AC repair inHinesville, GA

HINESVILLE, Ga. (WSAV) – TikTok’s favorite Hinesville restaurant will be shutting its doors after 12 years.

“Over COVID, everything changed, and it never came back,” said owner Glenn Poole.

Post-pandemic, Izola’s owners say rising food costs and staffing difficulties have led them to shut their doors for good. They announced it on TikTok to their 503,000 followers.

“As we all know, seasons change,” said Poole in the TikTok announcement. “On Nov. 30, 2023, we will light our ovens, open our doors and scoop that mac, one last time.”

The restaurant went viral in just one weekend two years ago. Since then, they’ve posted daily showing off their buffet line to their loyal followers.

“We have hotels calling us and thanking us for filling up the hotels because people have come here to eat at the restaurant,” said Poole. “Just to get our food in the mouths of people from all over the world, it’s been an honor for us.”

Poole says young people weren’t normally interested in their food, just Southerners looking to eat nostalgia for lunch. But after TikTok, everything changed.

“I didn’t know what TikTok was,” Poole said.

People from all over the world have been watching the Hinesville restaurant serve up recipes from Grandma Izola.

“Africa, Germany, we had one guy who was following us for like two years and he flew all the way over here from Australia just to eat here,” said Poole.

The owners say they don’t have any plans for what’s next other than resting up after 40 years in the food industry.

“We’re going to miss seeing all you wonderful folks and meeting all you wonderful TikTokers that have followed us from around the world,” said owner Lori Poole. “We really hope you’ll come and see us one more time and give us a fine farewell. We really want to see you again.”

Hinesville native Capt. Brittany Belcher is one of around 7,000 3ID Fort Stewart soldiers who have been deployed to Europe.

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HINESVILLE, Ga. —

Capt. Brittany Belcher is one of around 7,000 3ID Fort Stewart soldiers who have been deployed to Europe.

Belcher is in Poland now but calls Hinesville home.

“I am native to Hinesville, Georgia. I actually went to high school and middle school in Hinesville,” Belcher said.

Belcher came from a military family stationed at Fort Stewart. Now she’s a mom of an 11-year-old and a 4-year-old.

She's got more than one family, her church family. Belcher's bishop, Kevin Betton, encouraged Belcher to become a licensed minister before deploying.

“Even though she’s deployed, her local church is going to make sure she gets the support she needs,” Bishop Betton said.

Belcher says she pulls from that every day as she works overseas.

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“It has been hard on some soldiers being separated from their family, but with me having the ministerial experience that I do have, it does help me with understanding some of the things they are going through,” Belcher said.

Betton, also a veteran, says he knows being overseas isn’t easy.

“I have that experience of being deployed or out of the country, and it’s just great to know you have a church family that’s going to write you notes, send you goodie bags, and do things that are going to make you miss home even more,” Betton said.

Belcher makes both of her families proud.

“She loves God, she loves her family, and so for me to watch her grow and see her become a leader in the armed forces, even today, it’s tremendous to me that we had an impact on her life,” Betton said.

Now, her life is impacting others.

“It is an honor to be out here,” Belcher said.

HINESVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - A Hinesville restaurant is closing its doors after 12 years of business.

Izola’s went viral for their TikTok videos during the pandemic and brought the community together through food.

Emotional is the word the community is using to describe the closure of Izola’s in Hinesville. They say it wasn’t just a place to get good food, but a place that felt like home, and a place they could depend on.

“Um, I’m hurt. I’m really hurt,” said customer Stephanie Mckissick.

“It’s bittersweet. It’s like a part of my heart is being left inside these walls and I won’t be able to reach back and grab that,” said chef Patrick Whiters.

”It’s emotional,” said owner Glenn Poole.

But even though they’re closing, mostly due to not having many employees left after the pandemic, they say they were happy to do something good for the community around them.

“Well we do know that several hotels have called us and thanked us for filling the hotels up because people have come from all over the world, not just the United States, from the world to eat with us.”

So good that one family flew to Hinesville Thursday to show their support and finally get their hands on an Izola meal.

“I called him, I said we have to go.. it’s our last day.. it’s our last opportunity to have Izola’s. He didn’t appreciate it.. you know what’s funny, the first thing he said to me was ‘you want me to go all the way there to get some southern food, we can get that here... no no no...”

So, they got ready for the day, hopped on their private plane and the final question was...

“Was it worth it? I would’ve flown double. I would’ve driven. I’m so happy this worked out, it’s sad that it’s going away because I could see this blowing up as good as this is... this is seriously quality food.”

Owners Glenn and Lori Poole are sad to close this chapter but excited to finally take a well deserved rest.

“We don’t have any plans right now; we’re just going to rest. We need an emotional rest and physical rest.”

And they have two words for the community that shaped them.

“We want to say thank you and we love our community.”

In honor of their closure, they created a good-bye video that can be found on their Facebook page.

Copyright 2023 WTOC. All rights reserved.

The revitalization of downtown Hinesville will continue, and may even get more emphasis, city officials said Thursday.

The Liberty County Chamber of Commerce held its annual state of the city address at its monthly Progress Through People luncheon, and members got updated on how much Hinesville has grown in recent years — and what lies ahead with more anticipated growth.

“We’ve had tremendous growth in the city,” said City Manager Kenneth Howard, who pointed the effect of the Oglethorpe Square project on the city.

Howard said the reborn Small World Festival, which is set for March 9, 2024, was a success, drawing nearly 5,000 people to downtown Hinesville. Howard said the festival is a signature event for the city.

“It is so critically important we continue to focus on downtown,” he said. “As so goes your downtown, so goes your entire city.”

The number of new businesses and new construction in the city continues at a rapid pace. In 2023 alone, the city added 152 new businesses and has added 105 new businesses for each of the last five years.

“I grew up in Hinesville. We didn’t even have 50 businesses,” Mayor Allen Brown said. “And now we have 152 in one year.”

The building sector also remains strong. There were 274 new residential and commercial building permits issued in the city for 2023, totaling $95.1 million in investment, a 16.5% increase from 2022.

Brown also pointed to the council reducing its millage over the years. The city’s overall budget is nearly $51 million, and its general fund budget is $26.7 million. While the budget has grown, the millage rate for property taxes has been cut from 11.51 in 2014 to 10.15 in 2023, he noted.

The recent small business incubator opening also shows the city’s commitment to growing small businesses, according to Howard. The recently- opened incubator, across Memorial Drive from the Georgia Southern campus in Hinesville, will support first-time entrepreneurs, growing companies and vendors.

“It took heavy lifting, a lot of heavy lifting, to get where we are,” Howard said.

At the facility, technical assistance and financial resources can be provided to start-ups and other nascent enterprises. “Small business in any community is important,”

Howard said.

The Hinesville Fire Department’s new station, opened this summer, was done not with a ribbon cutting but with an uncoupling of fire hoses. The new station was dedicated to late fire marshal Earnest “Moe” McDuffie, the city’s first Black fire marshal.

“Grand opening was a theme for this year,” Howard said.

On the site of the old station, which has been razed, the HFD’s new administrative building is going up and is scheduled to be completed in May 2024. The city’s fire department also is working on a fire training facility, on five acres donated by the Liberty County Development Authority. A three-story training building is planned for the site, and the city is partnering with the Georgia Fire Academy, along with public and private fire fighting outfits to conduct training.

The next phases of Krebs Park, to include playgrounds and exercise stations, are expected to be completed by May 2024. The first phase of the park, started in March 2022, was finished this June and a planned section of tennis courts was turned into a pickleball court — which quickly became overwhelmed with players of the growing sport.

Because of the demand, the city is putting in six more pickleball courts.

“Within months, we were bombarded with requests for additional opportunities to play,” Howard said.

Also included in that phase are a pavilion, bathrooms and a skate park. The cost of the initial phase was $1.16 million and the second phase is projected to cost just under $800,000, funded through special local option sales tax proceeds.

“We’re excited about what’s going on out there,” Howard said.

The city also is attempting to address affordable housing and has a three-phase approach to rebuilding the Azalea Street neighborhood. The first phase built seven single- family homes, with townhomes. The second phase built 14 single-family homes. The third phase, split into two, calls for six single-family homes, with two to be designed for low-to-moderate income families, and a final piece of seven single-family homes for low-to-moderate incomes.

“We don’t have enough affordable housing in Hinesville,” Howard said.

The city is partnering with the Hinesville Housing Authority on those last seven homes and is partnering with the HHA for 70 apartment units in another project. As the city expects and projects more growth in the coming years, and for its neighboring cities it serves with utilities, it plans on expanding its water reclamation facility from 2 million gallons per day to 4 million gallons per day. Howard said the expanded capacity will be needed into 2024-25, but the cost is steep — about $26 million.

To keep with its demand for water and to get ahead of what might be needed in the future, the city has partnered with Long County for a well in Long County not far from the city limits. Hinesville and Liberty County are in what are called yellow zones, meaning its groundwater withdrawal capacity is limited. Long County is in a green zone, where there are no restrictions.

“The green well zone is out of necessity,” Howard said. “Right now, we have a capacity issue.”

Permits are being prepared for the state Environmental Protection Division and work on the well could start in spring of 2024 and then be operational in the fall of 2024.

The state of the city address was the last for Brown, who cannot serve again because of term limits. His second four-year term is ending, and coupled with his initial time as mayor, he served 16 years as the city’s chief executive.

“This is my last rodeo,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it. And being mayor of your hometown is a big deal. I’m humbled and thankful to be able to do that.”

Brown also praised the work of the Military Affairs Coalition and lauded Council member Jason Floyd for pushing for the youth council.

“Jason helped us into this program and it’s alive and well,” Brown said. “We really love our youth.”

Liberty County Commissioner Gary Gilliard, who also is an executive with the city’s public works contractor, recalled how Brown as a coach helped ease the path for Blacks in the days following the end of segregation.

“Politics is bringing everyone together,” Gilliard said, “and no one did it better than Allen Brown. If he ran again, my entire family would vote for him.”

“We really have achieved a lot in the last eight years,” Howard added.

HINESVILLE, Ga. (WTGS) — The owners of Izola's Country Cooking, a Hinesville favorite, have announced they will be closing their doors for good by the end of this month.

Glenn and Lori Poole said they have watched the city grow throughout the years and are proud to be a part of that.

They said providing a southern-style home-cooked meal and friendly service were at the core of their philosophy when they decided to open their restaurant, even going as far as naming it after Lori's great-grandmother, who passed some of the recipes down herself.

"It's important because it's our tradition here in the south, you know, and a lot of people aren't making this, and most of the people that cook this way are not with us anymore," said Glenn." A lot of the recipes came from that generation, my grandmother and some of our older cooks, so it's important to just keep those traditions alive," Lori added.

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The Poole's said the COVID-19 pandemic did a number on their business, with things like staffing issues and inflation impacting their bottom line.

They have since announced that November 30 will be the last day they open their doors.

"After the pandemic, everything changed. We were short on staff. A lot of our staff moved, some of them got other jobs so we just never regained from that. Also, the food costs continue to go up, and everybody knows that if you're buying food," said Glenn.

Hungry travelers from all over the country are making their way to Liberty County to grab a bite at Izola's before it's too late.

Steve Bassett and his family drove from Missouri and are some of the restaurants' over 500,000 followers on TikTok - their page garnering over 10 million likes.

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"The kids got me on TikTok, and I've been seeing this place for over a year, and we wanted to get here last year but wasn't able to, but this year, we made the journey," Bassett said. "All the videos don't do it justice. It was well worth the drive."

Glenn and Lori said they have enjoyed meeting people from all over the world through social media and hope that people remember their business fondly as they move on to the next chapter of their lives.

"I hope they'll always remember our love for cooking for them and our love for this community absolutely."