By Stephanie Manhart
We are the Manhart Family. We have me, Stephanie Manhart, my husband, Austin Manhart, our daughter Violet Manhart and our best friend (Uncle) Calvin Jacobson. Austin and I met while working together in restaurants. We both have always had a love for food. We had this professionalism about us that made it extremely easy to work together. No matter what kitchen we ended up in over the years we always excelled when working together. Over time we became close friends, bonding over our work and similarities in our past. We both had similar goals for the future. Before we knew it that bond turned into admiration and affection for one another. It was not long that we decided to give US a shot.
The three of us have all left Huntsville, AL at some point in our lives. I left to join the Army, Austin left for college and Calvin left for family, but we all ended up right back here in beautiful Huntsville. Huntsville has always called out, ready to give you a comforting place to call home. Nowhere is without its troubles but how can you beat a Huntsville Alabama sunset? Trust us, you can’t. This Valley has so much to offer in so many ways, the culture, the restaurants, the nature, and most of all the breathtaking sky. They say home is where the heart is and our heart belongs to Huntsville.
When we explore away from Huntsville our favorite place to go is the beach; specifically, Panama City beach. It has been our go to destination for 7 years now. This is partially due to the fact that I lived there for 4 years and was able to show Austin the wonders of the beach. Austin found his infinity for the beach through me. The best part is that there is one thing you can always find at the beach and it’s Mini Golf! Now I wouldn’t say we are pros at mini golf but it is our favorite thing to play together when traveling to any beach because it’s fun yet still competitive.
When I was a teenager I had no idea where I wanted my life to go. I knew I wanted to make a difference, I just didn’t know how. I was helping take care of my grandmother after a major surgery and we were watching the news about the war at that time. I told her I wanted to join and make something of myself by serving our country. Little did I know my grandma started working immediately to make this dream come true. 6 months later I turned 18 and a few family members, including my grandma had made my dream a reality. I served 4 years with the United States Army and was deployed for Operation New Dawn and Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was a lot of hard work and dedication but it gave me exactly what I needed and wanted. I now had a strong respect for myself that I did not have before. Being a Veteran has given my life something I didn’t know I needed. To all of the young women out there not knowing where to go next, Chase your dreams. It will take hard work and dedication to get there but if you can hold onto the dream you can make it a reality. Now not only am I a Veteran but I am also a business owner. I would have never made it this far had I not chased that dream when I was 17.
Austin has a strong love for cars that we both share together now. When he was a teenager his first car was a 1998 Mustang SVT Cobra that he pulled out of a field that was nowhere close to being roadworthy, so the work began. He pulled the engine and transmission and restored them. Now that the Mustang was running great he began working on restoring the inside, everything had to come out. Once the car was roadworthy he moved onto working on upgrades and the love for cars only grew from there. After the Mustang he worked on restoring a 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Deluxe.
After Austin and I met we began working together on restoring and flipping cars. We have worked on a 2003 Ford F150 Lariat step side, after that was a 2004 Crown Victoria that led us to be able to get 2003 Cobalt that we flipped for a 2016 Chrysler 300S. While working on making the Chrysler a show worthy car we also began work on one of Austin’s dream cars which was a 2005 Dodge Magnum RT sport wagon that we made into a show car and traded for a 1968 Mercury Montego MX Convertible. As of today we are working to get the Mercury to its former glory and with Austin’s knowledge and our combined love for cars the sky’s the limit.
In our down time we love to explore other restaurants because our love of food never faded. We love Boarhogs BBQ. We even had our daughter’s 1st birthday there. The staffs are all very friendly and the food is absolutely delicious. We don’t just love BBQ though; we also visit Pane E Vino downtown, El Mariachi on Winchester Rd, and Ding How II near Whitesburg Dr because variety is the spice of life. We love to explore family friendly environments where our family can try new types of food but also enjoy the classics that we have become accustomed to.
Austin and I have always been a member of one church or another no matter where in the world life has taken us. Even during my time in the military. I had a chance to experience other churches and religions. This really helped open my eyes to all walks of God, not just what I was raised with. I believe that us attending and welcoming the lord into our lives has helped with our compassion and understanding towards others and their needs. Calvin may not be a member of a church but that does not mean he is without compassion. Whenever disaster strikes, be it strong storms, flooding, fire, he is always right there to help. He will load tools into his truck and head out to help. He will cut trees away that have fallen on houses, pull people out who are trapped after a tornado, built retaining walls during big floods and he will do it all without expecting anything in return. His big heart is part of why we love and trust him as our best friend, business partner, and as Uncle Calvin to our daughter.
As a child, Austin’s father was one of the top 10 environmental engineers in the region. Austin was always there with his dad to help in any way he could and grew a strong respect for what his father did in order to help people. When the time came and we had climbed as high as we were able in the food industry we felt that there was something missing in our lives. The food we cooked would make people happy but we wanted more. We wanted to make a difference.
We sat down one night with Calvin and started talking about our future. Calvin worked as a home inspector and a foundation expert whereas Austin worked with mold and fungus for several years prior to being a Chef and as a foundation expert alongside Calvin for a few years after. I on the other hand had been working for several years as a paralegal, so it was as if our company was screaming at us in plain sight, Mold Remediation! We could start a business where all we do is help people have a better living. We had the knowledge and the drive to make it happen. So we buckled down and started saving our start up funds. Things were tight for a while but we made up the funds we needed and filed the proper paperwork to make out business a reality. With our license and insurance in place we started working right away.
Living in Alabama we are always fighting some sort of mold or fungus. It is something that has always been here and will always be here so why not have a company that can help others live a more comfortable and healthy life. Having mold in your home or business is not a choice, it just happened on its own, but we have made the choice to be the trusted business you can call when you need someone with the expertise to handle the situation
South Huntsville Neighbors 