“You also understand the preciousness
of life and of time,” she said. “You have to
make use of your time.”
In 2010, after the cancer had spread to
his pancreas, David died.
Robin’s acute awareness of time was part
of the reason she decided to close Fresh
House in 2017. She had grown tired of
maintaining the restaurant and wanted to
refocus attention on Old School Mill and
the family staples: grits and cornmeal.
Robin, Parker and long-time employee
Sherrie Mauldin focused their attention
on the company’s distribution center in
Stanfield and selling the products to as
many people as possible.
The trade show affect
In 2011, the company made an emphasis
to try and sell its products on the wholesale
market. This meant attending trade shows.
The first one was the International
Gift Exposition Expo of the Smokies in
Tennessee, which was tailored to souvenirs,
gifts and novelties.
“It’s important for us to always look
for new customers…and to broaden your
customer-base,” Robin said.
“And so different shows reach different
people or markets.”
Unbeknownst to Robin, Parker signed
Old School Mill for AmericasMart in
Atlanta -- one of the largest leading
wholesale marketplaces in the country.
“You’re talking about a show where you
might have 10,000 people in Tennessee
versus a show where you have 1,000,000
people in Atlanta,” Parker said.
AmericasMart helped the company
attract sales representatives and helped
with publicity. Old School got to talk to
people from mom-and-pop stores to retail
giants like TJ Maxx and World Market.
“It just kind of puts you on the map and
gives you visibility to the buyers and the
retail world,” Robin said.
While Robin was mainly working the
restaurant, Parker and Sherrie focused on
the trade shows.
Linda and Parker Hinson
working to produce fine
milled products.
Parker even met his now-wife Makayla
at AmericasMart in July 2015. She was
working across the aisle from Parker selling
chocolate-covered cherries for a company
out of Washington state.
Her boss, who had worked the show
before, told her about a young man that
often sold grits and cornmeal. So when she
arrived at the trade show and saw Parker
she thought, “Oh yeah, he is pretty cute.”
Robin said little kernels of corn were
thrown across the aisle and small chocolate-
covered pecans were thrown back.
“There was a little flirting going on, I
think,” she said with a laugh.
Makayla has lived in North Carolina
since 2016 and has worked at Old School
since last October. She and Parker married
in 2018.
She never had grits or even knew what
they were before they met but, like a true
Southerner, she now enjoys them.
Robin said the company goes to about
three to five trade shows a year, including
twice to AmericasMart and the gift show
in Tennessee.
A wide reach
The many trade shows Old School
has attended over the years has certainly
helped it develop a wide customer base that
extends across the country.
It routinely ships 100 pounds of stone-
ground white grits to a restaurant in Walla
Walla, Wash. called Bacon & Eggs.
Makayla said the restaurant sells
Old School Mill one-pound grits and
incorporates them into their shrimp and
grits dish.
Made in Stanly Magazine | 2020
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