Today we’d like to introduce you to Keith Forrester.
Keith, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Well, I like to say—only half-jokingly—that this chapter started with me being fired from Coca-Cola along with 3000 of my closest friends! Company layoffs forced me into what I now call my encore career, however, if I’m being honest I would have to say I was definitely ready to leave corporate America. The big question was: What next?
First, I spent a year acting as our own General Contractor as I renovated a 100-year-old home in Kirkwood, thinking this may be the right career, and as much as I loved working with all the sub-contractors and the project management side of things, it just didn’t seem like the right fit. At the same time, we were considering other ideas and a number of years ago, my wife, Sumarie, and I were on vacation and saw this small popcorn shop with all these amazing flavors. I loved the vibe of the place and that’s what planted the seed for what we’ve now created. After a lot of research and learning, we opened Poppa Corn’s in October of 2017.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been completely smooth, but I think we’re about where we thought we would be one year into all of this. With this being my first entrepreneurial leap outside of corporate America, there were definitely things to learn about licensing, working with the government, permits, and generally just running a business, but I had also learned plenty of lessons working for a number of very large companies. I would say those lessons have served us well.
Poppa Corn’s Gourmet Popcorn – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are first and foremost a popcorn shop, but we also sell a lot of bulk candy and especially nostalgia choices you won’t find in most traditional stores. We have over 50 flavors of popcorn, all of which are made in our own on-site kitchen. We pop, cook our own caramel and candy coatings, and craft all of the flavors ourselves. Those flavors include everything from original popcorn to plenty of savory, cheesy, and spicy popcorns to caramel and candy popcorn like banana, strawberry, and cinnamon. We also have our luxury flavors that may be covered with chocolate or include caramel coated pecans, peanuts, cashews and more.
In the store itself, we work very hard to create a fun vibe. It’s a happy place that we always hope people enjoy while they’re here and one they look forward to visiting each and every time. I honestly think we have the unique chance to make the day better for every person who walks in the door and we actively work to make that happen. One of our favorite things to do is build gift baskets using our popcorn and large selection of candy. It gives us a chance to be creative and make something special for our customers.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being a part of the Kirkwood neighborhood has been extremely important to us. The Kirkwood Business Owners Association is absolutely terrific and has been very supportive. Because we’ve had a little success our first year, we’ve also been able to give back at least a bit. With some input from the neighborhood, we developed The Kirkwood Mix. This is a flavor mix that combines our Sea Salt Caramel with Beer Cheese and 10% of all sales are donated back to Kirkwood Cares. Kirkwood Cares is part of the Kirkwood Neighborhood Organization and as a committee, its aim is to keep neighborhood seniors in their homes by helping with home repairs. Living and working in the same neighborhood has been tremendously rewarding on a personal level.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1617 Hosea L Williams Dr SE
Atlanta, GA 30317 - Website: https://poppa-corns.com/
- Phone: 404-464-8100
- Email: info@poppa-corns.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poppacorns/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/poppacorns/
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