- PNC is proud to support Business Forward, where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in Central Illinois.

(inspirational music) - Welcome to Business Forward.

I'm your host, Matt George .

Joining me tonight, Greg and JoAnn Young.

Greg and JoAnn are the proud owners of Popcorn Heaven.

I've got samples, you know it's my favorite snack because I see you every week, right?

- Right.

- Right.

So, well, welcome.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Appreciate you coming on.

I mean, this is going to be a fun show.

So you're in a fun business, JoAnn, right?

- [JoAnn] Yes.

It's a lot of fun.

- I mean, you get to make fun things.

You get to eat fun things, but the best part has to be the people.

- We have met a lot of nice people, a lot of nice people and it's been a blessing for our business.

- I mean, you, when I see you at all of these markets and I see everywhere, you're always, I mean, you know, people by name now.

I mean, they come and you're building that business.

You're building the brand and that's what small businesses about, isn't it?

- Yes.

- [Matt] So you brought some samples.

I can't eat them now, but boy, they do look good.

But did you happen to bring the ones that you knew I like, like the hot wings.

- Yes.

- And the sea salt caramel, I mean, are you trying to butter me up here, no pun intended, right?

- Right.

- So, I know you have 50 plus flavors, but where is your business located?

- 609 West Lake.

We're out by Hy-Vee, in the Sheridan Village area.

- Okay, and so that's a different location.

You moved to a new, new place didn't you, about a year ago or so or?

- Almost two years.- - two years.

And where were you before?

- On Gale.

We were, it was what was, - Yeah, you were on Gale, because I think people are still trying to go to that store and yeah., I mean, you have that issue, but so I just need to refocus though, 'cause I've got the smell of this corn coming in here.

So let's talk personal for a minute.

Are you from this area?

- [Greg] Born and raised - [Matt] Both of you?

- Yes.

- [Greg] Born and raised.

So where did you go to school?

- I went to Manual High School.

- I went to Peoria central.

- [Matt] Okay, so you have a nice little rivalry?

- Of course - - Oh yeah, all the time.

- So, have you always been in the food business or did you have, did you do something before you opened up your, your own business?

- Well, I am retired.

I was a blackjack dealer on the Par-A-Dice for the last 15 years I worked, and before that I worked for LSA Grocer, but yeah, I'm retired now.

- So how many times did you hit or stay or how, how many times - [JoAnn] Whatever the customer tells me to do, - I bet you, you have some doozy stories, don't ya?

- [JoAnn] Oh yeah.

- [Greg] What did you do?

- I work construction, I'm an electrician by trade.

- Okay.

So that comes into handy when you're going into a new, a new location.

- Oh yeah, I knew exactly what needed to be done, and before we even got there, - That's good, that's good.

So when you go to the new location, you walk in, I guess it's not new anymore, been there a couple of years, but you walk in this building is enormous.

- [Greg] Yes, it is.

- And that is what you call Popcorn Heaven station number one, because you do all the cooking there, all the poppin, all the - is it mixology almost?

I mean, you have to have your recipes, right?

- Yeah.

Yes, yes.

There's a lot of that that goes on back in the kitchen, we pop the, we pop the popcorn, we, the caramel is homemade, we put all the flavorings and seasonings together in our kitchen, and we have containers that we store it in as customers come in and place their orders, the bags are, we go back and we bag the bags up and bring them out to the customers.

- [Matt] Yeah, you do it fresh, right?

- [JoAnn] We don't pre-package anything.

- That's good.

So one of the things that you can do, and that, that I did with my team was I bought 450 bags from you a couple of years ago.

- [Greg] Yes, you did.

- And handed them out as thank you gifts, and it's the ultimate gift because everyone likes them.

- Yes.

- Right?

- Yes.

- And then at holiday time, you have a, you sell everything, you sell buckets and tins.

- The tins are all year long, we do those all year long.

- Okay.

Oh yeah, you can do for birthdays, anniversaries.

- So, we do those.

Christmas time, we have special order tins that we just for Christmas.

And those tins come in and we go through a lot of those tins.

- I mean, think about it.

Think about it holiday time.

I mean, how many, people always mean to be nice and they want to give you a gift, but you get something from your place, everybody's happy.

- [Greg] I'm glad to hear it.

- [Matt] Right.

Right.

I mean, who doesn't want a whole thing of caramel and cheese corn at holiday time.

- [Greg] That's right.

- Kids love it.

I love it.

So have you owned any other business together or is this the first kind of joint venture between husband and wife?

- It's actually the first business.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- And what made you get into this business?

- Just, we were getting close to retirement age and we wanted to keep it moving forward.

So we just, we thought it, we always had ideas of having a business.

And so I had a cousin that opened the first Popcorn Heaven, and we called, contacted her, bought into her license and brought one here to Peoria - [Matt] Nice.

Where's she located?

- Waterloo, Iowa.

- Okay, so do you have any ideas or thoughts of expansion or because, well, I'll stick with that question because I want to say something about what, how you both hustle all the time, but I'm going to get to that in a second.

- Well, we, we do, we'd like to have a couple satellite stores.

I don't think we could do a full service store in another city.

I think we would just prefer to do a little satellites and keep the main store for them and do all the production there.

- So I met you both a few years ago and I saw you sell on the popcorn.

And then later that afternoon, I saw you again somewhere else, and I was like wait how'd they do that?

And then the next day I saw you, and I said, I said, this is, this is what you call true entrepreneurship right here.

I mean, get your hands dirty, do everything.

I mean, you're the electrician, you're the plumber.

I know, I know what you're doing because I was in the store, when you gave me that tour, you're making popcorn, someone doesn't show, you're filling in, in the back, you own your business, you do everything, right?

- [Greg] Right - - [JoAnn] Yes.

- You know what I like about your business too, is that your place is very clean.

- [JoAnn] Oh, thank you.

- And I think that's important when you have a product like this, is to make sure it's clean.

How hard is it right now to hire people?

- Very hard.

We, the work itself isn't that difficult, but we do expect quality.

And if we can't get the quality then, and you can't give us the quality, then we're just, we'll find somebody that does.

The economy right now with as many people unemployed and drawing unemployment as there as there are, it's kinda hard getting good people in.

I have four employees right now.

I could use a couple more, but we're, we're just, this is the hand that we're dealt, so we're gonna work with it right.

For right now.

I mean, in small business, I mean, you've got to rethink, I don't know the model all the time, because you know, typically you'd sit there and maybe think a year ago or pre-COVID probably be just nice to have one more full time, and then you start thinking, I'd take somebody and put them on the bench, have them for 10 hours a week or, or take four of them at five hours a week, whatever it takes.

But there's a, with this product, there's a training component too, because you can't stray from your recipe.

- [Matt] Right.

- - [JoAnn] No.

- Because a guy like me that eats it weekly, we'll know if this tastes different.

- [JoAnn] Yes, exactly.

- Yeah.

So how do you keep that pure?

- Well, we work with them a lot.

- [Matt] Okay.

- You know, sometimes we get employees in that thinks, oh, well, if I add a touch, extra this or touch extra that, you know, it's going to taste a little better.

But as we tell them, we didn't hire you to come in and change the recipe.

We just hired you to come in and do the recipe, you know, so.

- We've done all the hard work for you.

- Yes.

- Just comply and do your job.

- Comply with the recipe, yes.

- What I tell them all the time is, you know, we, the wheel has already been invented, we don't need you to reinvent the wheel.

- Yeah, I had the same discussion with Stephanie Zeller, you know, because people go in and they'll sit there and they say, I can, you know, my sauce is pretty good.

Well, I don't want your sauce.

I've got my sauce.

And been around 80 years.

- Exactly.

Exactly.

- Is it easy to work together?

I know that's a loaded question, but is it easy to work together or in a way, is it what life's about?

It could be fun too.

- It's a little easier now in our new building.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- Because it's big enough that we can spread out, whereas the building we were in before was really small, so I can like go in my office and shut the door.

- [Matt] Well with him, I would be doing the same thing.

- Yes.

- Thanks a lot, man I appreciate it.

- You understand what I'm saying, right?

- I thought we were right here.

- Well, I mean you know we are, but I've got to take her side on that.

- So yeah.

I mean, it's, it has its challenges, let's put it that way, but we worked through it.

Yeah.

- How do you, when you own a business like this, how do you find time off?

- It's hard, but we try.

Couple, two, three years ago, we've been in business almost six years now.

So about three years ago, I approached him about taking at least one yearly vacation and he didn't really want to do it because he wanted to be there for the business.

- [Matt] I understand that.

- I took a poll of the customers.

- Yes, you did.

- Oh, how fun, So she ganged up on you by the masses?

- Yes, yes.

- Okay.

I get that.

- And the customers agreed with me that when you are own your own business, family owned business, small business, yes, you really should take some time off.

- Just like, you know, we talked about Avantis and all these other great businesses, but they all, including yours, they fall into the same bucket.

It's hard work, that sweat equity, you know, you sit there and you think the business can't go on without me.

Or I may be losing sales.

I have to give up, not only am I paying for a vacation, but I could be losing sales.

You think of all that stuff.

- It's a 24/7 job, it really is.

If I'm not working in the business, I'm thinking about the business.

So your mind's always clicking.

What can I do?

What can I, what can I, what can I do, what how can I make it better?

Where am I gonna, you know, my next event, my, what is it going to be?

Yeah, we were always going out.

- So, so if you had to say Greg, my specialty with the business, is this, what is that?

- I am probably the troubleshooter.

- [Matt] Okay.

And then JoAnn, what she does is she does all the paperwork and she also works in the kitchen what we need, I kind of run everything else.

So we hands-on with the employees, both of us, but yeah, that's, that's my, my forte.

- Yeah, because I, when you were giving me that tour last year, I think, you know, there was a lot of construction and a lot of contracting work that you did hands-on and you know, when Jonathan Romaine was on here, of Art Inc, you know, that sweat equity, that talent that he put into his own building, Jonathan Nikki's building, you know, it not only saves money, but you have that ownership in it more.

And like what you just said, thinking about that business all the time.

You can't just go home and chill and not think about your business.

You dream about it?

- I've had a few nightmares.

Yeah.

- Right.

Well, okay.

That's a good, that's a good come back, actually.

Do either of you have a mentor in a business, do you have a go-to that you say I'm having trouble with an accounting piece or payroll piece or something and you have advisors or, or do you just troubleshoot that yourselves too?

- Well, we have a friend that when we get ready to go into business, that we talk to, he's a business owner here in Peoria, and we went and talked to him and his wife about getting some advice about starting the business.

- And then also my cousin that we bought into her license, we, - She walked through it.

- She walked us through everything, she was a real trooper.

- That's worth a million bucks.

I mean, it really is because when you know, like any entrepreneur, when you're starting your business out, you misstep on a couple things, you know, it can put you behind three months, six months, whatever it may be.

- Well, she brought, when I had questions on, on what are we going to do, how we do this, and we had no idea because like I said, I'm an electrician and she's a blackjack dealer.

So we had no idea concept of what business is all about or being in business.

And I would call her and she had the answers because she had researched it and, and she had whatever we were looking for.

So she, a lot of knowledge there.

- And she's also the one that came to Peoria before we actually opened, and she did all the training, her and her staff.

- [Matt] Wow.

- They came, they trained us on making all the caramel and all the other products, 'cause you know, everything's made from scratch, so the caramel itself is a process.

So, and she came and taught us how to do all of that.

- That's pretty cool.

Do you come up with any of your own flavors?

- Oh yeah.

- Like this hot wings ranch, that you know I love.

- That's one of the original ones.

- I think one of the ones that we, that's pretty popular that we came up with isspicy nacho and that's, that's a, a good one.

- [Matt] I've had that one too.

- You've had that one too?

- [Matt] Had everyone one of them.

- The beer cheese.

- Yeah, the beer cheese.

- [Matt] I haven't had that one.

- It's pretty good too.

- Yeah, it's pretty popular.

- So, you know I'm just thinking of the Peoria Riverfront Farmer's Market.

And I try to go there every weekend, and I see you every weekend, but you know, you've got the popcorn stacked up and I go do my laps with my kids, then you go get other things, and, you know, it's all, it's all about small business, right, and supporting it.

And when I, when I walk by, sometimes I'll sit there and I'll go, man, they were this high when I was just around now, they're this high, I mean, you're selling, you're hustling.

And what happens when summer is over?

Do you go into holiday mode and think that?

- Yes, pretty much.

And then we have other events that we do also, we might, we do Spoon River Drive, - [Matt] Okay.

- JoAnn will set up in Farmington, I'm in Avon, we do a ritual craft show, we do that.

We'll do St. Vincent DePaul's Christmas Bazaar.

There's a couple of other spots over in Eureka, we go over to the cannery and they'll have events over there, we do those.

So we're just hustling all over the place.

And if someone calls and wants us to come in and do an event with them, we'll be more than happy to go.

- You know why I love you both is because you treat people the right way.

It's a lost art, it is.

You go by some small business and some chains, which I don't really eat at any chain, but you go by some and that customer service piece is lost.

And you know, I, you think about your parents and your grandparents, and what was always embedded in them in small business is take care of the customer, smile, know their name, make sure they're doing okay, too.

All of those things.

And that's one thing I wanted to tell you.

I want everybody to know if there's the number one positive beside the product.

It's you two.

- [Greg] Thank you.- - [JoAnn] Yeah, thank you.

So let's talk about, you're both members of the Black Business Alliance, so this group helps all minority owned business, but like any entrepreneur, how do you find help in your areas of business?

And we were talking about it and you talked about your cousin, but what if you have a HR issue, or what if you have a financing issue?

I mean, do you sit here over time and think, wait a minute, our one customer so-and-so, we can ask them what to do, or do you work your business like that?

Or do you.

- A lot of the finance questions that we have, we do have an accountant for the business.

- [Matt] Okay.

- So a lot of times I'm on the phone with him, you know, talking back and forth, asking different questions.

Sometimes I research a lot online, you know, just to kind of put it in my own head.

- [Matt] Gotcha.

- But those were basically the, the financial parts of it, - [Matt] Which are important.

- Yeah, yeah, they are.

- With our business too, and as many people as we meet, we network a lot.

I might find somebody that, you know, I might have a problem, I might know someone, okay, well, let me call such, John Doe, let's call him, let's call him and see what he can help me out with, can he help me?

Can we talk?

You know, so it was a lot of us, a lot of networking to do also.

Some of the events we do, we have other vendors there and they're more than willing to help.

And if they got questions with us or for us, we'll answer them.

And then all in return, they give us answers to the questions that we have.

- Yeah.

So if someone wanted to invest in your business, is that an opportunity or are you just still just sole owners of your business?

- [JoAnn] Yeah, we're sole owners.

- Well, during the pandemic, were there times where you wondered where your business was going?

- Hmm.

Yeah.

- [Matt] Is that the nightmare we were talking about earlier?

- Well, I didn't know for a while there, when the pandemic first started, we weren't sure how they were going to categorize us.

And we chose to shut down for a couple of weeks.

And the reason we shut down is because our, our distributor shut down.

So we had to figure out where we could go.

And once we found out that, where we can get our product and bring it back in, then we opened back up again.

We were trying to be as accommodating as we could with our customers.

So what we would do, we knew everybody was going home and they were binge watching Netflix.

So on Thursdays and Fridays and Saturdays, we opened a store up and we would cut back our daily operation and cut back our hourly operations, but in order for people to come in off of work and, and come in and buy popcorn and take home.

- That's pretty smart.

Right.

And at the same time too, you're, you're trying, you're pivoting.

I mean, it's an overused word, but interesting.

So let's talk community for a minute, Central, Illinois.

I mean, what a fun place to run a small business, right?

- [Greg] It's a challenge.

It can be challenging.

- It's challenging, but the people.

- I love the people.

- That's where I was going with it.

I mean, the people are just what makes middle Illinois great.

Not the business, not the state.

I'm not talking about that.

Can you tell me amount of popcorn you go through in a, in a week or not?

I love stats.

- We, we go through on an average week, about 250 pounds.

That's an average week.

That's, I dunno why I find that funny, man.

That's pretty cool.

- During holiday time it's a lot more than that.

- During holiday time, it's probably 500 pounds of seed.

- So I'm guessing with ingredients, including the popcorn itself, you buy in bulk obviously, and that gets the cost down, so that helps.

And so let's talk flavors for a minute.

So how many flavors you said you have like 50 plus flavors, is that right?

- [Greg] Right, 50 plus, yes.

- What if someone came to you and said, I'd like for you to make me a flavor, would you do that?

- Oh we've had that done before.

- [JoAnn] We try, we try.

- We'll try to accommodate them as best we can.

- [Matt] What's your favorite?

- My favorite is jalapeno ranch.

- [Matt] Jalapeno ranch.

I'm going to have to try that one.

- And I like the jalapeno ranch, and I like mixing it with sea salt caramel.

- Oh, there you go, there's your sea salt caramel right there.

- I tell everybody I should put disclaimers on that one.

- I mean, you can't stop, you can't stop eating it.

And what's your favorite, JoAnn?

- Mine is the Iowa mix.

It has a mixture of white cheddar, yellow cheddar, and caramel in it.

- [Matt] I like this, Chi town mix too.

- That's our number one seller.

- Oh, it is?

That was my next question.

- Number one seller.

- So in order, what would it be?

Chi town mix, probably caramel corn or sea salt?

- And then after that, just uh, - [JoAnn] Probably cheese, cheese is really popular as well.

- Nice.

Nice.

What does community mean to you?

- Since having the store?

It means getting out, socializing, meeting new people, the customer.

I tell our customers, they're like, we're so glad you guys are still here, you made it through the pandemic.

And my answer to them is no thank you.

- [Matt] Right.

- Because if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't still be here, so.

- Right, well what's community to you, Greg?

- Community is help friends, helping friends, businesses, helping businesses, learning your fellow man.

And I do a lot of, they tell me, I, I tell them I'm shy, they tell me I'm not.

I do a lot of talking.

- [Matt] I've noticed.

I did that just for you.

- Thank you.

- But we just enjoy, people, we really do.

You're building the brand, I know that.

You're out everywhere.

That's pretty cool, it's pretty cool.

So we need more people to buy popcorn from you.

That's what we need.

So we can go from 250 to 500 on a regular week, that would be nice.

I know you need, you need people too, - Yeah, need the people.

- You need the people too, but you've got the hustling down and I'm proud of you both for that because it's, I've always been an entrepreneur at heart, even though I've been in the nonprofit business my whole life.

And I love watching business, the approach to business.

And I love watching people start that road to success.

And that's where you both are going.

- [JoAnn] Thank you.

- Businesses, they can get hold of you at Popcorn Heaven.

- [Greg] Yes.

- They can order in bulk.

They can order for their staff.

- Yes.

- [Matt] They can order corporate.

- Yes, so we would do wholesale.

Okay.

- [Matt] So Caterpillar can call, PNC PNC bank, Brian Ray, on this show, get this for your team, right?

That's what you guys need.

Well, we appreciate everything that you do.

That was a quick half hour because it's fun talking about foods, right?

So we appreciate all you do in this community.

Keep it up.

You do a lot of you do a lot of things for charity and a lot.

You cut us deals, but it's just been great, great show, great people, Greg and JoAnn Young of Popcorn Heaven.

I strongly suggest you go to their store and get this product.

We'll see you next time.

And this was another episode of Business Forward.

(closing music)