Lisa Wadell Patti McDougall owned and operated The Happy Cookers on Devine Street for 29 years. Having built an audience, a customer base of loyal diners and friends, McDougall wanted to pass the business to capable people. McDougall sold The Happy Cookers to Lisa Waddell and her husband Phil recently. McDougall is still on staff to help with the transition.

Lisa Waddell is the manager and the go- to type at The Happy Cookers, although she and her husband run another half- dozen small businesses. Somehow, the emporium of profit centers overlaps and reinforces, all to make each more successful.

Waddell was born in Lake City, S.C., where her father was a forester, and her mother was a nursing instructor. Her father soon moved the family to Summerville because of his career track with West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, now Westvaco. Waddell's mother taught nursing at the medical school in Charleston.

Waddell stayed in Summerville schools from the first grade through high school. She learned the clarinet well enough to play for the band at Summerville High School.

Following high school graduation, Waddell went to the Columbia campus of USC to major in early education. She graduated in fewer than four years. She took her first job as a first grade teacher in Batesburg- Leesville.

Relocating to the Charleston County schools, Waddell taught in the elementary grades while she took night classes and summer school courses to earn her master's degree in elementary education at the College of Charleston. While in Charleston, she met Phil, her husband.

They moved to West Columbia, where Phil worked for United Parcel Service and stayed for 36 years, retiring in March 2007. He spent 2006 as a loaned executive for the United Way.

By the time he left the company, he was in charge of all its transportation inside the state.

The Waddells bought a lot at Indian Mound, a new subdivision carved out of an old farm, in Lexington County, and they designed and built their house in two years.

Waddell taught in Pelion for six or seven years, and then she and Phil became involved with the Heritage Christian Academy, a K- 8 school rich in tradition and high academics. Latin, for instance, is taught in the fifth grade, and French begins in the first. Their daughter Andi enrolled at Heritage.

Andi is now in her first year at Furman University in Greenville, where she plans to major in political science.

The Waddells bought three laundromats two years ago, about the same time they bought The Box Lunch on Wallace Street in Cottontown. The Box Lunch branched into the Bank of America Plaza, where they installed a small take- out operation called the Plaza Sundry Shop next door to what was the City Café.

A little over a year ago, the Waddells took over Chocolate Nirvana, the high- end dessert factory in what was Mozart's at the corner of Pickens and Richland, across the street from the Seibels House.

On January 27, the Waddells closed on their Happy Cookers deal. They say to expect a continuation of the popular dishes, but they also say the customers should see more Lowcountry leanings.

Waddell still plans to close The Happy Cookers by 5:30 pm, but she encourages more use of the facility after hours, such as civic meetings and social receptions.

With the connections among Chocolate Nirvana, The Box Lunch, Plaza Sundry Shop, and The Happy Cookers, an expanded custom catering operation is in the works.