FedEx aircraft at Memphis International Airport. Photo by Jon W. Sparks
The Memphis area exported about $1.4 billion worth of goods to its top three international markets — Mexico, China, and Canada — in 2023, according to the latest data, but effects of tariffs aren’t yet known.
The report from the U.S.-China Business Council (UCBC) also found that Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, which covers most of Memphis and parts of Tipton County, exported about $537 million worth of services to its top six international trading partners. Those include Canada at the top and China at sixth.
Credit: U.S.-China Business Council
It’s unknown how those markets would change under promised tariffs by President Donald Trump. The president agreed to pause tariffs on Mexico Monday to allow the countries to work out a deal. Trump also agreed to lower the tariff price on Canada to 10 percent from a threatened 25 percent.
Stocks for FedEx Corp., one of the area’s largest private employers, fell by more than 6 percent on the New York Stock Exchange by Monday afternoon. Shares fell $16.29 to $248. 58 just before the closing bell.
However, the freight sector had already slowed before the the 2024 election. FedEx dropped the U.S. Mail as a customer last year, a move that cut 60 flights to Memphis International Airport.
The UCBC report shows that the 9th District’s top exports to China alone were medical equipment and supplies ($313 million), basic chemicals ($76 million), and engines and turbines ($9.9 million). Changes to the China market alone could put downward pressure on Memphis companies like Medtronic, Drexel Chemical Co., and a host of mechanical companies.
The district also exported $38.9 million worth of services to China, also. The top three include education ($21 million), freight and port services ($10 million), and royalties from industrial processes ($7.9 million).
Market data was broken down to the district level in reports on trade between Tennessee and Mexico and Canada.
Total trade with Mexico in 2023 was $20.1 billion, according to the Embassy of Mexico in the U.S. The figure includes $6.1 billion in exports and $14 billion in imports. The state’s biggest import categories include motor vehicles, motor vehicle parts, HVAC equipment, electrical equipment and components, and communications equipment. In all, Tennessee’s trade with Mexico is greater than the total U.S. trade with Argentina, the embassy report says.
The latest report from the Canadian Consulate General in Atlanta says that trade with Canada supported 160,400 employees in Tennessee last year in addition to the 11,700 employees at Canadian-owned businesses across the state.
Tennessee exports $10.0 billion in goods and services to Canada. The state imports $6.8 billion in goods each year, the report said. Those include chemical, metals, and equipment — base goods that, with tariffs added to their costs — could drive up prices on a number of products for Tennessee consumers.
Also, Canadian-based company Richardson International Ltd. announced last year it will invest $220 million in its Wesson Oil production facility in Memphis. That is part of a multiphase project that will replace the oil production plant with a new refinery to fulfill customer requirements and meet growing global demand for vegetable oil. The company said when it is completed, the new refinery will drive substantial reductions in water, energy, and wastewater volumes.
In West Tennessee, auto parts maker Magna International plans to invest more than $790 million to build the first two supplier facilities at Ford’s BlueOval City supplier park in Stanton.
Magna’s two Stanton facilities include a new frame and battery enclosures facility and a seating facility. The company also plans to build a stamping and assembly facility in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
The Ontario-based supplier will supply Ford’s BlueOval City with battery enclosures, truck frames and seats for the automaker’s second-generation electric truck.
Magna will employ approximately 750 employees at its battery enclosures facility and 300 employees at its new seating plant. The company plans to employ about 250 employees at its plant in Lawrenceberg. Production at all three plants is scheduled to begin in 2025.
A good fact is hard to find, especially in these truth-fluid times. But it’s nice to know there are a few solid ones you can stand upon.
That was my thinking as I pitched this story to our editor, Shara Clark. Then I started compiling these facts and realized even some of them can be fluid. A classic example: Which was the first rock-and-roll song, “Rocket 88” or “That’s All Right”? Either one still makes Memphis the “birthplace of rock-and-roll,” though. Right?
Also, some data rhyme and you have to pick them apart. Example: The current graduation rate for Memphis-Shelby County Schools is 87.3 percent. But the Memphis population with only a high school degree is 31 percent. Both facts are listed as just “Memphis graduates” in a couple of datasets.
Keep all this in mind as you peruse our list of facts. We’ve tried hard to hit the middle of the dartboard. But nailing down a fact can be a slippery thing sometimes. So if you have a quibble and you’d like to discuss, or if we’re plain wrong and you’d like a correction or clarification, please email me at toby@memphisflyer.com. — Toby Sells
History
• Original inhabitants: Chickasaw Nation
• First European explorer: Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto (1541)
• Ceded from the Chickasaws to the U.S. in the Jackson Purchase (1818)
• City founded in 1819 by John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson
• Named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River
• Original name (anglicized as Men-nefer) means “enduring and beautiful”
• Modern city incorporated as a city: 1826
• Yellow fever epidemics: late 1870s
• Surrendered its charter: 1879
• New city charter granted: 1893
• Elvis Presley records “That’s All Right” at Sun Studio in 1954; widely considered to be the first rock-and-roll record ever recorded
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination: April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel
• Motel opened as National Civil Rights Museum in 1991
Photo: R. Gino Santa Maria / Shutterfree, Llc | Dreamstime.com
Geography and Land
• Total area: 302 square miles (land, 295 square miles; water, 7.6 square miles)
• Elevation: 337 feet above sea level
• Sited on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff
• Water source: Memphis Sand Aquifer
• The aquifer spans more than 7,000 square miles under eight states
• Water age: typically over 2,000 years old
• Its pure drinking water was deemed “the sweetest in the world”
• Aquifer volume: more than 100 trillion gallons, enough to cover all of Shelby County up to the top of Clark Tower
• Number of extreme heat days: 20 (2022)
• Number of extreme precipitation days: 4 (2023)
Demographics
• Total population (2020 census): 633,425
• Population estimate (2023): 618,639
• Population decrease: -2.6 percent
• Second-most populated city in Tennessee (after Nashville)
• Black or African American: 64.4 percent
• White: 26.5 percent
• American Indian or Alaskan Native: .3 percent
• Asian: 1.6 percent
• Hispanic or Latino: 8 percent
• Median age: 33.9
• Over 65: 14.6 percent
• Under 18: 31.8 percent
• Ratio: 88 males for every 100 females
• Employment rate: 59.8 percent (2023)
• Total households: 257,188
• Average household size: 2.6 persons per household (2018-2022)
• Children in single-parent households: 43.5 percent (2018-2022)
• Only English spoken at home: 88.6 percent of households
• Language other than English spoken at home: 11.4 percent
• Foreign-born population Memphis: 8.3 percent
• Median household income Memphis: $51,399 (2023)
• Median family income Memphis: $61,977
• Poverty Memphis (2023): 22.6 percent
• Largest poverty age group Memphis: under 18 (36.3 percent)
Housing and Living
• Total housing units: 286,713
• Occupied housing units: 255,642
• Largest housing occupancy by type: married-family couple (45,875)
• Second-largest housing occupancy by type: female householder, no male present (18,726)
• Vacant housing units (2020): 31,071
• Moved from a different state to Memphis (2023): 2 percent
• Moved within Shelby County (2023): 10.2 percent
• Median gross rent Memphis: $1,175
• Homeownership rate Memphis: 44.9 percent
• Largest home category by price: $200,000 to $299,000 (23.5 percent)
• Second-largest home category by price: $300,000 to $499,999 (17.55 percent)
• Average commute time in Memphis: 20.9 minutes
• Largest means of transportation: drive alone (77.8 percent)
• Second-largest means of transportation: car pool (9.2 percent)
• Commuters on public transportation: .8 percent
• Households without a vehicle: 8.4 percent (2018-2022)
Health (all of Shelby County)
• Quality of life ranking (out of 95 Tennessee counties): 87th (2023)
• Social and economic ranking (education, employment, violent crime, children in poverty, more): 83rd
• Life expectancy: 72.5 years (2019-2021)
• All cancer incidence rate: 438.2 cases per 100,000 population (2017-2021)
• Death rate due to cancer: 162.1 per 100,000 population (2018-2022)
• Child mortality rate (under 20): 92.4 deaths per 100,000 population (2018-2021)
• Teens who are sexually active: 32.2 percent (2021)
• Adults who binge drink: 15.7 percent (2022)
• Drug and opioid-involved overdose death rate: 32.4 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• Teens who use alcohol: 17.8 percent (2021)
• Teens who use marijuana: 18.9 percent (2021)
• Adults who have had a routine checkup: 79.8 percent (2022)
• Adults with health insurance: 83.7 percent (2023)
• Adults without health insurance: 10.8 percent (2022)
• Children with health insurance: 92.8 percent (2023)
• Children without health insurance: 7.2 percent (2023)
• People with private health insurance only: 50.6 percent (2023)
• Persons with public health insurance only: 26.7 percent (2023)
• Death rate due to heart disease: 209.2 per 100,000 population (2022)
• High blood pressure prevalence: 41.5 percent (2021)
• High cholesterol prevalence: 33.2 percent (2021)
• Adults ever diagnosed with depression: 25.2 percent (2022)
• Adults with any mental illness: 15.8 percent (2018-2020)
• Death rate due to suicide: 11.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• High school students who attempted suicide: 16.8 percent (2021)
• Adults (20+) who are sedentary: 22.6 percent (2021)
• High school students who engage in regular physical activity: 26.5 percent (2021)
• Death rate due to firearms: 33.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• HIV prevalence rate: 900.6 cases per 100,000 population (2022)
• Death rate due to HIV: 4.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• Adults who smoke: 19.3 percent (2022)
• High school students who smoke cigarettes: 3.0 percent (2021)
• Adults (20+) who are obese: 34.1 percent (2021)
• High school students who are overweight or obese: 42.2 percent (2021)
• Death rate due to homicide: 28.7 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• Domestic violence incidents per 1,000 population: 17.6 incidents per 1,000 population (2022)
• Alcohol-impaired driving deaths 18.2 percent of driving deaths (2017-2021)
• Bicyclist deaths: 2 (2023)
• Death rate due to motor vehicle collisions 19.5 per 100,000 population (2015-2021)
• Pedestrian deaths: 476 (2023)
• Substantiated child abuse rate: 3.4 cases per 1,000 children (2023)
• Child food insecurity rate: 27.4 percent (2022)
• Total food insecurity rate: 13.4 percent (2022)
• Households receiving SNAP with children: 51.0 percent (2018-2022)
• Households with cash public assistance income: 1.7 percent (2018-2022)
Education
• Memphis-Shelby County Schools graduation rate: 83.4 percent (2024)
• Memphis population high school graduates (2023 estimate): 31.2 percent
• Bachelor’s degree or higher Memphis: 27.9 percent
• Enrolled in school (K-12) in Memphis: 72.4 percent
• University of Memphis is the largest post-secondary school (21,000 students)
• Also home to Rhodes College, Lemoyne-Owen College, Christian Brothers University, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and Southwest Tennessee Community College
Business
• Largest industry employers: education, healthcare, and social assistance
• Second-largest industry employers: transportation, warehousing, and utilities
• Largest worker class: private company (68.6 percent)
• Second-largest worker class: local, state, or federal government (14.4 percent)
• Employer establishments: 19,659 (2022)
• Size of labor force: 431,038 (2024)
• Home to three Fortune 500 companies: FedEx Corp., AutoZone Inc., and International Paper Inc.
• Home to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital
Photo: Chengusf | Dreamstime.com
Economic Development Growth Engine(EDGE) stats since 2011
• Total jobs: 52,877
• Total capital investment: $11,691,419,735
• Number of PILOTs approved: 125
• Spending with local and minority companies: $804,417,653
• Average wage (PILOTs only): $83,251.28
• Average PILOT term: 11 years
• Local tax revenues generated: $1,956,924,055
• Total tax not charged to companies: $936,907,722
• Benefit-to-cost ratio: 2.09
• Incentive amount per job per year: $3,256.59
• Number of TIFS approved: 6
• Number of loans approved: 118
• Total loan amount: $15,924,841
• Number of bonds approved: 12
• Total bond amount: $569,737,850
Industry sectors
Food and Beverage industry
• Employed: 53,288 (2022)
• GDP: $4.9 billion
• Locations: 2,517
Manufacturing
• Employed: 43,918 (2023)
• GDP: $11.7 billion
• Locations: 1,132
Agribusiness and AgTech
• Employed: 9,231 (2023)
• GDP: $2.6 billion
• Companies: 623
Automotive and Parts Suppliers
• Employed: 18,735 (2023)
• GDP: $3.7 billion
• Operations: 1,119
Healthcare and Life Science
• Employed: 88,725 (2022)
• GDP: $10.4 billion
• Operations: 4,114
Headquarters and Finance
• Employed: 49,743 (2022)
• GDP: $12.4 billion
• Companies: 5,111
Information and Technology
• Employed: 7,753 (2022)
• GDP: $2.4 billion
• Companies: 1,318
Photo: F11photo | Dreamstime.com
Music and Entertainment
• Employed: 29,295 (2022)
• GDP: $2 billion
• Companies: 828
Supply Chain and Logistics
• Employed: 119,002 (2022)
• GDP: $18.9 billion
• Companies: 3,602
Small Business and Entrepreneur
• Employed: 229,000 (2024)
• Payroll: $11 billion (2021)
• Businesses: 137,000
Port of Memphis
• Second-largest inland port on the Mississippi River
• Total operations: 127 (2018)
• Employed: 22,465
• Taxes generated: $44.5 billion
• Economic impact: $9.2 billion
• Home to the only petroleum refinery in Tennessee
• Hub for all five Class I railways that serve Memphis: BN, CN, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific
Memphis International Airport (MEM)
• Passenger traffic: 4.8 million (2023)
• MEM facilitated 4,981 flights (Nov. 2024)
• 77 percent on time
• 65 airlines
• Top three international destinations: Windsor, Canada; La Romana, Dominican Republic; Kerry, Ireland
• 274 routes
• Busiest routes: Chicago, Houston, Dallas
• Top three airlines: NetJets, Delta Air Lines, Flexjet
• Cargo operations: 8.56 billion pounds (2023)
• Busiest cargo airport in North America (2023)
• Second-busiest cargo airport worldwide (2023)
Photo: Jeff Schultes | Dreamstime.com
FedEx Corp.
• Total revenue for fiscal year 2024: $87.7 billion
• FedEx Express: $74.7 billion (85 percent of total revenue).
• FedEx Freight: $9.4 billion (11 percent of total revenue).
• Other services like FedEx Office and FedEx Logistics: $3.6 billion (4 percent of total revenue)
• Operates world’s largest cargo airline, covering over 650 airports globally
• Moves an average of over 14.5 million shipments daily
• Serves over 220 countries and territories
• Connects 99 percent of the world’s GDP
• Global employees: ~500,000 (2023)
• Memphis employees: ~35,000 (2024)
• Operating facilities: ~5,000 worldwide (2023)
Photo: Sean Pavone | Dreamstime.com
Tourism and Cultural Assets
• Visitors: 13.5 million (2023)
• Annual economic impact: $4.2 billion
• Employment: 44,000 (Shelby County)
• Companies: more than 2,300
• Hotel rooms: 26,000 rooms (Shelby County), 4,000 (Downtown)
• Beale Street visitors: 4 million annually
• Graceland visitors: more than 500,000 annually; second-most visited private residence in the U.S. after the White House
• Graceland’s economic impact: about $150 million annually for Memphis
• The city’s name is mentioned in more than 1,000 song lyrics and titles, more than any other city in the world
• Home to more than 100 barbecue restaurants
• Home to more than 160 parks
• Memphis Zoo is home to about 3,500 animals representing more than 500 species
• Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid is one of the largest retails spaces in the world; its 28-story elevator is the world’s largest freestanding elevator
• Unique offenders by sex: male (70,000), female (29,000)
• Offenders released: 172,579
• Remained in custody: 2,099
• Top offenders by number of arrests: Brian Holmes (55), Deundra Milligan (45), Michael Jones (40)
• Full-time police officers per 1,000 residents: 3.16, 2022 (national average for cities with more than 250,000 people is 2.4 per 1,000)
City of Memphis budget
• Total revenue: $891.3 million (2025)
• Top revenue categories: local taxes ($600 million), state taxes ($79.2 million), licenses and permits ($27.8 million)
• Total expenses: $891.3 million
• Top expense categories: personnel ($640.8 million), materials and supplies ($176.6 million), grants and subsidies ($73.9 million)
• Expenses by top divisions: police services ($309.7 million), fire services ($246.7 million), grants and subsidies ($65 million)
• Top paid employees (2023): Cerelyn Davis, director of police services ($280,862); Gina Sweat, fire chief ($205,665); Donald Crowe, assistant chief of police services ($177,768); Jayne Chandler, administrative judge ($172,016)
Photo: Pierre Jean Durieu | Dreamstime.com
Sports
NBA team: Memphis Grizzlies
• Originally Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-2001)
• Relocated to Memphis: 2001
• First three seasons played at the Pyramid
• Home games: FedExForum since 2004
NCAA basketball: University of Memphis Tigers
• Home games: FedExForum
Minor League Baseball: Memphis Redbirds
• Major League Baseball affiliate: St. Louis Cardinals
• Home games: AutoZone Park since 2000
NCAA football: University of Memphis Tigers
• Home games: Simmons Bank Liberty Bowl
• Biggest crowd: 65,885, versus University of Tennessee in 1996
Sources: United States Census Bureau, Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Memphis-Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine, Greater Memphis Chamber, Shelby County Health Department, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Port of Memphis, Memphis International Airport, FedEx Corp., Memphis Tourism, Graceland, Downtown Memphis Commission, Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, Memphis Zoo, Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid, Memphis Police Department, City of Memphis, OpenPayroll, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Wikipedia (fact-checked), University of Memphis, Memphis Grizzlies, Memphis Redbirds, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Commercial Appeal, National Endowment for the Humanities, Encyclopedia Britannica, Sun Studio, National Civil Rights Museum
This is arguably the greatest week of the year for Memphis sports. Seventy of the finest golfers on the planet arrive in the Bluff City for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoff tournaments to decide the winner of this year’s FedEx Cup. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler will be here. Xander Schauffele — winner of the PGA Championship and the British Open — will be here. So will Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. Memphis is the center of the golf universe for a precious, if humid, weekend.
I always think of Phil Cannon when the FESJC rolls around. We lost the longtime tournament director much too soon (in 2016), but Phil’s imprint on the event lives on, and in ways that go beyond any plaque or statue. The hundreds of volunteers who make you feel like the tournament belongs to you, personally? That’s Phil Cannon’s influence. A media center equipped with every tool a reporter might need to best share a story? That’s Phil Cannon’s influence. And the ongoing bonds between our tournament and both St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and FedEx? That’s Phil Cannon’s priority list, living and breathing, making the FESJC distinct from any other golf tournament in the world.
Phil was the primary source for my very first feature in Memphis Magazine, way back in June 1994. He treated me like a veteran scribe in town for Sports Illustrated. I have little doubt every writer who crossed his path would tell you the same thing. Phil Cannon was a Memphis treasure. When the FESJC makes sports headlines every summer, I’m reminded that he still is.
• The Memphis Redbirds unveiled a new sign on the outfield wall at AutoZone Park last Saturday, a tribute to the 1938 Negro American League champion Memphis Red Sox. It made for a glorious night at the ballpark, Memphis beating Gwinnett, 8-2, while wearing uniforms commemorating the city’s Negro League team of days gone by.
It’s a good start for a franchise and facility that desperately needs to better embrace the history we’ve seen over the ballpark’s first quarter-century. That lone red chair on the right-field bluff? That’s where Albert Pujols (yes, that guy) hit a baseball to win the 2000 Pacific Coast League championship for Memphis. But there’s no plaque to tell a new fan why September 15, 2000, is an important date in Memphis sports history. Just an oddly placed red seat.
And how about a reminder (poster?) that Yadier Molina played here, and actually caught his first game with Adam Wainwright on the mound at AutoZone Park? (The two broke the major-league record for starts by a battery in 2022.) You might recognize highlights of David Freese from the 2011 World Series. Did you know Freese hit game-winning home runs in the 2009 PCL playoffs, helping Memphis to its second championship? A visual reminder would make AutoZone Park a better, happier place.
• The U.S. Olympic basketball teams (men and women) both brought home gold medals from the Paris Games. Salute to LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, and the many future Hall of Famers who handled the uncomfortable role of heavy favorite and made it to the podium. It makes for a good time to remind voters for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame that Memphis legend Penny Hardaway is the only member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team — also gold medalists — not currently enshrined. The only one. Mitch Richmond is in the Hall of Fame, for crying out loud, but not Penny Hardaway. Let’s get this corrected.
A student works as a teller in JA BizTown's simulated bank. (Credit: Junior Achievement of Memphis)
Junior Achievement of Memphis have teamed up with FedEx to produce the next generation of Memphis entrepreneurs. A new program between the two organizations will teach early-stage entrepreneurship education for elementary school students.
The new program, Startup Park by FedEx, will introduce 5th and 6th graders to a diverse range of minority- and women-owned businesses that are in the first stages of development.
“There’s simply no replacement for a student seeing someone who looks like them succeeding in business,” said Jason Campbell, Junior Achievement Board Member and VP of Operations and Ops System Support for FedEx Custom Critical. “FedEx continues to invest in small, minority- and women-owned businesses in the region — and that includes doubling down on our investment in local youth through our strategic support of JA.”
Located in Junior Achievement’s new experiential learning center at 516 Tillman in Binghampton, the program will act as a “storefront” within Junior Achievement’s BizTown, where students partner with well-known businesses that are big parts of the global economy. Startup Park will aim to teach children the basics of starting a business, and how to engage partners that can help the business thrive.
“Children can’t be what they can’t see,” said Leigh Mansberg, president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South. “FedEx has been collaborating with us and, with their generous support, we’re excited to transform the narrative for thousands of future Black, brown, and women entrepreneurs across the 25-county area JA serves.
“Our long-term goals are to lay the foundation for a pipeline to entrepreneurship through high school and beyond,” continued Mansberg, “and also to see evidence that participants in Startup Park by FedEx are developing tangible, age-appropriate entrepreneurial ideas and solutions that can be supported within the local youth entrepreneur ecosystem.”
One of Memphis’ most famous companies is about to have a new leader at the helm. In a press release Monday, FedEx announced that, effective June 1, 2022, founder, CEO, and chairman Frederick W. Smith will step down from his position as CEO. He will be succeeded by FedEx president and COO Raj Subramaniam.
“FedEx has changed the world by connecting people and possibilities for the last 50 years,” Smith said. “As we look toward what’s next, I have a great sense of satisfaction that a leader of the caliber of Raj Subramaniam will take FedEx into a very successful future. In my role as Executive Chairman, I look forward to focusing on Board governance as well as issues of global importance, including sustainability, innovation, and public policy.”
Prior to his role as president and COO, Subramaniam was the president and CEO of FedEx Express, and has held plenty of other positions within the organization since joining in 1991.
“Fred is a visionary leader and a legend of the business world,” Subramaniam said. “He founded one of the world’s greatest and most admired companies, and it is my honor and privilege to step into this role and build upon what he has created. As we continue to transform as a company and reimagine what’s next, we will keep our people-service-profit philosophy at our core. I am immensely proud of our 600,000 team members around the world. Together we’ve set into motion ideas that have changed the world for the better, and together we will unlock new value for our people, customers, and shareholders.”
Raj Subramaniam (Credit: FedEx Corp.)
Since helping incorporate the business in 1971, Smith has spent the majority of his career as chairman and CEO of FedEx, turning it into a titan of the transportation and delivery industry. He will remain with the company as executive chairman.
Greater Memphis Chamber president and CEO Beverly Robertson also paid tribute to the longtime business leader.
“From a college class to a global brand, Fred Smith took the kernel of an idea and made it resonate around the world,” Robertson said in a statement Monday. “I feel a deep sense of civic pride every time I fly into Memphis and see row upon row of FedEx airplanes. Because of his profound vision, he’s leaving a powerful legacy that has forever changed the trajectory of this company and this city. We will continue to owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for his contributions to Memphis.
“Fred Smith couldn’t leave his legacy in better hands than those of his successor. We look forward to seeing Raj Subramaniam continue to build on the solid foundation laid by Fred Smith, whose impact will be felt in Memphis for generations to come.”
FedEx aircraft at Memphis International Airport. Photo by Jon W. Sparks
Memphis International Airport (MEM) is back atop the rankings as the world’s busiest cargo airport.
More than 4.6 million metric tonnes of cargo came through the airport last year, up 6.7 percent over 2019. It was enough to put MEM back on top of the ranking by Airports Council International (ACI), edging out Hong Kong International Airport, which earned the top slot in 2019. The last time MEM ranked first on the list was 2009.
Airports Council International
The FedEx Express World Hub at MEM is responsible for about 99 percent of the overall cargo handled at MEM. The hub sees about 450 combined arrivals and departures per day.
Global passenger traffic at the world’s airports decreased by 64.6 percent in 2020, according to ACI, as travel was reduced due to COVID-19 concerns. However, air cargo volumes decreased by only 8.9 percent.
Air cargo volumes in ACI’s top 10 airports grew by 3 percent in 2020. The agency says the gain can be attributed to the increase in demand for online consumer goods, pharmaceutical products, and personal protective equipment.
The first COVID-19 vaccines arrived here Sunday. FedEX Corp. captured this historic moment in a tweet that could not have come soon enough.
Positive 2020?
University of Memphis president Dr. David Rudd tweeted a bold statement last week. “One thing got much better in 2020.”
McRib Vaccine
E. Parkway McDonalds is still going strong on Twitter even though the restaurant there is not (it closed years ago). The account captured this gross but weirdly accurate moment in time last week as the mysterious McRib sandwich reappeared.
Ed Crenshaw’s Sugar Avenue Bakery will launch its Gooey Cake Bite cakes November 11th in Tops Bar-B-Q restaurants.
That’s about two weeks after Crenshaw introduced the Memphis Bourbon Caramel Cake, a collaboration with Old Dominick Distillery.
“I love to tell everybody I’m an accidental baker,” Crenshaw says. “It’s a total accident that I ended up in this business.”
He got into the food business when he worked as a sales rep for D. Canale Food Services when the Tunica casinos opened in 1991. “I met a baker along the way and we started selling fresh baked cakes to the casinos. He had worked for one of the casinos, and I had a little money. We bought an oven and started selling cakes. We were doing iced layer cakes delivered daily.”
Libby Green
Ed Crenshaw and his daughter, Miller Cowan, the bakery’s creative director
Crenshaw then went to work for Associated Wholesale Grocers, where he supplied cream cakes and pound cakes to local Piggly Wiggly and Big Star grocery stores.
He and his baker had parted ways. “I had actually learned to bake by then. Baking is pretty simple if you know how to follow directions.”
A Sock It to Me cream cake was his first effort. “It was pretty dadgum easy.” And, he says, “I’m assuming it was good. The first year we made them, we sold a truck load. I ended up selling cakes from Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Miami, Florida.”
After he outgrew his first bakery, Crenshaw moved Downtown to an old cotton warehouse, which they converted into a bakery. “It was called The Butcher and the Baker. We were selling cakes and ham from Fineberg Packing Company. The grocery store business got really big, but it’s competitive, so I ended up in the restaurant business, selling to Germantown Commissary, Central BBQ, and Miss Cordelia’s.”
Almost 20 years later, Crenshaw moved to his present location at 5041 Summer. He began doing “higher-end cakes made with high-end buttercream icing,” along with more affordable cakes.
About four years ago, he changed the business name to Sugar Avenue. “We were selling wholesale only to restaurants. And COVID hit. My daughter, Miller Cowan, came to us and said, ‘We need to be online.'”
Thus, sugaravenue.com was born. Their cakes “get delivered straight to your house. We are a Memphis-based company. We only use FedEx. We use NexAir for our dry ice.”
Their first order was for a strawberry cake, which was shipped to North Carolina. They now offer cakes that range from 6-inch, which they call Baby Cakes, to 8 inches. They offer nine flavors.
They’re now “covered up with orders” for the Memphis Bourbon Caramel Cake. Knowing “everybody loves a rum cake” during the holidays, Crenshaw reached out to Old Dominick Distillery. “I just made a cold call. We were the first food item that they have partnered with.”
The cake was a collaboration between Crenshaw and master distiller Alex Castle. “The cake is four layers. Each layer is literally soaked in a bourbon caramel sauce — our caramel icing we make from scratch.”
The bourbon also is added to the icing. “It is not overpowering at all. You’re not going to get drunk eating the cake, but it has such a great hint of oakiness that comes with the Old Dominick bourbon flavor.”
They plan to introduce an Old Dominick caramel sauce before the holidays.
Sugar Avenue recently was picked up by Performance Food Group in Little Rock. “They saw our website and came to us and wanted to sell our high-end cakes to customers. Now they’re selling our cakes in six states.”
Business is great. “We’re probably doing 1,000 cakes a week.”
And Crenshaw still is in the kitchen. “I was in the kitchen today working on recipes for my cinnamon walnut coffee cake. Every day I’m here working the mixer, working the oven. I’m a hands-on operator.”
But Crenshaw doesn’t make the cake icing. “I cannot ice a cake. I’ve never done that. I can only bake the layers.”
Curious how healthy food gets to your table? There are plenty of ways, and these days, Memphis seems to be at the center of them all.
In recent times, the Mississippi Delta has been a hotbed of new trends in the fields of agriculture, food, and health. While many companies are blazing new trails, a changing global landscape has pressed many into a constant stream of innovation. To celebrate how local organizations have become leaders in such practices, Crusonia on the Delta (formerly known as Davos on the Delta) is hosting its fourth annual summit to recognize how cities like Memphis are thriving in the agricultural sector.
This year’s virtual Food Is Health forum marks Crusonia’s fourth annual summit. Discussions and conversations will be centered around how cities like Memphis have pursued new growing methods in response to issues like climate change, cost, and resource availability. Other topics include the effect of processed food on health, food transparency & sustainability during COVID-19, and how agricultural innovation is centered around Memphis.
Many of Memphis’ innovations have been boosted by large entities like Agricenter International, while companies like The Seam and Indigo Ag are making huge strides in creating more efficient agricultural technology.
Some notable local speakers include Rob Carter (FedEx), Barry Knight (Indigo Ag), and M. David Rudd (president of University of Memphis). To reach a broader audience, this year’s virtual summit is free and open to the public.
Crusonia on the Delta’s Food Is Health forum takes place Wednesday, September 30th, from noon-6 p.m.
Denny Hamlin’s #11 FedEx Camry had a new look when he took to the Talladega track last weekend. The all-black paint scheme carried but one logo on the hood: the National Civil Rights Museum.
“I promised to listen and that’s what I’m doing,” Hamlin said in a tweet. “Today you will see my #11 car will not carry the traditional paint scheme that you usually see. @FedEx and myself instead want to give that voice to the @NCRMuseum.”
The tweet came along with photos of Hamlin inside the Memphis museum.
The move came a week after NASCAR banned Confederate flags from events. The steps forward came with a huge move back as a noose was found in the Talladega garage of Bubba Wallace, NASCAR’s first black driver.
Mask Up Memphis
A new website went live last week in an effort to distribute preventative literature and masks to the “underprivileged.” Mask Up and Live comes largely from the work of Rep. Karen Camper and Senator Raumesh Akbari “to dispel misinformation about wearing masks to help flatten the curve of COVID-19 among African Americans.”
Libby Green 
