It’s an all-too-familiar story, with no easy villain.

It’s never easy losing a business. But the painful thing about AtlantaFresh Artisan Creamery’s story is how far it fell, and how fast. When I call Ron Marks, who founded the line of grass-based dairy products almost a decade ago, his voice is hoarse with grief. “If I told you things were going well, I’d be lying to you,” he says. Two years ago, he was running a multi-million dollar company with over 30 product lines, which were sold at Whole Foods Market locations all over the country. But last week, Marks laid off all 32 employees at his headquarters in Norcross, Georgia, where his 12,000-square-foot processing facility now sits empty.

Last Friday, Marks posted a press release on the company website with the news, and started the process of dismantling everything he’d built.