THE HAPPY POPCORN CO. SET TO CELEBRATE BUSINESS MILESTONE – on Saturday, February 8th – 5 years in business!
February 1st marked 3 years in the current location and after quietly celebrating their 5th year in business last December, The Happy Popcorn Co. is all set to celebrate 5 years in business, with a huge in-store celebration. Customers and friends are invited to join them Saturday, February 8 at their downtown location at 150 Pitt Street in Cornwall, for giveaways, popcorn discounts and savings throughout the store.
The small, family run business started out 5 years ago in a much, much smaller location, and through community support both locally and nationally, has seen the popcorn shop move locations twice since launching. In the header photo you can see the Happy Popcorn Family – left to right: Kristin Davey, Delilah Halman, Persephone Halman, Bill Halman and Jack Halman – photo credit; Nick Seguin Creative
“Every day, we are so incredibly grateful for the folks who come in and support us,” says Bill Halman, one half of The Happy Popcorn Co. ownership team. “We started The Happy Popcorn Co. for our son Jack, who is Autistic so that when he grew up and graduated high school, he would have a place to land, a job, a purpose if you will. Never in a million years did we think we would have grown so quickly”. Kristin, the other half of the ownership team explains “We started out in 600 sq ft, and after selling out the first day, and the day after that, and the day after that, we quickly realized we weren’t going to last long in that space.
Then COVID shut things down, but the community continued to show up for us when we went to curbside pickup. We moved to our second location just 10 months after opening. But, we only lasted at our second space for just over a year before moving to where we are now” laughs Kristin “With over 4300 sq feet, we have the space now to make and store all our flavours of popcorn, and keep more available for folks to buy daily. It’s also allowed us to expand our online store and begin shipping our popcorn all over Canada.”
But, their success didn’t just happen on it’s own. The pair know, they have a winning team helping them. “We are proud of our hiring practices, and of our employees. We love to brag about them to anyone and everyone. We currently have 11 employees and Co-op students, over 75% of whom are either Neurodiverse, or they have a physical/medical disability that is often a barrier to employment. They are fantastic people, they do great work, and without them, we wouldn’t be here celebrating 5 years in business” gushes Kristin “We hope other owners follow our example, and look into their own hiring practices, maybe give folks who are often underemployed a shot!”
The Happy Popcorn Co. continues to give back to the community and raise awareness about hiring people with disabilities and Neurodiversities. To date, the small business had donated in excess of $40,000 in popcorn, treats, and cash to local groups and charities, as well, they have been featured in numerous publications, radio interviews and tv segments across Canada including a 30 minute feature on the AMI network last Spring. You can still view the episode online.
While there are plans to expand the business into other markets, for now they are focusing on celebrating a successful 5 years here in Cornwall. Festivities on February 8, will include a not-to-be-missed special on popcorn, discounts on candy, chocolate and sodas, as well as giveaways.
“Not only are we giving away gift baskets and other goodies, but some lucky customer is going to win popcorn for a year” Bill explains “We’re so thankful for all the support these past 5 years, we just want show our customers how much we appreciate them” The party starts at 10am until 5pm, Saturday February 8, at their flagship location 150 Pitt Street, downtown Cornwall.
For more information on The Happy Popcorn Co. or to place an order visit
www.thehappypopcornco.com
