I didn’t set out to create CERES but life had other plans.

A love of food led me to launch the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival to celebrate Southern food and drink. After selling the business, I set my sights on creating a global culinary exchange.

The exchange didn’t work out but along the way my research led me to the phenomenon of “gourmet clusters” – small towns outside of larger metropolitan areas that are overflowing with food and beverage businesses.

Having spent time with chefs wanting to start their own business or struggling to keep a business alive, I got the idea to build a chef incubator program to help talented chefs become successful entrepreneurs, and eventually bring them into small communities to create my own version of a gourmet cluster.

The incubator program and gourmet cluster concept drew the attention of developers who were trying to infuse food into their communities, and I started consulting.  A dear friend challenged me to stop sharing my ideas with others and to take on a project myself.  At the time I laughed and then 5 months later, an opportunity presented itself when I had the realization that a group of developers who owned a 90-acre parcel next to my neighborhood were unlikely to develop it. 

I jumped into action and, almost a year later, closed on the land and started bringing the idea for CERES to life. 

Not long after, serendipity struck again when I was introduced to Clive Davis, my now partner in the business.  Clive and I connected on many levels and the vision for CERES became crystal clear – we were destined to create places where life could be lived deliciously.

CERES Chattahoochee Hills will be the first of a handful of developments to make food the foundation for great living while also kick-starting gourmet clusters.

Our goal is to provide our residents with access to food through micro concepts – gardens, greenhouses, small orchards, and edible landscaping – and to create spaces that allow residents and guests to benefit from the power and connectivity of breaking bread with others. Each development will also have a chef incubator to seed the surrounding area with chef driven concepts and ultimately kick-start our own gourmet clusters.

Whether you’re a future resident, guest, or just a curious passerby, we hope you will see the thought and care we have put into creating this concept and a healthy, sustainable, connected and abundant lifestyle for our residents. We want you to be hungry for CERES! It’s an honor to share CERES with you!

Live deliciously,

• Dominique