Editor’s note: Local Folks is an ongoing series highlighting the many unique and interesting people of Northeast Mississippi. Everyone has a story; to share yours, contact Blake Alsup at blake.alsup@journalinc.com.
NEW ALBANY • As rush hour traffic zooms by each morning, Ted Russell stacks dozens of Ziploc bags filled with pork rinds and kettle corn onto folding tables on the side of Highway 15 in New Albany.
He carefully hangs neon pink poster board signs reading “pork skins” and “kettle corn” from the sides of a white canopy tent set up to shield himself and his products from the heat.
Russell, the 68-year-old roadside vendor, greets each customer as if they were an old friend. In time, they likely will be.
The pork rinds Russell sells travel a long way before occupying space at his little stand. His pork rinds are made by a family-owned business in Mountain Home, Arkansas, called Mountain Home Kettle Corn and Pork Rinds. They’re cooked on demand, so his product is always fresh.
“They literally melt in your mouth,” Russell said of his pork rinds. “And not some of them, all of them. If they try them, they’ll buy them. And once they buy them, it’s that simple.”
He makes the 550-mile, 11-hour round trip from New Albany to Mountain Home and back every week to restock, so his pork rinds are never more than a few days old.
He returns with around 1,000 bags of pork rinds and kettle corn, and can sell anywhere from 100 to 300 bags per day.
Unsurprisingly, Russell hasn’t always made his living selling salty snacks. After growing up in Carrollton, Ohio, Russell worked at a saw mill, steel mill and sold cars for a while. Despite being good at it, he didn’t care for selling cars.
When he decided several years ago to use his talents as a salesman to become a flea market or food stand vendor, he went to Staples and had 1,000 business cards with his name and phone number printed.
“I thought I’d just pass out cards to different people and tell them what I wanted to do,” Russell said. “The first guy I gave a card to, I went to work for about three months later. The very first card I handed out. And it’s worked out ever since.”
That’s how his career as a pork rind vendor was born.
Russell loads up bags of pork rinds for a customer that has pulled up to his roadside stand set up on Highway 15 in New Albany on Friday.
During his six years selling pork rinds, Russell has traveled to flea markets across five states – Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced markets to close for a then-unknown amount of time, he found a home for his business in the parking lot in front of My Three Blessings Boutique and The Laundry Room laundromat.
He’s there seven days a week from roughly 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with the exception of Sundays when he opens after attending a morning worship service and days when he makes a run to Mountain Home for fresh pork rinds.
“People will tell me, ‘We come up over that hill and if we don’t see those neon signs, we get sick,’” Russell said with a laugh.
Russell and his girlfriend, Robbie Murry, have called New Albany home together for around two years. He said the warm reception from local customers made him decide to keep his stand at that location.
“The people in this town have been great, and all of these towns around here,” Russell said. “They welcomed me here, treat me well and thank me for being here.”
And business has been good. Really good. In fact, Russell’s pork rinds are so popular, he’s had one customer make a four-hour round trip from Jackson, Tennessee, just to buy a few bags.
“I tell a lot of people if they’re not the best they ever ate, come get your money back,” he added. “So that’s a pretty good guarantee.”
Another part of success is being grateful for the people who buy from him.
“There’s no secret to it,” Russell said. “If you show sincere gratitude for their business, people like that. People want to know that their business is appreciated.”
Russell’s most popular flavors are sour cream & onion and country BBQ, but he also sells classic, salt & vinegar, ranch, chili lime, mesquite BBQ, , chili cheese and Russell’s personal favorite (which carries some weight, since he’s a connoisseur) – Cajun.
LaQuisha Hall receives her bag of pork rinds from Ted Russell at his sales stand on Highway 15 in New Albany.
Plenty of people get out of their cars to stand and chat with Russell as they browse his pork rind selection. Others use the parking lot as a drive-thru, rolling down their window to hand him a wad of cash in exchange for their choice of salty snack. And some friends stop by for the sole reason of talking to Russell.
“They may buy one bag and sit here and talk for 20 minutes,” Russell said. “Sometimes they don’t buy anything. They just stop by to talk.”
Not that he minds. Not one bit.
“Truth be told, I’d do it for nothing,” Russell said, laughing.
Russell is a veteran, and customers will notice American flags affixed to the corners of his canopy tent and nestled among bags of pork rinds on his tables.
“People like them,” Russell said. “People like to support a veteran and they like to see the flag of this country flying.”
Inspired by his late brother, Ritchie Russell’s, service, Russell enlisted in the U.S. Army and did ground surveillance at the military intelligence center at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. He served in the United States Army Infantry from 1977 to 1980, fulfilling a promise to himself in memory of his brother, who died in a car accident after returning home from Vietnam.
Russell’s favorite part of the job is meeting people, and he’s grateful to the city of New Albany and residents from Union County and beyond for making his roadside stand a success.
As flea markets reopen, Russell has decided he isn’t going anywhere.
“This is where I will stay,” Russell said. “Are there events I could go to and just flat kill it? Yeah. But it’s not fair, so I stay here. I think that’s another way I show my appreciation.”
He said the people of Northeast Mississippi truly care about him, and that’s the most important thing to him.
His parting message for customers is this: “Do the right thing. Eat more pork rinds.”
June 22, 2021 at 04:00PM
https://ift.tt/3d4OKyR
'I'd do it for nothing': Roadside pork rind vendor finds community in New Albany - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
https://ift.tt/2RsHZwT
Pork
No comments:
Post a Comment