Web posted Wednesday, March 28, 2001

Charles N. Ballas Sr. (left), then-owner of Luigi's Italian Restaurant, and Miles J. Pond, then-owner of AB Beverage Co., stand with the Budweiser Clydesdales in this 1956 photo that hangs in the restaurant.

In the case of the Ballas and Pond families, the relationship has been a real-life one. The two families have been doing business with each other for two generations and plan to continue with a third.

Charles N. Ballas Jr., 49, owns Luigi's Italian Restaurant on Broad Street. The business was handed down to him by his father, Charles N. Ballas Sr., 75, who is retired.

They have done business going on six decades with the Pond family. Joe Pond, 57, took over Augusta's AB Beverage Co. Inc. after his father, Miles J. Pond, died in 1978. AB Beverage is the Anheuser-Busch Co. distributor for the Augusta-Aiken area.

A picture nearly 50 years old still hangs in Luigi's, a reminder of the business relationship the fathers had. The Budweiser Clydesdale horses had made an appearance in Augusta in front of the restaurant that day in 1956, and the senior Mr. Ballas and Mr. Pond took the opportunity to be photographed together.

Last weekend, the Clydesdale horses were again downtown, and the members of the new generation of business owners had their own photo taken together.

The families say such generational interaction is unusual in the modern era - when fewer children choose to sign on with family businesses and build careers in their hometowns.

``There's not much of that left,'' Mr. Ballas Jr. said. ``But when you have businesses like mine, it's unusual. I think (the restaurant) is holding Augusta together as far as the generational thing. We're getting third- and fourth-generation customers. Luigi's is part of that generational turn, and AB Beverage would be considered the same.''

Charles N. Ballas Jr. (left), current owner of Luigi's, and Joe Pond, owner of AB Beverage Co. Inc., stand alongside the Budweiser Clydesdales outside the restaurant on Broad Street. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

Mr. Pond also reflected on the ongoing thread: ``For a family business to endure over the last 50 years is unusual today. We intend to pass on our businesses to the next generation.''

When that time comes, the ownership of both will be distinctly feminine.

Mr. Pond's 33-year-old daughter Catherine Varnadore is the sales supervisor of AB Beverage and will take over the business after her father.

Mr. Ballas Jr. has three daughters - Penelope Ballas-Stewart, 25, Bebe Ballas, 22, and Claudia Ballas, 21 - who have been groomed for succession in the restaurant business. Their great-grandfather Nick Ballas founded Luigi's in 1949.

Edward A. Scheehan founded AB Beverage, which Mr. Pond's father eventually acquired. Mr. Pond didn't know the exact dates, however.

``It all happened well before my time,'' he said.

Reach Eric Williamson at (706) 828-3904.

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