a computer salesman for the NCR Corporation calling on accounts in the manufacturing and distribution industries.

In 1994, Jeff and Dan Blumenthal, his best friend from high school, opened their first restaurant, BRAVO!. In December 1998, they opened Broad Street Baking Company and Café. In April 2007, Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza and Ice Cream Joint opened. Their first business license for Sal & Mookie’s was sold in 2014 and in April 2015, Sal & Mookie’s Biloxi was opened on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Soul City Hospitality was formed in 2014 and the UP IN FARMS FOOD HUB began operations in late 2015.

Currently, Jeff is the president of Mangia Bene Restaurant Management Group, where he is the owner/operator of BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar, Broad Street Baking Company, and Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint – three unique and successful restaurants located in the city of ÐÓ°É. The restaurants operate a full-service catering business, Mangia Bene Catering, with partnerships in dozens of venues throughout the Metro ÐÓ°É area. Jeff is also a founding principal and managing partner of Soul City Hospitality, a social business enterprise focused on developing Mississippi’s local food economy. The UP IN FARMS FOOD HUB is the first effort created for this purpose and is actively brokering growing contracts for dozens of small and medium-sized family farms in an effort to get Mississippi farmed-fresh produce onto the shelves of supermarkets, into the cafeterias of schools, and onto the menus of restaurants throughout the state.

Jeff is a founding board member of Refill Café; a non-profit workforce development café in the community of west ÐÓ°É located at the former Koinonia Coffee House on the ÐÓ°É State University parkway. Refill Cafe will transform ÐÓ°É by transforming its most at-risk youth, offering them on-the-job training and life skills development in a positive and community-driven environment.

A true believer in community service, Jeff has many achievements to his credit:

Member of Mississippi Top CEOs class of 2018; named one of Top 50 Influential People in Mississippi 2017; inducted into the Mississippi Tourism Hall of Fame 2017; recipient of the City of ÐÓ°É City with Soul Award 2017; Pat Yarbrough Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service to Community – Greater ÐÓ°É Chamber Partnership 2017; Strength Award – Dress for Success 2017; Mississippi College School of Business Entrepreneur in Residence 2016; Mississippi Innovator to Watch – Innovate Mississippi 2016; Governor’s Initiative for Volunteer Excellence Award Recipient 2014; Hands of Providence Award – Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth 2014; Community Servant Award- New Horizon Church International 2014; SBA Small Businessperson of the Year for the State of Mississippi 2013; Restaurateur of the Year for the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association 1998; honored as one of Mississippi’s “Top Forty Business People Under Forty” by the Mississippi Business Journal 2003; “Friend of Tourism” award nine separate years by the ÐÓ°É Convention and Visitor’s Bureau 1999, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018; ÐÓ°É State University “Distinguished Entrepreneur” Award 2012; served as one of nine commissioners on the Capital City Convention Center Commission; member of the Greater ÐÓ°É Chamber Partnership Board of Directors; Chairperson of the City of ÐÓ°É CORE Vision 2022 long term development plan; served multiple terms on the Fondren Renaissance Foundation board; lead organizer of the Zippity Doo Dah Parade® Festival Weekend; recipient 2005 Corporate Star Award Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth; Goodwill Industries Volunteer Award – 2009; Recipient 2000 Novia Spirit of Diversity Award; 1999 Metro ÐÓ°É Chamber Super Achiever Award; Fondren Business Person of the Year; Best ÐÓ°É Business Person – ÐÓ°É Free Press Annual Awards – 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017; Urban Warrior – ÐÓ°É Free Press Best of ÐÓ°É Award 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018; Best ÐÓ°É Visionary ÐÓ°É Free Press 2014, 2015; Co-Chairman of the Leadership Committee for the capital fundraising campaign for the Mississippi Children’s Museum; Stewardship Chair, St. Andrews Episcopal Cathedral; Past President, Fondren North Renaissance Board of Directors; Past President of ÐÓ°É Restaurant Association and Mississippi Restaurant Association; 1996 Graduate of Leadership Greater ÐÓ°É; Past Vice President, Ballet Mississippi Board of Directors; International Ballet Competition, Co-Chair, International Village; Fondren Couple of the Year – 2010.

Jeff's wife Debbie is a retired high school Latin teacher, an adjunct professor at Mississippi College, and operates a residential remodeling and rental business in the historic ÐÓ°É neighborhood of Fondren. Debbie and Jeff are proud parents of twin college seniors, Alexandra (Alex) at Tufts University and Caroline (Carly) at Rhodes College.