01/17/2020
A lot can change in 9 years. In 9 years I went from being a 21 year old kid to an almost 30 year old father of 3 (and 1 on the way). In those 9 years I also had the privilege to live out, what was one of my dreams. Owning a business that kept me close to agriculture and allowed me to make a living and have the possibility to grow in more ways than I honestly ever thought possible.
I remember when I first took over French's I got a call from Virginia French (the lady that owned French's in the 80s & 90s) and she basically called to tell me two things. The first was good luck, the other was I don't know how you're going to make it. Unfortunately Virgina wasn't the only one that thought that way, I think there were more than a couple people that didn't think I had much more than a snowball's chance in hell of making it more than a few months. It seemed like for the first two years all I heard from customers was "oh we heard you were closed" or "we didn't even know this place was here". Since then we've quadrupled what the sales were the first year I took over, we have roughly 10,000 page followers on Facebook and we've had a lot of what I consider to be decent years in between. And there is no way in hell I could have done any of that without two things, great employees and great customers.
Over the years I was extremely lucky to have some awesome employees that came in every day and worked hard and did whatever it took to get things done. Employees that I've watched go from clean up kids after school to Sheriff's Deputies and responsible parents and hard working adults. I had customers that were just awesome, and that supported us through thick and thin and I don't think I can describe in words what that has meant to me over the years. So I guess in the end what I want to say is thank you for 9 years of successful business. Thank you for 9 years of life long lessons that I will never forget. Thank you for 9 years of memories that I'll cherish the rest of my life.
As of today I sold the meat locker in Westport and at this point do not plan to build back in Batesville. Business will continue as usual at Westport and I'll be around for the next few weeks to get Jimmy Gardner and his family transitioned in at Westport. Again I just want to say thank you to all of you for supporting me and my family for the last 9 years. You all, and this business have meant the world to me over the last 9 years! As happy and excited as I am for Jimmy and his family to take over the locker, a big part of me is going to miss this part of my life. Again THANK YOU, and please continue to support this small business and other local small businesses it means more than you could ever imagine.
Joe
