Over the weekend, East Nashville got some good company. In Good Company, that is, a store with high-quality grab-and-go meals and more.
In Good Company, which started in 2017 as a private chef and catering service, has expanded to include a bricks-and-mortar store in The Shoppes on Fatherland, opening for the first time over the weekend. Regular hours going forward are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The local pantry will also offer goods from other local small businesses like CaityPies Nashville, Beard and Bark, Lillian St. Bread and Bae’s Butter.
Popular former Salt and Vine executive chef Rahaf Amer (the organizer of Food From Inside the Travel Ban and a dynamic competitor at the Scene's Iron Fork event in March) is on board, too.
“Hopefully once we get all our ducks in a row, we’ll be doing pop-up dinners too," says Amer. "We’re talking about having a pop-up with Bloomsbury Farms in September."
Memphis native and In Good Company owner Courtney McKay first started cooking in college. New York barbecue just doesn’t compare to the work of Memphis' famous pitmasters.
“I started getting really homesick for specific foods, so I decided to try to make them,” McKay says. “I started working in restaurants there, and really loved bringing people together. When I moved to Nashville a couple years after graduating, I was only really cooking for my friends, but bringing people together over a plate of something good means a lot to me. This is a way of doing that.”
McKay said In Good Company’s niche is small, intimate gatherings, and by moving into a store, the connections felt during those gatherings can be replicated in some way through daily interactions with customers.
“When I started, I just said yes to everything, and that kind of built. We're excited for the local pantry for a lot of reasons, but mostly because we get to see the people even more.
“Saying yes to everything and figuring things out has created this community,” she says. “ I love all the businesses I work with that are hustling, and we plan on making it more of a collective, because if I’m able to support my other friends with small food businesses with In Good Company, then I want to do so.
In Good Company is located at 1006 Fatherland Street, Suite 206.
