Cordia Harrington – The Bun Lady – A Baby Boomer Success Story

I always find success stories enjoyable and inspiring; especially when it comes to someone who has gone from poverty to wealth and has to face insurmountable obstacles. I especially like the stories that show that success can still be achieved in the economic climate we live in today.

The story I’m going to share is about a baby boom, a divorcee with three children. He started out as a real estate agent and formed a bakery company that he plans to go international. The lady’s name is Cordia Harrington. She is also affectionately known as the “Bun Lady”.

Unlike most children from modern families who can eat out quite often; Most of the boomers were lucky enough to go out to dinner only on special occasions and we usually went to a small fast food restaurant like McDonalds. Cordia grew up in the boom generation and remembers going to McDonalds occasionally on those special occasions. Little did she know that one day she would own the franchise tree as her own.

As a divorcee, she began selling real estate and was finally able to negotiate a franchise position at McDonalds. This achievement in itself is quite an achievement because a McDonalds franchise is quite expensive and the qualifications are not easy to meet. He opened his franchise in Effingham, Illinois, which is a city of approximately 10,000 people.

For a fast food restaurant, 10,000 people in a city is not big enough to grow as a motivated person would want. Cordia brainstormed and found a creative solution to her little traffic problem.

She turned around, tried and did some more creative negotiations to buy the Gray Hound Bus franchise in Effingham and selected a bus stop next to her restaurant. This action resulted in eighty-eight (88) buses passing his restaurant each day. In the summer, this number increased to 120 stops every day!

Eventually, it increased its number of McDonald’s franchises to three (3). Another example of creative thinking and denials! I should point out that he had to overcome many objections to his growth, but he refused to accept “no” as an obstacle to his goal.

During her time with McDonalds, Cordia finally found an opportunity to serve on McDonald’s purchasing committee for hamburger buns. Her colleagues started calling her “Bun Lady” and the nickname stuck. For a laugh, he often puts on a plastic belt and struts.

While serving on the muffin committee, it happened that the existing supplier was not performing as required. They were unable to provide the required number of buns. Cordia saw an opportunity; She used her sales skill and was able to take advantage of herself in a position to supply the scones for McDonalds.

Once again, he used his salesmanship, tenacity, enthusiasm, and creative thinking to obtain the necessary backing to obtain a loan from his bank in the amount of $ 13 million to build his new manufacturing plant.

Once the bakery was up and running and successful, it soon expanded the operation to three (3) bakeries and now produces over a thousand buns per minute. Now provides all the buns for McDonalds plus Chili’s, KFC and Pepperidge Farms restaurants.

Cordia Harrington has received numerous awards for her achievements and some may think that the road to her success was easy, but anyone who knows anything about McDonald’s franchises knows that it is a very practical operation. He practically had to work twenty-four hours a day to achieve what he has!

She is willing to take risks and says that during a recession it is probably the best time to start a new business. She bases this belief on her faith in the United States. He refers to past history and says that the United States has had 17 recessions and we have always recovered.

To prove this point, he recently opened his own trucking company to make sure his buns are delivered efficiently. Naturally; the name of the company is “Bun Lady Transport”.

Cordial is grateful for your success and is actively involved in many charities to help others. His journey is far from over because he still wants the Tennessee Bun Company to become an international company.

You say you are having too much fun to even think about retiring!