We recently connected with Ronier Golightly and have shared our conversation below.

Ronier, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Being a business owner has its ups and downs. It’s rewarding to see an idea or product you created become accepted by customers that you don’t personally know – customers that are family/friends doesn’t always allow for you to know if you have a real product that will work.

The challenge to being happy as a business owner is finding the balance to run the business and not burn yourself out. As a business owner, I love what I do.. I love dealing with customers are seeing them enjoy my products. Ican’t say that I’m always rewarded in what I need to maintain my lifestyle.

There are days that I consider having a regular job so that I would know the hours that I work weekly, I would know the amount of money I’m making per week and other certainties. As a business owner you’re never aware of these challenges unless you’ve built the business to a certain scale.

In the end, I can’t say at this point that I’m overly happy as a business owner, I’m continuously working to scale and there are days when I’d like to put in 8 hours and be able to go home and relax as I would if I had a regular job.

Ronier, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

When I decided to get into the concessions business, I didn’t know the business. I began to take classes such as SCORE, Build Institute, Launch Detroit and I joined organizations such as Foodlab Detroit. I would call popcorn businesses around the country and ask questions and surprisingly, most were friendly enough iin giving me information on the equipment to use and where to buy items needed.

I started selling product from my kitchen stove, posting pictures on social media and then began to use farmers markets and vendor events to sell to the public. As the business grew, I eventually moved into my first building to open to the public.

I began to brand gourmet popcorn utilizing Detroit area themes as names such as The 8 Mile Mix, The Motor City Mix, The Big 3, The Belle Isle Blend and more. This helped for products to be featured at events and outlets that wanted to showcase Detroit themed products.

One of the things that I proud of is witnessing my products on the shelf of places such as Detroit Metro Airport, Meijer, Motor City Casino and I visited The D Casino and I let the employees know that I was the owner of the product on their shelf. It’s also a bonus to see the youth in my family come and work in the storefront.

Despite the hard work required, I’m dedicated to making Motor City Popcorn become a brand name for the city and beyond.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started the business with the idea of bustling popcorn business that would carry other products such as ice cream, cookies, cotton candy and more. As a youth, I would visit stores such as Otto’s Popcorn to get my favorites and I wanted to duplicate that feeling for the current time.

Once I began to operate, foot traffic could be up and down but I began to receive calls asking if wholesale was available for my products. In due time, I began to push wholesale, fundraising and bulk of the products and this section began to over take retail as the main method of sales.

Retail sales now account for the lowest portion of sales and the focus of the business has shifted to fundraising actually, which began to over take wholesale orders.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started the business using $800 on my credit card. After spending time researching the concession industry, I placed an order for entry level equipment to get started. I used this equipment to make enough products that would allow for me to sell at farmers markets and small events.

Once I started in my first retail location, I bought another set of equipment so that I could produce on a larger scale. In due time I purchased a third set of equipment using funds from sales to scale the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MotorCityPopcorn.com
• Instagram: @motorcitypopcorn
• Facebook: @motorcitypopcorn
• Linkedin: @motorcitypopcorn