Chappell’s Home Town Foods was born in Middle Tennessee in 1962, when Chappell’s Cee Bee in Hilltop, just outside Clarksville, opened its doors.
Founder Jack Chappell and his wife, Kate, worked for two years straight, opening and closing the store every day, until they were able to open a second location in 1964 in Charlotte. Two years after that, in 1966, they opened their first store in Dickson, at the corner of Main Street and Rickert Avenue.
The couple worked almost daily in the stores for more than 30 years until their son, James Phillip “Phil” Chappell, purchased them in 1993.
In turn, Phil ran the stores for 30-plus years before selling the five Chappell’s stores to daughters Emily Blankenship and Caroline Pace, who became the owner-operators at the beginning of 2025…