South Carolina Business Review

Quail for dinner tonight?

By Mike Switzer

Published May 13, 2026 at 6:30 AM EDT

Ways To Subscribe

Brittney Miller, second-generation owner of Manchester Farms in Columbia, SC

When it comes to poultry production, you can probably guess that our state has a lot of chicken and turkey farms. And you’d be right, of course. But you may not know that we are also home to the oldest and largest quail farm in the country. Mike Switzer interviews Brittney Miller, second-generation owner of Manchester Farms in Columbia, SC.

Quail eggs harvested at Manchester Farms

Tags

Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

See stories by Mike Switzer