With shops and restaurants shuttered throughout the country, their inventory purchases have stalled with them: butters and jams go unbought, cocktail mixers remain in warehouses, ground grits sit on shelves, and Southern makers are feeling the effects. “But people want to continue to support the brands they love so well—even when they can’t go get the products themselves,” says Mary Drennen, cofounder of Birmingham, Alabama-based Nourish Foods Co., a meal plan service that delivers healthy foods to subscribers across the country. Last week, Drennen and her partner, Tiffany Davis, realized they had the capacity to help.
“We already have the fulfillment logistics to get fresh produce and meat across the country,” Drennen says of the team’s fully operational system, which uses insulated boxes to ship the company’s ready-to heat meals. So, they reached out to some of their favorite Southern brands including Benton’s Smoky Mountain Hams in Madisonville, Tennessee, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit in Charleston, South Carolina, and McEwan & Sons grits from Wilsonville, Alabama, to create a box of Southern-made treats.
Up first: an Easter brunch box for six. Inside, Nourish’s tomato spinach quiche and grilled asparagus meet Callie’s buttermilk biscuits, Blackberry Farm’s pimento cheese, a center cut of Benton’s country ham, McEwan & Sons yellow grits, and Bloody Mary mix from Alabama’s Stone Hollow Farmstead. All food comes fully prepared, just heat and enjoy. Next week, the box will contain an assortment of Southern-made snacks, and plans for future boxes are in the works with products and brands rotating weekly.
“I think this box gives hope—for people getting it and for the companies [included in the box],” Drennen says. “Which is the whole meaning of Easter anyway.” For Easter brunch boxes, order by Wednesday, April 8 at 5pm CST for delivery on Saturday, April 11th.
