HISTORY OF COMPANY

History of Nashville Egg, Inc. and

Its Founder Jim Fesmire

Its early beginnings.                  

Early in the 1940s, there was a grocery store owner by the name of Paul Bracey, who was the founding member of Bi-Rite Grocery cooperative. As his side business, he began peddling large volumes of eggs to various food businesses out the back door of his grocery store.

          Buying from poultry farmers, Mr. Bracey’s side business grew. So, in 1946, he started his own egg distribution company called Bracey Eggs. Later in the 1960s, he established his own egg production farm called Bracey Egg Farm, located in Fairview, Tenn. As his egg business prospered, he eventually closed Bi-Rite grocery store and the egg farm, because it was not profitable, and just sold eggs. 

          In 1969, Jim Fesmire entered the food industry upon graduating from Lambuth College in Jackson, Tenn. He worked for Malone & Hyde in Memphis within their food service division. In 1970 to 1971, Cargill and Malone & Hyde formed a joint venture partnership to establish an egg distribution business called M & H Farms in Nashville, Tenn. In 1972, Mr. Fesmire was transferred by the company to Nashville to work for M & H Farms in sales. There, he got to know and buy from Mr. Bracey who was in the egg distribution business. In 1973-1974, M & H Farms acquired another business to offer eggs and poultry in their distribution business, and promoted Mr. Fesmire to distribution manager to run its expanded operations.

The establishment of Nashville Egg, Inc. on a handshake and $1,000.                     

In 1974, Mr. Bracey offered Mr. Fesmire his egg distribution business. “Mr. Bracey told me if I wanted the business that I could have it,” recounted Mr. Fesmire.

          Now having a ‘taste’ of the egg business, Mr. Fesmire was quite interested in the opportunity to own and operate his own business.

          Mr. Fesmire recalled that day as if it were yesterday.  “After we made our deal, which was literally a handshake,” said Mr. Fesmire, “Mr. Bracey walked out the door and said that he was not coming back. Customers were waiting, wanting their orders, and I didn’t even have receipts to give them.”

          So, Mr. Fesmire resigned from working at M & H Farms. He proceeded to order invoices with his new company name, Nashville Egg, Inc., proudly printed on them. That was the moment that Bracey Eggs vanished and Nashville Egg, Inc. emerged.

          The good news in taking over Mr. Bracey’s business was that Mr. Fesmire had a customer base to work from. The bad news was that he discovered that the business was in financial distress and he acquired over $10,000 in debts.

          “I had to buy Mr. Bracey’s inventory from the co-op, or they threatened to close the business down,” said Mr. Fesmire. “I had only $500 to invest and the egg supplier gave me another $500.”

The struggles of starting his own business.                  

Mr. Fesmire had worked in the food industry for five years now. So that experience prepared him first hand for the uphill battle he was about to encounter in becoming an entrepreneur and trying to salvage his financially-distressed company he just acquired.

          “I quit my other job with M & H Farms at 28-years-old and had a wife,” said Mr. Fesmire. “So, I had to make this business work.” Business hours were from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. “I was the first one there and the last one to leave each day.”

          He kept his business office at Bi-Rite’s old 818 South 6th Street location. His trucks were emblazoned with a caricature of a hen and the slogan, “Nashville Egg, Inc. – ‘Yesterday’s Lay – Delivered Today!”

Attaining the $1 million mark in sales.                         

With a staff of three, Mr. Fesmire’s business grew to selling 1,500 cases of eggs a week, generating over $1million in sales a year.

Shift in industry causes need to change business strategies.              

It was in the mid-1970s when the wholesale distribution industry was changing, noted Mr. Fesmire, “and competition emerged from the grocery store warehouses.”

          “Grocery store warehouses started to stock more than just dry goods,” he said. “They wanted to start stocking every item that was found in a grocery store. They progressed to stocking dairy items, but still didn’t handle meat or dairy at the volumes they do today.”

          As a result, Mr. Fesmire’s business volume drastically dropped in half to $500,000, which forced him to take a different business approach. He became a food service distributor to restaurants, hotels, day cares, country clubs, hospitals, and institutions.

Became distributor of select fresh  product lines.                     

He graduated slowly into introducing new product lines. In 1978, he started to distribute fresh poultry from processors, along with his mainstay of eggs. In 1979, he added other fresh meat products, growing Nashville Egg’s product base from one to eight items.  

          “My goal was to always provide our customers with a good, quality product,” said Mr. Fesmire, “which meant I would only offer fresh items. Food was delivered to us fresh in the morning and our customers received their orders the same day.”

Introduced frozen product lines.         

In 1980, he added a large walk-in freezer to accommodate offering frozen items. The company’s product offerings continued to grew to 30 top-selling items. The strategy worked and resulted in the company experiencing a 20-30 percent increase in sales a year, boasting $10 million in 1987 to $20 million in 1998.

          As the company grew in sales volume and inventory, they began to outgrow their modest 3,000 sq. ft. warehouse facility. In 1987, Nashville Egg moved into a larger warehouse at 6167 Neighborly Avenue in West Nashville with over 7,000 sq. ft., and remained there for 12 years.

Company-owned distribution center built.                   

Mr. Fesmire’s business continued to prosper and grow. As a result, Nashville Egg again outgrew its warehouse space and badly needed more room to expand. So, in 1999, Mr. Fesmire decided to build his own facility, designing exactly what he needed for future growth and expansion of his product lines. He built a 30,000 sq. ft warehouse, located at 6167 Cockrill Bend Circle, which also accommodated the increase of delivery trucks from a fleet of 12 to 20 by including six loading docks and one drive-in door. This site is where the business rests today as Choice Food Distributors.

Never used computers in business.                   

One interesting fact about Nashville Egg’s back operations was that they were not computerized despite being successful. They did not invest in any computers to keep track of inventory and remained that way until the company sold in 2005 to Choice Food Group.

          Mr. Fesmire was steadfast in his reasons for not computerizing his business. “We could process the orders faster manually. The meat items are all different weights. It was important to turn the food around fast: we start our business day early in the morning and deliver the food all in the same day.”

Success qualities to attain $40 million in sales.                        

When Mr. Fesmire was asked how he built Nashville Egg to become the $40 million business it was in 2004, he attributed his success to several strategies: expanding his product lines, the sales force and its facilities.

          With Nashville Egg’s business customers primarily being restaurant owners, Mr. Fesmire knew that the industry had a high fail rate. So, adhering to strict credit policies also played an important factor in Mr. Fesmire’s company success.

          But the most important, he acknowledges, was being customer-oriented. “We offered a personal, customized, service by providing products the way our customers wanted it and when they wanted it,” he said. “Our customers were tired of being up against too many channels to get decisions made from the bigger distribution companies; our small company offered quick solutions to their business needs.”

Acquired by Choice Food Group.                    

In January 2005, Nashville Egg, Inc. was acquired by Choice Food Group. “Becoming a part of Choice Food Group was a positive move for the company and our customers,” said Mr. Fesmire. “It afforded us the opportunity to broaden our resources, adding further value for our customers to continue to do business with us.”

          In September 2005, Nashville Egg, Inc. merged with Gibson Food Products, Inc. to form Choice Food Distributors, a subsidiary of Choice Food Group.