A South Carolina dining chain has cooked up a plan to capitalize on its ties to a onetime kitchen worker who’s done OK for himself since moving onward and upward.
Spartanburg-based Denny’s has rolled out a special menu item at some restaurants to honor billionaire technology titan Jensen Huang, the founder of artificial intelligence behemoth Nvidia.
The new “Breakfast Bytes” named for the Silicon Valley chipmaker combine sausage links that can be wrapped in silver dollar pancakes and dipped in maple syrup, “mirroring Huang’s favorite way to eat the dish.”
Denny's served the new menu addition for the first time from a mobile diner to attendees at Nvidia’s GTC Conference in San Jose, Calif., on March 19. Huang called it a “full-stack moment.”
“Denny’s will always be a special place for me. It’s where I learned that no task was too small to do well,” he said in a written statement. “This dish powered me through my long shifts and eventually inspired the birth of Nvidia at a Denny’s booth right here in San Jose.”
Huang, 62, landed his first job at a Denny's in Oregon when he was 15.
“I was a dishwasher, I was a busboy, I waited tables,” he said in an article posted on Nvidia’s website. “No one can carry more coffee cups than I can.”
Huang went on to build Nvidia into an AI juggernaut with a market value approaching $3 trillion. His personal net worth is about $103 billion. His first employer, which has been based in the Upstate since the early 1990s, is slightly smaller, with a total stock market value of about $52 million.
Chris Cassidy is chief executive officer of the newly opened National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas.
Now open
A revered military attraction that once set its sights on the Mount Pleasant waterfront is ready for visitors deep in the heart of Texas.
The $300 million National Medal of Honor Museum opened its doors March 22 in Arlington, between the home stadiums for the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys. It pays tribute to the lives and service of MoH recipients from the Civil War through the war on terror.
The organizers originally looked at building the museum at Patriots Point more than a decade ago. They pulled the plug on the South Carolina site about six years later.
The foundation behind the project cited the size of the Charleston market and disagreements with the Town of Mount Pleasant among the reasons it decided to switch course and seek another location.
Since then, the longtime Congressional Medal of Honor Museum on the Yorktown aircraft carrier at Patriots Point underwent a $2 million overhaul that was completed last year. Also, fundraising efforts are ongoing for a $75 million freestanding National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership nearby.
On the surface
A sampling of MVP Granite's handiwork.
The Home Depot has added a Charleston building supplier to its toolbox.
The Atlanta-based retail giant, through its Construction Resources Co. division, last week announced it has acquired MVP Granite Countertops, a supplier to local residential and commercial builders, remodelers and interior designers.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The existing management group led by Jamey Nelson plans to stay in place.
“We look forward to the opportunities and customer value this partnership will bring,” Nelson said in a written statement.
MVP Granite was registered in South Carolina in 2009 and had been owned by Lee Propes. It's headquartered on Deanna Lane off Clements Ferry Road near Daniel Island.
The business was once part of MVP Group International, a holding company that relocated to Charleston from Kentucky about 25 years ago and was known for its Colonial Candle business.
The countertop company's new owner and its parent were snapped up by Home Depot in late 2023. Construction Resources has been cobbling together an array of specialty firms and showrooms that offer products and design services to the contracting industry. They include businesses that provide appliances, glass, mirrors, fireplace equipment and countertops.
“As we aim to grow our broader … business in Charleston, this acquisition unlocks greater services for our shared customers through MVP’s trusted slab fabrication and install services,” CEO Mitch Hires said in the prepared statement.
Tussle transferred
A rendering shows the Pomega Energy Storage Technologies plant announced for Colleton County in late 2022.
A legal dispute between a Turkish battery firm and the consulting group that helped bring the company to the Lowcountry is headed to the Land of Lincoln.
Kontrolmatik Technologies and its Pomega Energy Storage subsidiary filed a lawsuit last year against Jones Lang LaSalle Americas claiming the real estate and site-selection firm known as JLL wants a $5 million fee as its share of more than $127 million in taxpayer-funded financial assistance tied to the development of a 600-worker factory near Walterboro.
The complaint was initially filed in South Carolina, which forbids industries from paying consulting fees to third parties for helping to secure incentives, like property tax breaks and tax credits. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks transferred the case to Illinois, where such arrangements are allowed.
The deal between the companies calls for any legal disputes to be litigated in Illinois, where JLL is headquartered. Hendricks ruled that part of the contract is enforceable, but she declined to rule on the energy firm's claim that JLL doesn't deserve the fee.
Istanbul-based Kontrolmatik hired the real estate company to help find a site for its first U.S. lithium-ion battery plant. They landed on Colleton Industrial Campus off of Interstate 95. The $358 million investment was announced in late 2022.
Wing ding
Passengers on a Charleston-bound American Airlines flight last week were put on another plane after their aircraft was struck and damaged by a baggage vehicle at Philadelphia International Airport.
The March 19 collision appears to have produced a crack in an aft section of the right wing of the Bombardier CRJ-900 jet, which was still at the gate. No injuries were reported.
“Prior to departure, a baggage tug came into contact with American Eagle flight 5341, operated by PSA Airlines," a representative of American said in an email. "The aircraft was immediately removed from service to be inspected by our maintenance team, and a replacement aircraft carried customers safely to CHS."
A Philadelphia TV news station obtained and posted a video taken from the passenger cabin of the damaged plane showing the aftermath of the incident.
It's destined
The city of Goose Creek's destination district is moving ahead with permits a year after plans were publicly unveiled.
JJR Development is leading the three-acre mixed-use project at the vacant Super Carpets site on Highway 52. It will be part of the Central Creek Destination District that officials hope will provide a family-friendly, downtown-like area where residents can stay within the city for entertainment.
The first phase calls for a four-story building with 111 one- and two-bedroom residential rental units and a ground floor corner lobby and cafe with floor-to-ceiling windows. A rooftop deck will provide views of live performances at the new Joseph S. Daning Amphitheater.
The second phase would feature a mix of retail and hospitality uses.
Taxing matters
A century-old Greenville firm once again accounted for the only green-shade specialist in South Carolina to crack the industry’s top 100.
And the top 50 for that matter.
Elliott Davis LLC held its place as the 42nd biggest accounting firm in the U.S. based on total revenue last year, according to a newly released annual ranking. Accounting Today listed the firm as the 4th largest in the Southeast region.
The publication showed Elliott Davis pulled in $188 million in revenue in 2024, a 7.4 percent increase from the previous year.
Founded in 1925 and led by CEO Rick Davis, the South Main Street firm has 60 shareholders and 870 employees at offices in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia and India.
Elliott Davis set up shop in downtown Charleston in 2007, after it acquired two local firms.
