Jeff Good

President, Mangia Bene Restaurant Management Group

Jeff Good is the President of Mangia Bene Restaurant Management Group, the owner/operator of BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar, Broad Street Baking Company, and Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint – three unique and successful restaurants located in the city of Jackson, Mississippi. The restaurants operate a full-service catering business, Mangia Bene Catering, with partnerships in dozens of venues throughout the Metro Jackson area.

Jeff is the Chair and founding board member of the Refill Jackson Initiative; a non-profit workforce development program housed within a restaurant setting – Refill Café – located in West Jackson on the Jackson State University Parkway. Refill Jackson is a non-profit workforce development program that provides job training, soft skill development, social service support, educational support, mentoring, and employment services. The mission of Refill Jackson Initiative is to empower young adults, ages 18 to 24, so that they are more confident, better equipped, and motivated to enter into, navigate, and stay in the workforce.

Jeff is also a founding principal and partner of Soul City Hospitality, a Social Business Enterprise focused on developing Mississippi’s local food economy. The UP IN FARMS FOOD HUB is the first effort created for this purpose, and it is headquartered in the historic Farmer’s Market at the corner of Woodrow Wilson and West Streets in Jackson, MS.

Jeff moved to Jackson from Salt Lake City, Utah in the summer of 1980, when his father became the Dean of Students at Millsaps College. He completed his senior year of high school in Jackson Public Schools attending Murrah High School. He attended Millsaps College and graduated in May of 1986 with a degree in Business Administration. That summer after graduation, Jeff married his college sweetheart, Debbie McGregor, and started a career as a computer salesman for the NCR Corporation calling on accounts in the manufacturing and distribution industries. In 1994, Jeff and Dan Blumenthal, his best friend from high school, opened their first restaurant, BRAVO!. In December 1998, they opened Broad Street Baking Company and Café. In April 2007, Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza and Ice Cream Joint opened. Their first business license for Sal & Mookie’s was sold in 2014 and in April 2015, Sal & Mookie’s Biloxi was opened on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Soul City Hospitality was formed in 2014 and the UP IN FARMS FOOD HUB began operations in the late 2015. Refill Café opened its doors in 2019.

A true believer in community service, Jeff has many achievements to his credit: Member of Mississippi Top CEOs class of 2018; Named one of Top 50 Influential People in Mississippi 2017; inducted into the Mississippi Tourism Hall of Fame 2017; Recipient City of Jackson City with Soul Award 2017; Pat Yarbrough Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service to Community – Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership 2017; Outstanding Citizen Award - Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Mississippi 2019; Distinguished Citizen Award – Andrew Jackson Council Boy Scouts of America 2018; Mississippi Opera Circle of Excellence Award 2019; Strength Award – Dress for Success 2017; Mississippi College School of Business Entrepreneur in Residence 2016; Mississippi Innovator to Watch – Innovate Mississippi 2016; Governor’s Initiative for Volunteer Excellence Award Recipient 2014; Hands of Providence Award – Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth 2014; Community Servant Award- New Horizon Church International 2014; SBA Small Businessperson of the Year for the State of Mississippi 2013; Restaurateur of the Year for the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association 1998; honored as one of Mississippi’s “Top Forty Business People Under Forty” by the Mississippi Business Journal 2003; “Friend of Tourism” award nine separate years by the Jackson Convention and Visitor’s Bureau 1999, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018; Jackson State University “Distinguished Entrepreneur” Award 2012; served as one of nine commissioners on the Capital City Convention Center Commission; Chair-elect of the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership Board of Directors 2020; Chairperson of the City of Jackson CORE Vision 2022 long term development plan; served multiple terms on the Fondren Renaissance Foundation board; lead organizer of the Zippity Doo Dah Parade® Festival Weekend; recipient 2005 Corporate Star Award Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth; Goodwill Industries Volunteer Award – 2009; Recipient 2000 Novia Spirit of Diversity Award; 1999 Metro Jackson Chamber Super Achiever Award; Fondren Business Person of the Year; Best Jackson Business Person – Jackson Free Press Annual Awards – 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017,2018, 2019; Urban Warrior – Jackson Free Press Best of Jackson Award 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; Best Jackson Visionary Jackson Free Press 2014, 2015; Chairman of the Advisory Board, Else School of Business Millsaps College 2018,2019; Co-Chairman of the Leadership Committee for the capital fundraising campaign for the Mississippi Children’s Museum; Stewardship Chair, St. Andrews Episcopal Cathedral; Past President, Fondren North Renaissance Board of Directors; Past President of Jackson Restaurant Association and Mississippi Restaurant Association; 1996 Graduate of Leadership Greater Jackson; Past Vice President, Ballet Mississippi Board of Directors; International Ballet Competition, Co-Chair, International Village; Fondren Couple of the Year – 2010.

Jeff’s wife Debbie is a retired High School Latin teacher, an adjunct professor at Mississippi College and operates a residential remodeling and rental business in the historic Jackson neighborhood of Fondren. Debbie and Jeff are proud parents of recent twin college graduates, Alexandra (Alex) from Tufts University and Caroline (Carly) from Rhodes College. Alex, working via Teach for America, is serving as a 2nd grade teacher at Johnson Elementary in Jackson, MS, and Carly is affiliated with Ashford Financial Group also in Jackson.