How She Became 'The Bun Lady'

Cordia Harrington Shares Her Story In 'Going For It' Series

(CBS) 

"I started calling and sending pictures," she says. "Finally, four years and about 32 interviews later, I convinced them they couldn't live without me."

But the good news meant another difficult series of changes.

"As I built the bakery, I still had three restaurants, 250 employees, three kids, I was single and driving back and forth. I put over 100,000 miles on my car in a year. I don't want to make it sound like this was all real easy. I did a lot of crying and yet in my mind, I knew I could do it. I just had to figure out how."

Part of figuring it out meant selling the franchises to concentrate on running the plant. And just as she did with her construction business, Harrington found a better way to do things.

Now, the Tennessee Bun Company calls itself the fastest-automated bakery in the world.

And McDonald's is no longer her only client.

"We serve 40 states for Pepperidge Farm," Harrington says. "We also serve the East Coast for Chili's. We have Ruby Tuesday as a customer. We have KFC. So we work for and bake, really, buns. That's our focus: buns."

Harrington has come a long way from hand-me-down clothes. The Tennessee Bun Company expects gross sales in excess of $50 million this year, which enables her family to enjoy life to the fullest, even if they're as busy as ever.

In fact, Harrington is planning to work even harder. She's now branched out into English muffins and launched a shipping company to move her products across the country. And she just bought a cold storage company. But she says her ultimate goal is to take her company international.