Food Manufacturers Find Their Sweet Spot in Tennessee
For those with a sweet tooth, Tennessee is a treasure trove. The state boasts major homegrown manufacturers whose wares have gained loyal fans nationwide. Think Collegedale’s McKee Foods Corp., which makes the ubiquitous Little Debbie brand, Nashville’s Goo Goo Cluster, a marshmallow nougat patty topped with caramel and roasted peanuts and blanketed in chocolate, which can be found from Music City to Malibu, and Chattanooga’s MoonPie, which has a cult following across the country.
When the MoonPie Hits Your Eye
Chattanooga Bakery was founded in 1902 and has been owned by five generations of the Campbell family.
“In 1917, after a brainstorming conversation between a bakery salesman and several Appalachian coal miners who wanted a tasty snack ‘as big as the moon,’ the MoonPie was born,” says Tory Johnston, vice president of sales and marketing.
At around four inches in diameter, the graham cracker and marshmallow sandwich coated in chocolate is indeed sizable. By the late 1930s, it was the bakery’s top seller, so the operation decided to specialize. “Given MoonPie’s popularity and growth, it is now the only brand made by Chattanooga Bakery. All our eggs are in the MoonPie basket,” Johnston says.
MoonPie has seen innovation in construction and flavor over the decades, and several different flavors exist today. The 1960s brought the debut of the oversized Double Decker MoonPie, and the 1990s saw the arrival of the Mini MoonPie for smaller appetites.
Vanilla, banana and salted caramel flavors joined the lineup, and seasonal offerings like pumpkin spice show up throughout the year. Johnston says the chocolate Mini MoonPie is the bakery’s best seller.
“We’ve recently introduced blueberry, which is challenging chocolate as our No. 1 flavor,” he says. “My personal favorite is lemon, and next year, we’re testing Key lime with a major grocery retailer.”
MoonPie: A Chattanooga Icon with a Global Reach
The bakery’s 110 workers (some of whom are second and even third-generation employees) turn out 1.5 million MoonPies every day. The brand can be found in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico, Central America and South America.
Johnston attributes the demand for the treat to its “memorable and funny name” in addition to its flavor and nostalgic vibes. But despite Chattanooga Bakery’s growth, says Johnston, there’s no plan to relocate.
“Chattanooga is our forever home… Our owners and many multigeneration employee families all live here,” he says. “As a fifth-generation family-owned business, we plan to be in Chattanooga indefinitely.”
Local Chocolate Charm
Tennessee is also ripe with opportunities for emerging food and beverage manufacturers. Chattanooga’s Cocoa Asante is a luxury chocolate brand founded in 2018 by Ghanaian-born Ella Livingston, who sources cacao from her birth country. The brand is known for its bonbons in flavors like Chattanooga whiskey, Meyer lemon meringue and carnival apple.
Olive & Sinclair is another high-end chocolate manufacturer that was founded in Nashville in 2007 by former chef and native Tennessean Scott Witherow. (With nearly two decades in business, it’s well-established but still a spring chicken compared to the 124-year-old Chattanooga Bakery.)
“I’ve been in restaurants all my life,” Witherow says. “I’ve always loved it and worked all over the world, mostly doing pastry… Eventually, I got tired of using the chocolate I was using.”
The problem, he says, was the use of emulsifier lecithin in chocolate manufacturing. Despite its widespread use, Witherow didn’t like the additive in the final product, so he launched Olive & Sinclair with the goal of making a high-quality, limited-ingredient bar.
“We only use cacao that we source and roast and pure cane brown sugar,” he says. “That’s it. We’re not using any kind of fake sweetener, any emulsifiers, any thinning agents.”
Olive & Sinclair’s 15 employees brainstorm Southern-inspired flavors on any given day. At the same time, they turn out the operation’s seven signature chocolate bars (65% and 75% cacao, cinnamon-chile, sea salt, cacao nib, coffee crunch and candied lemon).
Limited edition bars, like candied tomato, pop up throughout the year, plus Olive & Sinclair makes a range of confections, like duck fat caramels and smoked cocoa nib brittle (the nibs are smoked by the legendary Allan Benton of Benton’s Country Hams).
“I don’t want to do it if it’s already been done,” says Witherow of his unusual flavor combinations.
That approach has resulted in impressive growth: Olive & Sinclair can be found in every state as well as six countries and has partnered with brands like Pappy Van Winkle, renowned chef Sean Brock and high-end restaurants in the South and New York City.
Despite the company’s growth, Witherow has never considered leaving his home state, preferring to remain in the place that provides his inspiration and easy way of life.
“We’re a very laid-back company, and we like it that way,” he says.
Get to Know Tennessee
Want to learn more about living and working in Tennessee? Check out the latest edition of Livability Tennessee Economic Development Guide.