Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd Webster
Todd, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The story of The Popcorn Lady as it is today is a merge of 2 stories actually. I started in the Culinary Arts in Miami where I attended culinary school in the morning and worked at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the evening. At the time I had no idea that I was working for and with a handful of the biggest chefs not just in Miami but in the country. I was with Michael’s when he won his James Beard Award and recently he received a Michelin Star as well. I decided to move to Georgia in 2015 to have my daughter closer to her grandmother and for a better quality of family life. I worked as an Executive Chef at Elevation Chophouse, Rootstock & Vine and Einstein’s on Juniper right up until COVID hit. At this time I went back to school and achieved my MBA. It was obvious to me that I would never be fully satisfied until I owned my own thing. At this time, in 2021, I saw that Popcorn Lady Productions was for sale. I loved the idea of carnival food. It is a crowd pleaser and WAY easier and more forgiving than Duck Confit. Once I purchased the company I realized the name was very misleading with the “Productions” in the name so I rebranded and created the logo we have today to become The Popcorn Lady. I scaled back the menu for the first 2 years to ensure execution was good. I have a belief that fine dining is in the hospitality not in the food. I want big smiling faces and interaction with our customers. I have tried to push a “yes and” attitude with my team to ensure that we go above and beyond always. In the time I have have owned this company we have expanded into distribution of cotton candy and popcorn, revamped our menu, and increased our internet presence and area of operations. We cover as far out as Augusta and Rome. We deliver cotton candy and popcorn to 6 states and still growing
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Any business owner that says its a smooth road is selective remembering, especially in the hospitality industry. We make mistakes, but we learn adapt and grow. I believe that when things are perfect you have no idea who you are dealing with, but when the sh** hits the fan you find out who they are real quick. We pride ourselves on rising to the occasion. I spent 10 years in the US Marines and learned to improvise, adapt and overcome.
Shortly after I purchased the company we had a very large event for Emory Hospital. After driving around picking up all the products and loading the box truck that came with the company we were loaded up to leave when the vehicle stalled right in the middle of the road. Apparently, this vehicle had never been serviced even though I had been assured it had. The fuel filter was foaming over and almost welded on. We had to go immediately to U-Haul and rent another truck. Then we had to unload the box truck in the middle of the busy road and load the U-Haul to get to the event. This set us back by a lot. Then when I got to the event it was on the roof of the hospital, which I had no idea about. Getting to the roof of a hospital requires several elevator changes and at least 1 set of stairs with all our equipment. I was stressed and embarrassed, but from that day on I learned that on all large events I walk the area to understand what we are up against and to make proper prior plans. An old Marine Corps Adage is Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. This has become our mantra.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have lived a life of creativity. When I was a teenager I was professional dancer. I studied Ballet on scholarship at the Ballet Academy in Winter Haven, FL. Then one day I got some bug and joined the Marines out of the blue. I was an investigative photographer in the Marines for 10 years and loved the creativity that learned in that medium. Although I was not so find of the crime scenes that were much more prevalent. After the Marines I was in real Estate and Mortgaging. I know this does not sound creative, but I specialized in creative financing during the sub-prime boom. Then when that market crashed hard I used my GI Bill to attend culinary school and focused on fine dining as my career.
So how does all this serve me and The Popcorn Lady now? I have developed a menu that is easy to execute and provides high excitement for our customers. Clearly we are known for Popcorn and Cotton Candy, but we also do fresh fried to order Pretzels and Donuts, Mexican Street Corn, Grilled burgers and hot dogs, Philly Cheesesteaks, Ice Cream Socials, Boiled Peanuts and much much more. With my background I can create almost anything my customers want.
The bulk of our business is Business to Business sales. We do employee appreciation events, Corporate Fire Drills, Holiday Parties and more. As well, we work closely with city and county parks and recreations departments as well as many of the churches in the area. Our customers include companies like Delta, Chick-Fil-A, GA Tech, Spanx, Amazon and more.
We have done events for 20 – 4000 people and we are highly scalable. Another thing that sets us apart is that we are the lowest cost per person in the area.
What I am most proud of is that a large percentage of our business is repeat customers. Nothing says satisfaction like coming back again and again.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Hospitality and transparency.
Say what you will do and do what you say.
Our desire to create an experience not just do a job sets us apart
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.popcornlady.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/popcornladyatlanta/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-popcorn-lady/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/thepopcornlady
