Shut-Down and Start-Up

Act 1

Trent, his wife, and first born son had just moved to Waco, TX after spending a year in Romania, the land of the family farm, when it hit him that money was going to be tight. He had been in Eastern Europe on a Fulbright Creative Writing Grant to write a play. His parents were kind to remind him (every time they met) that there's not much money in being a playwright. So, in Waco, he joined an entrepreneurial community and a few months later started his first business. It was an in-person business, a youth camp, which the Pandemic promptly shut-down.

From Field to Frozen

Act 2

Slightly depressed that all his planning went down the tubes, he went to go work on a farm, just outside Waco. He could socially distance on the forty acres, doing this and that. From cleaning out the goat stall to weeding the garden, the work was rewarding, hands-on, and hot. The Texas Sun was no joke. The farm had a cow named Bess. He thought, something frozen sounds nice. A few weeks later, his family moved to Knoxville, where Trent partnered with Sunrise Dairy. He had always had a culinary interest, further sparked by the Romanian Family Farm, and soon went to work buying local ingredients and making gourmet ice cream. 

To Kern's Food Hall & Beyond

Act 3

One day, while Trent the Bootstrapper was out selling ice cream at a farmer's market, a man approached him and asked, "Have you thought about starting a scoop shop?" He said, "Yes, but not now." They decided to meet to discuss it further. The man mentioned his interest in being an Angel Investor. So, Trent did a little research and decided Kern's would be the Best Location in Knoxville. Unfortunately, the deposit scared the Angel Investor away. And it took nearly every dollar in Trent's account to get the spot. But it was the Kern's Food Hall!

And this is where the story is currently - Trent is so grateful to be working out of the Real Good Kitchen serving the Creative, Artsy, Kinda Town Knoxville is by making inspiring flavors you can't find anywhere else!