She moved to Lee County for her children. Now she’s building a business for their future

ALBANY — When Jocilyn Hardguittini packed up her family and left Rhode Island for southwest Georgia three years ago, she wasn’t chasing a culinary dream.

She was chasing better schools.

The single mother of four sold her home in New England, secured a permanent work-from-home position with CVS Health and moved hundreds of miles south after researching communities where her children could thrive. She knew no one when she arrived.

Today, Hardguittini is preparing to launch Flavor & Fuego, a Latin comfort food business that she says she hopes, before the year is out, will expand from pre-order meals and catering into a food truck and, ultimately, an upscale Hispanic restaurant and lounge unlike anything currently available in southwest Georgia.

“I moved here for my kids,” Hardguittini said. “Now I want to build something for them.”

Hardguittini still works full-time as a senior project manager for CVS Health, where she coordinates large technology initiatives, managing deadlines between engineers, data scientists and information technology teams. Project management pays the bills, she said, but cooking has become the passion she can’t ignore.

That passion began long before she came to Georgia.

Born and raised in Rhode Island to a Guatemalan father and Colombian mother, Hardguittini grew up in a home where meals were less about recipes than about family. Her mother taught her to prepare traditional Colombian dishes built around hearty staples such as rice, beans, grilled meats, slow-cooked stews and handmade arepas, while emphasizing that feeding people was one of the purest ways to show love.

Later, after marrying a man from the Dominican Republic, she discovered another side of Latin American cuisine. Dominican cooking relied less on heavy seasoning blends and more on fresh herbs, garlic, onions, peppers, citrus and vegetables to build layers of flavor. The contrast challenged everything she thought she knew about cooking.

Over time, the two influences merged with a third: the earthy, home-style recipes and bold seasonings passed down through her Guatemalan family.

Rather than trying to recreate any one country’s cuisine, Hardguittini developed a style that borrows from all three. Today, nearly every dish begins with a homemade blend of fresh peppers, onions, cilantro and garlic before being layered with seasonings inspired by generations of family cooking.

“It’s not my mother’s recipe, and it’s not my husband’s,” she said. “It’s become my own.”

For years, cooking was simply another responsibility of raising a family. Then she began preparing meals for friends. Watching people enjoy her food reminded her of her mother, who found more happiness watching others eat than eating herself.

“I realized I’m exactly like her,” Hardguittini said. “I love watching people enjoy what I make.”

Encouraged by friends, she tested the idea at a local community event earlier this summer. She sold out. The event generated about $600 in just a few hours, convincing her there might be a market for her food.

“I thought, ‘Maybe I can actually do this,'” she said.

Since then, Hardguittini has invested in catering equipment, warming trays, serving supplies and professional branding while continuing to build the business around her full-time career.

Currently, Flavor & Fuego operates primarily through paid pre-orders. Customers place orders by Thursday afternoon for Friday pickup, allowing her to prepare only what has been sold while minimizing food waste.

The menu reflects the same blend of influences that shaped her life. Diners can choose from dishes including slow-braised oxtail plates, stewed ribs, homemade lasagna with a Latin twist, seasoned rice and beans, fresh salads and house-made fruit lemonades in flavors such as mango ginger, strawberry mango and mango peach.

Flavor & Fuego also accepts catering orders for office lunches, corporate events, birthdays and private gatherings. Recently, Hardguittini partnered with a local small business to rent commercial kitchen space, giving her the licensed facility she needed to move beyond cooking from home.

With that milestone behind her, she says she hopes the next chapter will come quickly: purchasing her own food truck and taking Flavor & Fuego to festivals, community events and destinations across southwest Georgia.

Hardguittini already has her sights set on regional food festivals that attract tens of thousands of visitors and says she believes the mobility of a food truck will introduce more people to authentic Hispanic cuisine.

Her ambitions, however, extend well beyond selling meals. She envisions eventually opening an upscale Hispanic lounge where guests dress for an evening out, enjoy authentic food and hand-crafted cocktails, and experience music, culture and traditions from across Latin America.

For Hardguittini, the business is as much about cultural awareness as it is about food. She says she believes southwest Georgia’s growing Hispanic population remains largely invisible despite its contributions to the region.

“Food brings people together,” she said. “I want people to experience our culture through food, music and hospitality.”

Her own children have also shaped that vision. Although they are growing up in Lee County, Hardguittini says she hopes they will also see their heritage reflected in the community they call home.

“I want them to know they belong here, too,” she said. “Sometimes it only takes one person to start something.”

She credits Lee County’s schools with validating the decision to relocate from Rhode Island. Her early concerns about finding the right educational environment, she said, have been replaced by appreciation for teachers who she believes genuinely invest in their students’ success.

“I came here for the schools,” she said. “The community and the opportunities made it worth it.”

Now, as Flavor & Fuego prepares for its next chapter, Hardguittini says she hopes the same community that welcomed her family will embrace the flavors that shaped her childhood.

Much like the meals she serves, Hardguittini’s story is one of blending traditions.

Colombia’s comforting family recipes, Guatemala’s bold flavors, the Dominican Republic’s fresh, herb-forward cooking and the determination that brought her from New England to rural Georgia have fused into something entirely new. She says she hopes Flavor & Fuego follows the same path — taking the cultures that shaped her life and transforming them into a business that becomes distinctly southwest Georgia.

“I’m investing in something I believe in,” she said. “And this is just the beginning.”