
Before Nashville had a local-food boom, a former medical salesman opened a neighborhood grocery and learned the business one farmer, one customer and one costly mistake at a time. Twenty-five years later, he still stocks the produce aisle.

A 6:30 a.m. farmers-market shift showed him the absurdity hiding in plain sight: beloved local fruit, a brutally short selling season, and good harvests with nowhere to go. His answer was a regional cold chain built to make summer last all year.