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What do you do when things get tough? Or when you get really bad news? There are a lot of ways we can respond to life's inevitable challenges. That's why it's always great to hear inspiring stories of people who faced tough times and found a way to beat the adversity that came their way. It reminds us that we can, too. It gives us hope.

The growth of Nalley Fresh didn't come about without scary turns and detours. Chef Greg Nalley likes to say he's "an overnight success... that took 20 years."

Raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Greg grew up in a "deep south" environment. And while that may not seem completely apparent these days with his world-vibe personality, much of his culinary influence comes from those early moorings.

"Grandma was a very beautiful and sophisticated Southern woman who was an adventurous cook and who always tried a lot of different things," says Nalley, with glisten.

The south has a reputation of stayed rigidity. But Greg reminds us, "The seaport of Charleston brought in a melting pot of cultures — with a lot of imported ideas that made southern cooking what it is." As a hotspot filled with merchants from many lands, the Charleston port of trade was a mosaic of peoples and international influences; a many-streamed mashup of flavors from Africa, France, Portugal, Europe, and South America. The same is true with the famed foods of New Orleans.

So grandma taught Greg how to combine a diversity of ingredients to achieve new flavors. A practice Nalley still employs every day in the Nalley Fresh Flavor Lab.

By age 10, Greg Nalley had a "kitchen and restaurant."

In his bedroom.

He was progressively experimenting with flavors by his mid-teens. He never felt confined to a box. His mind was always outside the norms.

He tells the story of a particular Sunday when grandpa was eating. Sunday was supper day. Greg said his eyes lit up when his grandfather put salt and pepper on some cantaloupe. Grandma did the same with salt on her watermelon. And what may seem like old news to some of us was an event to Greg, as he discovered that "salt brought out complexity to the flavor and it even seemed to make it sweeter. It's amazing how little nuances completely influence a flavor profile."

To this day when Greg is experimenting in the kitchen, he calls it a dance. He never uses recipes from books. "I don't like color by numbers." He may look at ingredients and ratios but he loves to experiment from there.

Greg doesn't watch cooking shows.

Last fall he was harvesting lemon grass, lavender, fennel, basil — 4 very distinct flavors, all what he calls "lead actors." So he wanted to take these 4 strong personalities and combine them into a vinaigrette. "It took a lot of toil to get these lead actors to work well together. Especially with Lavender, the Diva," smiles Greg.

But life wasn't always a kitchen for Greg. He worked for his dad in the concrete business. That experience taught him how to work with strict time limits and deadlines. It taught him the "lessons of fresh." Drying concrete waits for no man. Neither does freshness when it comes to food.

Growing restless in 1990 at the age of 30, he decided it was time to go after that first love fostered in grandmas' kitchen. So he enrolled at Baltimore International Culinary College.

He quickly learned that "home and commercial cooking are two completely different animals." Yet he determined to keep the sense of home cooking at the commercial scale.

Then came a significant hurdle to clear. In 1996 Greg came to a point in his life — like so many folks — when he had to seriously reconsider his relationship with alcohol. That was a major turning point and he's sure that he would not be successful today had he continued down alcohol's path. It's not something that he features of the front page of his story, but he doesn't mind admitting that it's there and he's very grateful for his life of sobriety today.

But then came another unexpected turn. In 2002, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostate Cancer. That put his life in perspective like few other things can. "I began to think in finite terms — the idea that there's an end and that it can come quicker than we think."

He had a great job as Executive Chef at Maryland Jockey Club — an upper-crust kitchen where he cooked for wealthy people, a few notable actors, and even President Clinton. He loved it. It was comfortable. But cancer changed all that. In an unusual way. And what would otherwise discourage many, became the catalyst for his entrepreneurial pursuits. A confrontation with the brevity of life would inspire him to leave his corporate dream job to open his first restaurant, Harvest Table.

The childhood influences of Greenville would inspire much of the philosophy at Harvest Table. Greg always liked to "layer" foods.

Layer is a word he uses a lot.

He recalls one Sunday when he was a kid. His grandma had a handyman-friend named Herman who always came over for Sunday supper in his overalls. And when Herman got to helping himself, he would pile every food category on top of the other, no matter what it was. All the guests would laugh and talk. According to Greg, "It was three pounds of food, layered on." And while everyone else laughed about it, Greg thought to himself, "That looks damn good."

So at Harvest Table, Greg started layering dishes like Herman. Albeit in a much more calculated and strategic way. That became the prelude to what he's doing now at Nalley.

He beams as he remembers "The Carolina Layered Breakfast." Or, "The salad layered with chicken pancakes! Ha ha ha yep, shredded chicken mixed in pancake batter on a bed of greens dressed with white balsamic vinaigrette and finished with a pear salsa and cilantro." That's when Greg started spreading his wings with layers and exotic combinations.

In 2008, Greg sold Harvest Table and did some consulting work for a few years. But he felt "lost" in those years. There was something missing.

By the summer of 2010, Greg started going to farmer's markets and reconnecting with people in the culinary business, dipping his toe back in the game.

One day his kids took him to a point & pick restaurant and he caught fire. He loved the transparency of everything being prepared in front of the customers. And the variety and possibilities. The layers.

"Why couldn't I do this, but with a unique, chef-driven international food profile — and a healthy twist — and make it accessible to a lot of people?"

That's how Nalley Fresh began. A 90% from-scratch kitchen.

From his grandmother's adventurous cooking, to watching Herman eat while everyone laughed, to spreading his wings at Harvest Table, to his breakaway from booze, to his brush with death, to the fulfillment of a dream: Nalley Fresh. He would pursue his vision for a chef-driven fast/casual point & pick with a healthy focus and international flavors — where customers would feel like they were eating 5-star cuisine. Because they are.

There is one more detail to the story of how Nalley Fresh emerged. As a chef with southern roots, Greg offers the reluctant confession that he once had distain for the vegetarian trend in culture. But a paradigm shift was looming in his mind. In the Summer of 2011, a lot of vegans and vegetarians were coming into the original Nalley Fresh. He learned that vegetarians and vegans were having a tough time due to stereotypes, like the one he once held. "They don't have a lot of choices. There are limited places for them to feel welcomed. And frankly," says Nalley, "it's not easy to cook for them."

Challenge accepted! While Nalley Fresh has plenty of meat proteins to offer, he would also make a personal commitment to make vegetarian and vegan dishes that taste great. By Fall of 2011 Nalley Fresh was Restaurant of the Month and the featured restaurant of a local vegetarian/vegan magazine.

That brings us to now. "It's 2016 and we'll have grown to 8 shoppes by the end of February," says Greg with a Greenville grin.

Chef Greg likes to say that he got lucky. But all the evidence points to something larger than luck. Maybe it's his determination to overcome the adversities of life. Perhaps it's the aggregate of experiences in his upbringing. Sure, all those things. But certainly, it's his passion for flavor and his love for people.