Turnip Truck Midtown
Turnip Truck, Nashville’s most trusted local and holistic grocery store, tapped REED to help plan the grand opening celebration and drive awareness of its fourth and largest store opening in the Midtown neighborhood of Nashville.
Turnip Truck has been serving the Nashville community with fresh, local and wholesome goods since 2001. As a small business directly supporting other local, small businesses and farmers, Turnip Truck sought REED’s strategy to effectively communicate the new store and its expanded offerings with identified target audiences in the Midtown community and Nashville at-large.
We crafted an event plan that felt authentic to Turnip Truck while celebrating the feat, complete with ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by local and state officials, waste-free décor, local performers and demos with Turnip Truck’s vendors to create a market-style celebration where visitors could enjoy a true taste of Nashville at every turn. Our team also conducted media and influencer relations to drive awareness and excitement around the opening and offerings unique to the new store.
INSIGHT
According to research by The Packer, younger consumers (68 percent of those polled between the ages of 18-29) and consumers residing in the South (64 percent of those polled) reported they try to buy local or regional produce. Further, while growing at a 3 percent higher incline from the rest of Davidson County as late as 2020 with a population of nearly 92k–48 percent of which are between the ages of 19 to 34–Midtown has, to this point, lacked real access to full-service groceries for its residents.
This research identified an opportunity for Turnip Truck to not only be a resource for nearby residents, but also to reach key audiences who statistically prefer to shop local. Our team crafted a plan to reach both longstanding customers of Turnip Truck and new, younger consumers in the neighborhood, through strategic community connections, media and influencer outreach and event planning.
STRATEGY
REED worked with Turnip Truck to identify core target audiences and a strategy for sharing the news of the new store and its offerings, including a thoughtful event plan employing both Turnip Truck’s vendors and local musicians to highlight the store’s roots in Nashville and expansion into the neighborhood that also houses Nashville’s historic Music Row in order to drive interest and day-of foot traffic from nearby apartments, restaurants and venues. In addition to the event, we secured media coverage of the opening and influencer partnerships, which effectively reached existing customers and the new target demographics in the area.
ACTIVATION
Our team managed the ideation, planning and coordination of the grand opening celebration from start to finish. We secured attendance and speakers from local and state government to highlight the importance of the establishment for the community and local economy, influencer partners to share about the new store and its offerings and local and national media to highlight the expansion for the local brand. Leveraging the research conducted, REED was able to craft a story for Turnip Truck to drive consumer interest supported by the need for access to both convenient and locally sourced groceries.
RESULTS
Over the course of our four-month project, the REED team secured 83 pieces of coverage across media and social platforms, reaching over 178 million people and driving strong attendance for the grand opening celebration, which was an all-day event.
Through our efforts, the Nashville chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) awarded our team in 2025 in the Events and Observances: Seven or Fewer Days category for our campaign Rooted in Community: Turnip Truck Midtown.