When Stacy Crenshaw married her husband in 1987, she had no idea that she would one day be at the helm of a family-run pecan business. However, her husband just so happened to be the son of Billie and Bob Crenshaw who owned a pecan orchard in the small town of Crenshaw, Mississippi, where they raised their four children, farmed, and had a hobby for Birddog training and Field Trials.
Each year during the fall, people from across the county would flock to Crenshaw for Birddog Field Trials with Bob, which served as the perfect opportunity for Billie to wow her guests with her wonderful cooking. Her specialty was cinnamon-spiced pecans that had been plucked straight from the family farm. They were such a big hit with their guests and locals alike that her sons encouraged her to start selling them—and that’s exactly what she did.
Billie branded her products as “Billie’s Cinnamon Spiced Pecans” and sold her first order to Goldsmith’s (now known as Macy’s) and the business took off from there. For Billie, family was always at the heart of her business, so it was no surprise when she asked her daughter-in-law Stacy to come work for her in 1991. Stacy spent years working with the matriarch of the Crenshaw family, helping her grow the company and create new products. Today, Stacy runs the business, which has since been rebranded to Billie’s Pecans to reflect the variety of flavors the company offers, a blessing she says she owes to the women who started it all.
“Billie was my inspiration, mentor, friend, and like a mother to me,” Stacy says. “The impact she had on me and everyone else that met her was amazing, and her Southern charm won everyone over. She had such a deep passion for what she had created and accomplished, which in turn gave me a true feeling of passion and gratitude for having the opportunity to be a part of it.”
In addition to producing nine decadent flavors of pecans like chocolate Grand Marnier and Amaretto, Billie’s Pecans also sells a variety of other snacks that people go nuts for like their cheese crispies (a spicy cheese-and-pecan cracker), pecan sandies cookies, and old-fashioned pecan brittle. The cinnamon pecan coffee cake is also a bestseller, which is no surprise considering that the recipe was a Billie original that was once named the best cake in Mississippi by the Food Network.
“It’s fun getting orders from different people. Every time I get an order, and it comes from somewhere far away, I always ask, ‘how did you hear about us?’ and the majority of them say that someone gave them our products as a gift, and they were just hooked. Then we get the excitement of welcoming them back as customers year after year.”
Stacy takes pride in the popularity of her products and the fact that she has many repeat customers, including some with clout like Trisha Yearwood who ordered from her several years in a row. She understands that what keeps customers coming back is her passion for producing quality products.
“The South is known for its food, and I strive to keep my products at the highest quality possible,” Stacy says. “I only buy top quality pecans, particularly large mammoth halves, and use top grade ingredients in making the flavored pecans.”
Keeping the business in the family is another priority for Stacy, who hopes that one day her daughter will take over Billie Pecan’s just as she did years ago. In the meantime, her brother-in-law has planted a crop of pecans that will hopefully be the main supplier for Billie’s Pecans within the next five years, ensuring that they maintain the legacy that Billie started so long ago.
