Once it was the Bibb Manufacturing Company store where employees could buy provisions using the coins or “loonies” to pay for goods.

In June, building owner Tim Savage, a member of the Porterdale City Council, opened the Company Store Deli and Provision in the front part of the store. Specializing in sandwiches made with Boar’s Head meat and cheese, the restaurant also sells unique items like moonshine hot sauce, drink shot mixes and spice packets for dips, cheeses and soups.

The deli is just Phase One in Savage’s plans for the business. Phase two kicks off on Thursday, Nov. 19, with the dinner theater production of “Gangster Duke.” Set during Prohibition, the play, written by Kevin and Shant’e Ragan, the executive producers, takes place in a speakeasy.

Savage said they’ve been calling the backroom of the deli “the speakeasy” for a while, though the venue doesn’t really have a name, yet. That’s because entrance to the room is through a door, hidden behind a large, colorful French advertising poster.

Though not officially opened, those in on the secret know access to the room takes knowing the password, usually, “Do you have any cake?”

“The way the cake part came about — everyone was revamping their restaurants about the time we started fixing the deli up for opening — The Social House, [the now closed] Dirty Dogs, and Porterdale Bar and Grill just down the road,” Savage said. “We didn’t want people to know what we were doing, so we told them we opening a cake display store.”
Though the back room was never really a speakeasy during Prohibition, artifacts from Atlanta speakeasies are displayed on the walls. So, too, are a pair of green drapes, reminiscent of Scarlett’s velvet curtain gown, that came out of the Candler Mansion. There’s also a 100-year-old upright grand piano as well as a bar Abbott made from scrap wood from shipping crates left after the cabinet shop that used to be behind the mill’s company store.

Changes to law bolster business

The building Savage owns houses the store, backroom, neighboring salon and real estate office. The alley between the adjacent building will become a beer garden, probably in the very near future. Lights, left behind after a recent shoot of “The Originals,” are already hang over the tables and chairs in the alley way.

Savage said he made it clear when he was first elected to the city council in 2012 that there were three things he wanted to see changed in the village. The first was changing the distance zone, the area surrounding a church where the sale of alcohol is prohibited; the second was allowing businesses have sidewalk cafes; and the third was changing the law that said a city council member could not own an establishment that served beer, wine or distilled spirits.

“When I was first elected, Porterdale wasn’t friendly to places that served alcohol,” he said. “Since this new council was elected, it’s become a friendlier place for business. We need to grow this town, starting in the heart, which is the downtown business district.

“We’re a small town,” he said. “We don’t have a central square.”

Like Olde Town Conyers, Porterdale doesn’t have a central square, he said. There are three establishments in Olde Town that serve alcohol, which attracts people to the downtown business district. To make it harder on the historic mill village, Porterdale’s business district sits on State Highway 81 and people tend to just drive through on their way somewhere else. .

Savage has repeatedly recused himself from the council’s votes on the resolutions that may pose a conflict of interest, stepping into the audience to answer the council’s question when he applied for beer and wine, and distilled spirit on-premise alcohol license this summer. He also recused himself on the resolution changing the church distance zone — the business district sits between at least two churches.

Preserving through development

Abbott said the deli and backroom were located in a building that opened in 1903, and they were part of the efforts to preserve the mill town. It’s “historic preservation through economic development,” he said, adding it’s meant to be an event-based establishment.

There has been wrestling held in the back room on the first and third Saturdays of the months since St. Patrick’s Day 2012. Recently, the Porterdale Film Crew held a showing of the film, “General Orders No. 9,” and the director was on hand to talk about the film and answer questions.

“It was kind of a slow, artsy film,” Abbott said. “I was afraid people would get bored and leave. But they were very involved and stayed to talk with the director.”

The event started off with a performance by Katherine Nevins Moore, singer, who does a Marlene Dietrich-like routine. She is accompanied by pianist Adam Cole, who played the on-site century old piano.

The evening was such a success, Savage said, the Crew is planning to hold more screenings in the back room.

The presentation of “Gangster Duke” on Nov. 19 lets “people know we’re bringing something unique and different to a unique and different city,” he said. “We wanted to have this play here as a ‘hello, world,’ letting it know we’re here, and we’re going to offer something unique and different.”

The dinner is being prepared by Abbott, a chef, and will consist of Caprese, a salad of mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and basil leaves, followed by London Broil with garlic roasted red bliss potatoes and Dolmas, grape leaves stuffed with rice and cheese. Ladyfingers, berries and ice cream will be served for desert.

Many of the staff at the deli are also blossoming actors and will be appearing in next week’s performance.

Despite the $40 ticket cost, the Thursday night show has sold out, and a second show has been added for Friday, Nov. 20. Abbott said he hoped it was the beginning of monthly dinner theater offerings.

Savage said he didn’t expect to make a profit from the back room for at least another six months, saying he viewed the period as start up and building that steady client base. They would be adding features in stages, gradually introducing catering $5 lunch boxes, only serving the sandwich meal in brown bags to be historically on track, and opening a Continental restaurant in the back room and adding the beer garden.

“We are trying to let the business grown organically,” Abbott said. And bringing the backroom into being has been something of a community event, “like a grassroots effort.”

“We all wear a lot of hats around here.”