Leased land from Myrtle Duggar of Duggar’s Florist of Muscle Shoals and built store #3 and the first in AL. This was a huge success and had remained one of the company’s strongest locations A large addition to the original restaurant was made to add a dining room, office, and extended the pit room into our first USDA inspected processing plant, which was necessary in order for us to be able to market our pork barbecue to other restaurants and schools. Initiated our first central warehouse in the basement of our apartment house. This allowed us to buy in bulk and control the quality of inventory of our stores. We delivered to each of our locations. Leased the old western wear store on Cox Creek parkway in Florence from Ralph May and after remodeling extensively, opened Rick’s Barbecue, #4. With K-mart and Kroger moving form the complex in Lawrenceburg, Rick purchased a parcel of land near the industrial park and Murray of Ohio MFG. plant, and literally moved the log building of store #2 from the k-Mart parking lot to the new parcel only about a half a mile away. He added loaded baked potatoes and salads that same year company wide. These two items have been a tremendous success since then. Our wholesale operations were growing too rapidly for us to be able to meet the needs in our old processing plant, so we purchased a vacant metal office building and the three acres beside it . We relocated our corporate offices there in 1995 and began construction of our new warehouse, prep kitchen, and USDA processing plant. Call “The commissary”. Rick redesigned the logo of our company to incorporate an arched hearth and began to design packaging for our pork barbecue for wholesale. Also he initiated a meat and three vegetables at our original store utilizing the skills of several wonderful women who had been “old school” cafeteria cooks making everything from scratch daily. Rick purchased a small convenience store just a fourth of a mile north of the commissary and thought he would try his hand at a new concept that he and his wife had flown to Chicago to investigate. A combination convenience store/restaurant, yet he wanted our customers to be able to order a sandwich and pay for fuel all at the same counter, unlike the prototype we viewed in Chicago which separated the entities. This was an instant success and along with it came the induction into the volatile world of fuel of which we had no knowledge. The landscape was changing in the district where our store #1, the original location was housed and we were forced to close the location due to the lack of customer base. This was a hard and emotional decision but one that was necessary for future growth. Packaging for a one pound retail package was developed and a new vacuum chamber machine was implemented at our USDA facility to preserve the freshness of our products to our wholesale customers. Marketing began and Rick himself went out on the road to push the one pound packs to local groceries in AL and TN. A broker saw our product in one of the stores and set up a meeting with Rick. This was our break into the world of large grocery warehouses. We acquired our first warehouse customers and today service Foodland, Big Star, and Piggy Wiggly warehouses in the southeast. Land was acquired in Ethridge TN (northern Lawrence County) for the building of Our second franchise is a second location in Murfreesboro,near Riverdale High School, for Rick’s brother, Mike Lanning, and it is a restaurant with dining room and drive thru design like those in Florence and Muscle Shoals currently. ur new concept restaurant and convenience store The design was Rick’s planning and is beautiful with glass from floor to ceiling on three sides and with western cedar throughout This is the design that we continue to use for our convenience stores and C-store franchises today. The design is finally recognizable and associated with our brand after several years. We began construction on the second of our new concept stores and built it directly behind our older, very first convenience store. Upon completion, we moved the    stock and then crews came in during the night and demolished the old building and began installation of the new pumps and canopy where the old building stood. Our very first franchise opened in Murfreesboro TN. by Rick’s brother. Mike Lanning, a UPS retiree. It is a drive thru only operation and very viable near Siegel High School. We were fortunate to be able to purchase the old Burger King building on the main restaurant row in Lawrenceburg. Rick converted it into a restaurant and c-store keeping the original seating layout in the existing restaurant and adding additional space and the window design we are known for. Also this year, we acquired Robert Orr Sysco as an outlet for our wholesale products . This has been a very successful relationship. Our second franchise is a second location in Murfreesboro,near Riverdale High School, for Rick’s brother, Mike Lanning, and it is a restaurant with dining room and drive thru design like those in Florence and Muscle Shoals currently. Rick makes the decision to open a new restaurant with a whole new design concept.