A couple of summers ago, Ephraim T. Brown and Joseph R.Stone were sitting on the front porch in Birmingham, Alabama, and commenting on how hot the weather was. Just then, Ephraim's sister Lida called long distance from Texas, and after exchanging stories about who's weather was actually hotter, she lamented as to how she could not get some of her favorite childhood foods in Texas. Well. Ephraim said he would be delighted to send her some, as soon as the temperature dropped a bit. After catching up on Aunt Clara's health, Ephraim said his goodbyes and promised his sister he would get someone at his company to round up some fine bottles of sauce and send them on to her.

After rejoining Joseph on the porch, Ephraim told him almost verbatim the whole conversation he had just had with his sister. At that, Joseph agreed as to how there were some of the finest foods on earth came from right around Birmingham. Ephraim nodded and then wondered out loud how many folks there were out there who were unjustly deprived of these fine foods just because their local market did not stock them. At that comment, Joseph looked at Ephraim and said that somebody should right that injustice.

A light went off in Ephraim's head. After all, he owned a computer company, and had been thinking about this new thing called the Internet, and how it could be used to connect people all over the world. Well, one thing led to another, and soon led to the formation of The Great South Shipping Company.

Well, Ephraim left the farm to fly airplanes and Stoney just kinda drifted away. Ephraim didn't want to leave the store with just anyone so he looked up Andy who helped him get the store started in the first place. Having a soft spot for the store since it was his first such venture and being a southern boy himself, Andy jumped at the chance to take it over. After rearranging the place a little, we opened back up under the original name of The Great South Shipping Company.