Photo by Erin Nelson.
The salad trio meal at Ashley Mac’s at City Hall Plaza in downtown Homewood. Ashley Mac’s won the Gold Retailer of the Year award.
Ashley Mac’s is one of 11 businesses being honored as the 2022 Retailers of the Year by the Alabama Retail Association.
Ashley McMakin, founder and chief executive officer of Ashley Mac’s, a fast casual café, catering and gourmet-to-go business is Alabama’s Gold Retailer of the Year in the annual sales $5 million to $20 million category.
McMakin started catering home-style food like her mother and grandmother cooked out of the Homewood condominium where she and her husband lived as newlyweds. In 2007, Ashley Mac’s catering and to-go opened in Bluff Park. Today, Ashley Mac’s has five locations in the Birmingham metro area, including one on the U.S. 280 corridor on Valleydale Rd., and others in Cahaba Heights, Homewood, Hoover and downtown Birmingham. Ashley Mac’s corporate headquarters is in Vestavia Hills.
“I had no idea what God had in store for us when I started a little catering business back in 2005,” McMakin said. “I’m thankful He called us to serve in this industry and for all the people He has provided to make Ashley Mac’s what it is today.”
The Retailer of the Year judges commended McMakin for opening a new café during the pandemic and capitalizing on the take-home trend. “Ashley Mac’s has a well-known carry home business. Beginning with the pandemic, this business line exploded,” McMakin noted in her entry.
The Alabama Retailer of the Year awards began in 1999, and honors retailers who have demonstrated growth, innovation and a commitment to their respective communities. This year’s winners were selected from 42 entries submitted from a pool of 55 nominees.
McMackin is set to release some of her recipes in a cookbook that will be published in spring of 2023.
