City Produce

CONTINUING THE LEGACY OF FRESH FOODS

By Erica Schmidt eschmidt@dawsonnews.com

For 36 years, Leslie Callaway has owned and operated City Produce. In those years, Callaway has grown her business from a humble roadside stand into locally loved produce storefront it is today.

As fourth generation produce stand owner, Callaway said she’s been operating City Produce for the majority of her life.

“My great grandma grew her own produce, back in the day when they had to grow food to make a living,” Callaway said. “They would eat some of the produce, can some of it, and take the rest of it to downtown Atlanta to sell.”

Callaway’s great-grandmother passed the produce stand business on to Callaway’s grandfather, who in turn passed it on to Callaway’s mother. And according to Callaway, at that point the business was little more than a stand, picnic tables and gazebo.

“My mother ran her stand in Sandy Springs,” Callaway said. “It was called ‘Cowgirls Produce’ because that was her nickname — Cowgirl.”

While her ancestors grew their own produce to sell, Callaway purchases hers from the Atlanta State Farmers Market. She drives the 124-mile round trip to Atlanta every other day - sometimes every day - to hand pick out the freshest fruits and vegetables possible to sell her customers.

“People follow me around when they see me at the market to see what I’m buying because they know that I only pick out the best,” Callaway said.

Callaway’s reputation for always having the best produce has earned her nicknames such as “produce queen” or “tomato queen”, a nod to her best-selling item — tomatoes.

In her time in the business, Callaway has grown City Produce from a produce stand in downtown Cumming to a stand at the Dixie Flea Market to a storefront at the North Georgia Premium Outlet Mall.

“I started out with an outdoor produce stand, but it became harder and harder to keep an outdoor stand

in operation due to county codes,” Callaway said. “So we moved inside. The CEO of the outlet mall loved the idea of bringing my customers to the mall.”

After 34 years of doing business outside, City Produce is now in its second year indoors, and Callaway said that her business is thriving in its storefront location. In addition to their large selection of fruits and vegetables, City Produce also offers Amish-made jams and jellies, freshly made salsa and local honey.

“It’s nice not to have to worry about rain or storms, and we’re enjoying being inside in the air conditioning during the summer,” Callaway said. “And we have foot traffic from all over. I’ve had people in here from Duluth and Dallas, Ga.”

But Callaway’s business has not been without its share of difficulties. In 2011, Callaway suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, a type of aneurysm with a very high fatality rate. She was rushed to the hospital and managed to survive the aneurysm with a new outlook on life.

“I survived that for a reason,” Callaway said. “And now I want to pay it forward to the community.”

Callaway does this by donating what she doesn’t sell in her store to a food bank, and by always striving to provide her services to her customers.

“Because of the aneurysm I qualified for disability, but I decided I loved this so much that I would keep doing it,” Callaway said.

But Callaway could never see herself anywhere but operating City Produce.

“I love what I do and I love this community,” Callaway said. “I’m going to do this as long as I can. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”