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You can find a decent sausage ball in just about every Southern cookbook or even your mom's old recipe box. But you can't usually find them outside of the South. Courtney Webb had this realization while living in New York. At the time, the former architect was making jewelry and attending trade shows, during which she found herself craving the simplicity of a sausage ball.
'When I was selling at markets and craft shows, every time I ate, whether it was a taco or a pulled pork sandwich, it was always dripping down my arm. I didn't want to be so messy when I was talking to customers,” says Webb, who also owns Hey Rooster General Store in East Nashville.
Instead, she dreamt of a high-protein snack that made her feel nourishedlike the sausage balls she would eat every Christmas morning growing up in Nashville. Webb moved home in 2013 and almost immediately opened her adorable East Nashville general storebut the thought of a sausage ball business never disappeared. One night over dinner with friends at Rolf and Daughters, she brought up the concept and the group decided to brainstorm names.
'Probably about 11 or 12 suggestions in, my friend James just blurted out ‘Y'alls Balls,' and we cried we laughed so hard,” she says.
With an unforgettable name (and plenty of jokes to go with it), she enrolled in The Skillery's nine-week Co.Starters program in 2014, joining a small group of fledgling entrepreneurs on a journey to get their businesses off the ground.
'I had this fear of starting a food business,” Webb admits. 'I didn't go to culinary school. I'm not a chef. I didn't know codes in a kitchen. Those things are really intimidating when you're the one in charge.”
As was the idea of what Y'alls Balls would be besides a vehicle to deliver delicious balls. Was it a food truck, a brick-and-mortar restaurant, or simply a frozen food service? Through Co.Starters, Webb decided to start small and sold her first few batches at the Porter Flea last December. Since then, she's been popping up around town including the Nashville Farmers' Market. This month, she'll be cooking Drunch (a drinking brunch), alongside friend and food stylist Hannah Messinger at the Jackalope Brewery every Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. She's also selling frozen balls that can be heated up at home. Her flavors include traditional sausage, Benton's bacon and blue cheese, hot chicken, and vegetarian.
There are still plenty of directions in which she can take her productsports stadiums seem like a natural fit, she speculates. And a brick-and-mortar restaurant isn't out of the question. She still has a general store to run, but she'd like to see her balls go even biggerso this month, Webb launches a Kickstarter campaign to invest in a few new ideas. And all jokes aside, Webb believes there's plenty of room to grow, because, as she says, 'Who doesn't love a good sausage ball?”