This family is mainly known for some tasty chicken, but a new generation is getting right to work on ensuring that their future has opportunity aplenty to grow with a variety of products for sale at a new farm store.

The latest generation to start a business at the Thomas family homestead got underway officially and have been rebranded as the Appalachian Foothills Farm, offering a variety of products up for sale.

Annabelle and Ellesie Thomas were joined by Dad and Chick-fil-A of Rockmart operator Zach Thomas and the rest of the family along with many more from the community for the store’s grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting held earlier today at the homestead off Buchanan Highway.

The grand opening marks as several years journey of changes at the Thomas family homestead off Buchanan Highway in western Polk County. Dating back decades, formerly known as the Thomas Mountain Family Farm was first a cattle and garden farm run by ML Thomas, then when Larry took over he operated a commercial chicken houses before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and closed up the business.

Following the close of his service in the US Army, Zach came home and transformed it into the next generation of homestead, returning back to the roots of his grandfather and providing a place for his family to grow up and have since found new opportunities for farm-raised products.

While Thomas mainly focuses on operating the Chick-fil-A of Rockmart, the rest of the family has been able to take on the task of creating new products and raising grass-fed beef on the property for sale.

Alongside the beef, they have raw honey and bee’s wax products made from hives on the farm, canned goods and a variety of jams and jellies and an assortment of other cottage foods as well.

The project to open the farm store began back in 2023, but now with Annabelle and Ellesie leading the way for a new generation of operations are hard at work on expanding for those to come. But in the near term, they also hope to expand offerings at the farm store on Buchanan Highway, including fresh eggs.

Edit to add: Hours are Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2692 Buchanan Hwy., Cedartown.