From Cupcakes to Chemicals, Tennessee Businesses Managed by Women Are Doing Well

If you’ve ever visited a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and thought the decorations on the wall had to be knock-offs, prepare to be surprised.

The Lebanon-based store and restaurant chain buys only authentic antique toys, tools, utensils, signs and advertisements for its locations across the country. Even more amazing, all of those artifacts have been purchased by the same family-run business since 1969.

A lot of smaller Tennessee companies have interesting stories to tell, too. Take, for example, Gigi’s Cupcakes, Inc., a Nashville-based business that will make a layered wedding cake – completely out of custom-made cupcakes – for couples that wouldn’t mind skipping the cake-cutting tradition on their wedding days.

Cracker Barrel and Gigi’s Cupcakes are just two of the many businesses successfully owned or managed by women in Tennessee. During the month of May, Tennessee Business Spotlight will highlight some of them.

Tennessee Business Spotlight is a feature on the Secretary of State’s web site that showcases some of the state’s businesses that create jobs, produce quality products and give back to their local communities. People visiting the Tennessee Business Spotlight web page can learn about the selected companies’ goods and services, operations, employment figures, photos and links to web and social media sites that provide additional information.

“Tennessee has many successful women in all sectors of Tennessee and the business arena is no exception. Businesses owned or managed by women play a vital role in our state’s economy,” Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. “I am proud that we have so many strong female managed businesses in Tennessee, including some that the general public might not realize are owned or managed by women.”

The companies showcased in May are:

• Gigi’s Cupcakes, Inc. in Nashville
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. in Lebanon
• KaTom Restaurant Supply, Inc. in Kodak
• Regal Entertainment Group, Inc. in Knoxville
• Drexel Chemical Company in Memphis
• Buckman Laboratories in Memphis

To visit Tennessee Business Spotlight, go to www.spotlight.tnsos.net.

To nominate a company to be recognized in Tennessee Business Spotlight, please visit the web page and click the “Submit a Business” link or call (615) 253-8800.