We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tino Flowers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tino below.

Tino, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I am happy as a business owner. Although there will always be ups and downs, I enjoy what I do because I am free to do it. I know that as an adult I need to work in order to provide for myself. I can work for myself or work for someone but I definitely need to work. I sometimes think about having a regular job when the business gets stressful. I remember a time when I needed a business loan but the banks were saying they wouldn’t do it unless I had a job. I got a full time job to get the loan but it made me miss out on time growing the business. The loan helped me to grow my business but the job was draining me and I had to let the job go. I want to put my time and money into something that will grow with me. When I work a regular job I don’t see any growth potential, just temporary income.

Tino, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started Pot O Wings as an option for real food at night. I realized in my college days at Georgia Tech that Atlanta has a lot of night life. People need real food at night and there were not a lot of options on consistent quality food. I chose to sell fried foods because of the convenience and freshness.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

There are a three things that helped me build my reputation: quality, consistency, and accountability. I spent a lot of time perfecting my recipe to ensure high quality with every bite. I had to learn which ingredients could be substituted and which had to be name brand everytime. Consistency is key to keep your customers coming back. You can’t sell the best wings this week and then next week the flavor is off. This comes from having a solid process and routine to creating your product. Accountability is also important because customers want to know they can get real help if something is wrong. We are all human so there is always going to be errors. You have to be accountable and let customers know their business is appreciated by fixing any problems.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Yes, I initially started out just cooking on weekends at the club or festivals. As business started to grow, I realized I could make a good amount of money in those three days. The only catch was dealing with the weather, so there were also weekends where I didn’t make any money. I wanted to find a way to cook every weekend, rain or shine, so I started looking at commercial kitchens. Once I was able to secure a commercial kitchen, I was able to start cooking full time 5 days a week. I am satisfied with the money I make in 5 days plus I don’t have to close due to weather anymore.

Contact Info:

• Website: Potowings.com
• Instagram: Potowings
• Yelp: Pot O Wings