Driving into Wilsonville, just 35 miles from Birmingham, feels a bit like stepping into an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. It’s peaceful, nostalgic, and quaint — the kind of place where life seems to move a bit slower. In the heart of downtown sits Coosa Valley Milling & Hardware, home to McEwen & Sons Gristmill.

For those unfamiliar with their products, McEwen & Sons supplies the grits, polenta, cornmeal, and other stone-ground goods used by some of the most beloved restaurants in Birmingham and across the Southeast, including Bottega, Hot and Hot Fish Club, Saw’s BBQ, and countless others. To understand how a small family-owned feed and farm supply business became a staple in Southern kitchens, it helps to rewind to how Coosa Valley Milling began in the first place.

The Genesis of the Grits Business

Coosa Valley Milling first opened in 1958, serving the community for a decade before closing in 1968. Ten years later, in 1978, Frank McEwen Sr. and his father, Ralph, purchased the business and reopened it.

Today, the mill still supplies feed of all kinds to farms throughout the surrounding area — horse feed, cattle feed, deer feed, and more. When asked what kinds of feed they carry, McEwen Sr. simply laughed and replied, “All of the above.”

The family’s entry into the grits business came years later, in the 1990s, after McEwen Sr.’s parents returned from a motorhome trip and told him about a farm store in Sevierville, Tennessee, that operated much like theirs while also producing organic grits.

“He was intrigued,” Frank McEwen Jr. said, and not long after, McEwen Sr. made the trip to see it for himself.

The store was called Temple Feed and Seed, located, as McEwen Sr. recalls, “right across from Dolly Parton’s statue.” After several years of thinking it over, he finally decided to take the leap.

“In 2001, I popped off and bought a mill,” he said.

The only problem? He had no idea how to operate a gristmill.

Eventually, he found someone willing to teach him, and he began making grits — at first more as a hobby than a business. He would serve them at dinner parties and give bags away to friends and customers. One of those customers happened to be legendary Birmingham restaurateur Frank Stitt, chef and owner of Bottega, Highlands Bar and Grill, and Chez Fonfon.

Stitt, who owns a horse farm in the Wilsonville area and had long been a customer of Coosa Valley Milling’s feed business, quickly became one of the family’s biggest supporters.

“We have a couple lines of business that run through the Stitts,” McEwen Jr. joked.

After trying the grits, Stitt called McEwen Sr. with a simple message: “I like what you’re doing. I want to buy some of your grits.”

That phone call changed everything.

Soon after, Stitt began featuring McEwen & Sons grits in the signature baked grits appetizer at Highlands Bar and Grill. Before long, chefs from around the country were calling to place orders.

“Whenever restaurants called, and Dad asked how they heard about us, it was always through Highlands and the Stitt family,” McEwen Jr. said.

Adding the “& Sons”

About a year after restaurants began carrying their products, McEwen Sr. started bringing his sons, Luke and Frank Jr., to Pepper Place Saturday Market in Birmingham to sell grits directly to customers.

McEwen Jr. still remembers those early mornings vividly.

“I was 7 or 8 years old, and they were waking us up at 5 a.m. to go to Pepper Place on a Saturday morning,” he said. “We hated getting up early to do it, but it ended up being a really valuable learning experience.”

The restaurant relationships also became part of family life. When asked how often they eat at restaurants that use their products, McEwen Sr. laughed.

“I don’t go anywhere else,” he said. “When I go out, I like to eat at somebody that buys from me.”

McEwen Jr. said his friends growing up assumed the family must be “high rollers” because after church on Sundays they would regularly eat at places like Chez Fonfon. But, he joked, the reality was a little different.

“We go in the front door, but Dad goes in the back door,” he said, referring to deliveries.

Today, after spending several years working with the Christian campus ministry Onward in Auburn, McEwen Jr. has returned home to work full time alongside his father in the family business. When asked how he measures the impact of his ministry work, he referenced a famous missionary’s words: “Ask me in 20 years.”

That long-term mindset, he said, carries over into the way the family approaches business as well — prioritizing relationships, consistency, and community over rapid expansion.

McEwen & Sons Today

Today, in addition to the growing list of restaurants that use their products, McEwen & Sons grits can be found on shelves at Birmingham-area Piggly Wiggly stores and in markets across the state. While larger retailers like Publix may eventually become part of the business plan, McEwen Sr. said the company remains focused on supporting smaller, local retailers.

“We like to support the local guys because they support us,” he said.

And, as of just a few weeks ago, there is now a fourth-generation Frank McEwen in the family. Frank Sr. even joked about if they should rename the business “McEwen & Sons & Grandsons.” Whether the newest addition joins the business or not, only time will tell—but for now, the legacy of Coosa Valley Milling and McEwen & Sons continues to grow.

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