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Your Small Business Resource: First Friday
Presented by
Friday, September 4
7:30 am - 9 am
E|SPACES
1550 West McEwen Drive, Suite 300, Franklin
Topic: Managing Growth
Transitioning from startup mode and moving into phase two of your company's business plan can be exciting but also cumbersome. Your Small Business Resource: First Friday is excited to bring you the masterminds behind one of Williamson County's fastest-growing companies: A. Marshall Family Foods. Owner Andy Marshall and Director of Operations Claire Marshall Crowell will dish out their secrets to managing growth in their family-owned business.
A. Marshall Family Foods Inc. encompasses Puckett’s Gro. & Restaurant locations in downtown Franklin, downtown Nashville, downtown Columbia, and downtown Chattanooga (opening August 2015); Puckett’s Boat House in downtown Franklin; Puckett’s Trolley, the brand’s mobile food venue; Puckett’s Events & Catering; and the multi-layer Homestead Manor property in Thompson’s Station (opened July 2015). Each family owned eatery focuses on providing friends new and old with home-cooked food and Southern hospitality, the Marshall way.
Learn from two local restaurateurs whose company growth is well-managed, well-recognized and taking off to new heights.
Speakers:
Andy Marshall
Owner, A. Marshall Family Foods
puckettsgrocery.com | homesteadmanor.com
A Tennessee native, Andy Marshall grew up in the grocery business. At age 26, he purchased his first grocery store – an investment that quickly led to four additional locations, and his being named president of the Tennessee Grocers Association and the Piggly Wiggly Association. In 1998, Marshall sold those stores and bought Puckett’s, a small grocery store in the village of Leiper’s Fork. He launched a formal dinner and music program to enhance the shop and complement the town’s roots.
In both 2014 and 2015, A. Marshall Foods was recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. The company was also was awarded the Nashville Business Journal’s Best in Business award in 2015. In addition to keeping up with his restaurants, Marshall finds time to be involved with his community. He was the president of the Downtown Franklin Association for four years and an executive board member of the Heritage Foundation of Franklin & Williamson County.
He currently serves as the vice president of the Franklin Theatre and is on the board of the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce. He is also involved in the Franklin High Culinary Arts Program as the culinary advisor. The Puckett’s family of restaurants are all members of the statewide Tennessee Hospitality and Tourism Association, and Marshall sits on its board and is a member of its Education Scholarship Committee.
Marshall has also won several professional awards including Nashville Business Journal’s 2014 and 2015 Williamson County Impact Award, Small Business of the Year in Hopkinsville for two years in a row, and the National Spirit of America Award for Entrepreneurship.
Marshall and his wife Jan have been married for 30 years, and reside in Franklin. They have three children: Claire, Director of Operations for A. Marshall Family Foods, who is married to Tyler Crowell; Emily, an events specialist for Homestead Manor, married to Aaron Barker; and Cliff, enrolled at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who will help manage the River City location.
Claire Marshall Crowell
Director of Operations, A. Marshall Family Foods
@raisedbythefork
As a Tennessee native, Claire Marshall Crowell grew up in the grocery and restaurant business: her father, Andy Marshall, owned a string of Piggly Wiggly stores before purchasing Puckett’s in Leiper’s Fork, Tenn., when she was 11 years old. Throughout her middle school and high school years, Crowell helped run tables at Puckett’s. Following her 2008 graduation from Middle Tennessee State University, she took on a management role at Puckett’s in Leiper’s Fork until Rob Robinson bought that location. She transferred to the downtown Franklin location, working under longtime General Manager Max Stephenson. When Marshall expanded the Puckett’s brand to downtown Nashville in 2010, Claire was at the helm as the restaurant’s General Manager. Significantly larger than the Franklin restaurant, Puckett’s Nashville far exceeded three-year growth projections in its first year in business. In 2013, Crowell was named the director of operations for A. Marshall Family Foods Inc. Today, she helps manage operations of Puckett’s Gro. & Restaurant's entire family of brands.
Crowell is involved in various industry and community organizations, serving in leadership roles for several of them. She currently sits as vice chair for the DISTRICT organization in downtown Nashville, a non-profit dedicated to economic and community revitalization of historic districts Broadway, Second Avenue/Riverfront and Printers Alley. In addition, Crowell serves as the president of the board of directors of the city’s independent restaurant association, the Nashville Originals. She is also a Maury County Alliance board member and sits on its Chamber Council.
In January 2015, Crowell joined the Women in Business Steering Committee for Williamson, Inc. Other organizations where she is an active member include the Tennessee Hospitality and Tourism Association, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals, Heritage Foundation’s NextGen group, and Williamson, Inc. Young Professionals. In August 2015, Crowell was honored in Nashville Lifestyles Magazine’s “Women in Business” edition issue as a leader moving the city forward. Most recently she was a recipient of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and YP Nashville’s Emerging Leader Award, a program that recognizes individuals under the age of 40 who have made significant accomplishments professionally and contributions to their community.
Friday Sep 4, 2015
7:30 AM - 9:00 AM CDT
Friday, September 4
7:30 am - 9 am
E|SPACES
1550 West McEwen Drive, Suite 300
Franklin, TN 37067
No Charge for Chamber Members & Guests
Abby Bass
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