Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Linda Stone. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Linda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Life happens …

We were running a family fundraising business for many years, traveling throughout Michigan working with many incredible organizations. We hosted hundreds of these events that helped many different charities and then Covid changed everything. Because these were congregating events in public places everything came to a screeching halt and the months began to add up.

It was time for us to start something new…

Through the many years of sourcing unique gifts, we have built many fantastic relationships with incredible people that have creative and amazing ideas. Detroit Can Company was built with the ever-evolving goal of finding new and exciting items that allow our customers to feel that they are giving gifts that are well thought out.

Gifts for guys was initially our motivation, as we think they are difficult to buy for. Of course, most of our cans are now perfect for anyone, with our “foodie” cans being the most popular. We enjoy meeting other Detroit area small business owners, and love supporting them and representing their brands. We have met many of them at local Farmers Markets and are proud to carry their products.

The idea for Detroit Can Company came as we brainstormed for something unique. We wanted to represent Detroit. We also customize cans for “group gifts” and have done many for local corporations, wedding parties, realtors. Our cans fill a niche for group gift giving, in a more unique way. And the cans are reusable, making that a nice gift as well.

To date we have sold approximately 2000 cans.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For almost 15 years, we had a very unique and well received fundraising business. We brought new books and gifts to hospitals and professional buildings, setting up as a pop-up store, and we donated a percentage of sales to them. As mentioned previously, this came to a halt because of Covid, and we needed to move forward with a new business idea. Our Detroit Can Company business was born because of the extreme difficulties of losing another business.

Being in the gift business for all these years has made the transition to Detroit Can Company a bit easier in that we know the types of products we want to target. Our vintage-style paint cans are prepacked with food and merch from the Detroit area, and sealed with an attached paint can opener. We often describe them as a “Michigan gift basket”, but coming to you in a more unique way. We have shipped them all over the world.

Fortunately, Detroit Can Company has been very well received. People love the idea and the vintage look of our logo as well as the superior products. This is due, of course, to our great partners such as Carhartt, Germack, Dearborn Brand, Kar’s, Sanders, and the many other local food and gift producers we work with. Many we have met at Farmers Markets, and they are small business owners as well. We are very thankful to those who have supported us as they send gifts, and we are so grateful to the corporations who have chosen us for their gifting. Learning social media has probably been the most difficult challenge. We have done over 60 live events to promote DCC.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

We had a previous business with the vision of a retirement in our future. We lost it due to Covid, as so many business owners did. Michigan was hit especially hard with the loss of small businesses. We persevered, got creative, and Detroit Can Company was born.

Contact Info:

• Website: detroitcancompany.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/detroitcancompany/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/detroitcancompany
• Tiktok: @detroitcancompany