Light bulb moment: Facebook post sparks Another Broken Egg Cafe coming to Warner Robins
Kelly Mabie of Warner Robins can give you three really good reasons why she’s a fan of Facebook.
Three-and-a-half years ago, she met her fiance, Brandon Cox, through Facebook. Their first business took off via a Facebook post and their second business venture they’ve just begun also had its genesis in another Facebook post.
Kelly and Brandon, along with their two business partners, Ian Payne and Raymond Kimsey of Premier Contracting Solutions, are the franchisees behind Another Broken Egg Cafe coming to Warner Robins. Kelly and Brandon also own and operate Mr. Ceiling Fan in Warner Robins.
“He asked me out on Facebook for tacos on my birthday and I went and we have never been apart since,” Kelly said. “We started two businesses through Facebook and a relationship through Facebook.”
The couple plans to wed on March 11 next year at The Muse Theatre in Perry. Their blended family includes six children including a daughter-in-law that Kelly considers and likes to refer to as one of her children, a 3-year-old grandson and a granddaughter on the way.
Kelly and Brandon, along with their business partners, hope to open Another Broken Egg Cafe at 810 Ga. 96 in the Century Market Plaza Phase II in November.
A rave review
The couple’s first business, Mr. Ceiling Fan, started as a side hustle for Brandon, a master electrician, when he was working for the Bibb County Board of Education in Macon. He went full-time into the business in 2020. At that time, Kelly was the marketing director at Rigby’s in Warner Robins.
In early 2021, a customer posted a rave review of Mr. Ceiling Fan in Robins To-Go, a Facebook group started by Robins Regional Chamber president and chief executive officer April Bragg back at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to support local restaurants offering takeout when Georgia shut down.
The Facebook group has morphed into a platform where local businesses make announcements and consumers post their wants and needs.
“It started out as where could you go to get food and then it turned into this amazing thing that literally launched Mr. Ceiling Fan into business because people were sitting at home, we should replace this, we should finally hang that TV up, we should do this and and we should do that, and our business just took off,” Kelly said.
Mr. Ceiling Fan quickly grew from two to eight employees. That business growth led Kelly to leave Rigby’s, something she thought she’d never do and become the chief financial officer at Mr. Ceiling Fan. Brandon serves as CEO and Daniel Pitts as chief operating officer.
Kelly credits her business savvy to what she learned from Rigby’s owner Steve Rigby.
“I probably learned more working for him than I’ve ever learned anywhere in my whole life,” Kelly said. “And literally, that drive that he taught me is what made me pick up the phone” and inquire about Another Broken Egg Cafe franchise.
Asked about Kelly, Rigby said she’s a hard worker, detail oriented and she doesn’t stop until she gets the job done.
“That’s why she did a fabulous job for us while she was here,” Rigby said. “We had some major events that thousands of people attended and she was the one that made it all happen.”
‘Why wouldn’t we?’
Then, on Feb. 4, somebody posed a question on Robins To-Go, “If we were to bring another restaurant to this town, what would you guys want to see?”
“At the end of the day, literally in five or six hours, there were 600 to 700 comments and over 500 of them said brunch and I thought … Why hasn’t anybody opened Another Broken Egg? And then I was like, why wouldn’t we open Another Broken Egg?”
An upscale breakfast, brunch and lunch spot, Another Broken Egg Cafe was birthed in Destin, Florida, and Kelly noted that folks from Middle Georgia often vacation in Destin, Panama City Beach and Pensacola where Another Broken Egg Cafe restaurants are located. As a result, they’re already familiar with the restaurant’s concept.
“I literally just googled Another Broken Egg franchise. I got a name and a phone number. It was like 6:30 on a Friday night. The guy answers. I spend an hour on the phone with him asking questions and kind of seeing if it’s something we can do,” she said.
She and Brandon then reached out to Ian, a longtime friend of Brandon’s.
“We do all the electricity in their hotels. So it just seemed a natural thing to ask if he would be interested,” Kelly said. “We couldn’t even get it out of our mouths and he’s in. He’s like this is my favorite restaurant.”
Since February, they’ve been to Florida twice, while Another Broken Egg Cafe representatives also have been to Warner Robins twice.
“We’ve seen probably 20 different properties before we decided where to put it,” she said. “We’ve met with the city. We did feasibility studies. A lot of work went into it and we haven’t even started yet.”
The build-out for Another Broken Egg Cafe is expected to start within a couple of weeks. The restaurant will consume three spaces on the left side of the Century Market Plaza Phase II — offering 2,500 square feet of inside dining space.
An outdoor patio is expected to be extended over what is now a cut-thru in the parking lot between what will become Another Broken Egg Cafe and the new Nothing Bundt Cakes bakery in the Century Market Plaza Phase 1. The cut-thru was designed in case a future tenant wanted to have a drive-thru.
The 1,300 square feet of shaded outside dining will be built up to the existing curb, railed off, have umbrellas and a roof to provide some protection from the elements.
The outdoor patio also will have an outside gate, will be pet friendly and include a water feature.
“Our kids came up with this idea of doing pet eggs,” Kelly said. “So we’re in talks with Another Broken Egg to develop a dog treat that looks like an egg.”
What to expect
At Another Broken Egg Cafe, diners can expect chef-driven, Southern-inspired breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes such as a lobster and Brie omelet. That omelet is described on the menu as “cream cheese-filled omelet topped with Brie cheese and champagne butter sauce sauteed lobster meat, tomatoes and green onions.”
“It’s a premier breakfast, brunch and lunch so it’s not just some shrimp and grits,” Kelly said. “It is the best shrimp and city grits.
“They have a chef on staff at all times that comes up with seasonal and all the food on the menu. There’s vegan options, gluten free options.”
Also served up are hand-crafted cocktails, spiked cold brews, mimosas and Bloody Marys.
“We’ll have a fully-licensed bartender who can mix any drink you want,” Kelly said. “And we’ll have local beer. We’re going to reach out to a couple of breweries and just see what we like.”
With their large blended family, Kelly and Brandon have always liked to brunch in kid-friendly places where the food and service are top notch.
“Another Broken Egg is literally the mix of those two things,” she said. “You can bring your pets, you can bring your kids and you can also eat chef-inspired entrees that are like they’re amazing.”
The new restaurant will give diners the option of having brunch any day of the week. The restaurant will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.
Kelly plans to incorporate events like college game days for Central Georgia Technical College students who’ll be living in new student housing going up nearby. She also plans to seek out groups from bridge and book clubs to bikers.
“My fiance drives a Harley and a bunch of our friends do,” she said. “So, we want to have a group. I’ve already named it. I want to call it the Bad Egg Group.”
Dream big
Under the umbrella of Nest Egg Development, the four business partners also hope to open additional Another Broken Egg Cafe restaurants once they get their first one off the ground.
“We’re looking at going in and having four or five up and down I-75,” Kelly said. “They’re all north of Atlanta, and they’re all south of Tallahassee. ... Middle Georgia is wide open.”
In addition to being a co-owner, Kelly plans to be hands-on at Another Broken Egg Cafe, serving as the general manager. She also expects to hire an assistant general manager.
“And the goal is to get them to a level to where they can be the GM and then we can go over to number two,” she said of starting a second Another Broken Egg Cafe.
Just five months after reading that Facebook post about Warner Robins needing a brunch spot and making that pivotal call, Kelly announced on her Facebook page that Another Broken Egg Cafe was coming to Warner Robins.
“I’ve never had a personal post be shared that many times,” she said.
The post has been shared more than 1,000 times.
“I just knew that people were going to love it … Everyone’s like, you know, this is genius. And I’m like, it really wasn’t. It was just a thought, and instead of letting it be a fleeting thought, let’s see what we can do with this.”
