We had the good fortune of connecting with Lori & Hezekiah Poag and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lori & Hezekiah, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When we got married in 2013, my husband Hezekiah and I wanted a candy bar station for the guests at our wedding. Back then, this kind of thing was just coming on to the wedding scene, and it was something that we were both drawn to. Unfortunately, no one in the area offered this type of service in the events industry, so we just had to go out and find candies that matched our wedding colors, jars to hold these candies and seek the assistance of our friends and family to serve guest at our reception.

At the end of the day, it was such a headache to pull off and we REALLY wish we could have hired someone to handle the whole thing. After our wedding day, we had a bunch of equipment and supplies left over. Instead of getting rid of them, we decided to keep everything to start a business and name it Something BARowed Candy Bar Stations to help other couples in need. Word of our business services quickly spread. In 2015 we served up the SWEETS at 62 events we also had our son that year, needless to say, it was a very busy year!

As our business grew we started to get a lot of requests to do children’s events, which we found to be somewhat difficult given the fact of how rowdy and messy they can be. So in 2017, we decided to open a kid’s party venue, where we could host birthday parties and have the kids do culinary crafts with candy, cookies, and cupcakes for their activities! Turns out it was a hit, and the parents loved the idea too since they didn’t have to deal with cleaning up a mess in their homes.

Our party venue also doubles as a candy store which kids (and some adults) absolutely love as well.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Hezekiah’s eye for design with a professional background in Retail Merchandising and Lori’s creative marketing expertise along with her social media savviness is the perfect recipe to create a sweet business partnership.

What sets us apart from others is the fact that we are 3 businesses in 1. A kid’s party venue providing candy-themed games/activities. A gourmet popcorn, candy & sweet treat shop. We also serve up the sweets with candy/dessert bars for celebratory events (weddings, graduations, birthdays, showers, etc.).

Have you seen our dessert bars, candy bars, and popcorn bars? They speak for themselves. We have the ability to color coordinate our candies and treats to match your event theme. It’s hard for other businesses in our industry to compete LOL!

We are most proud of being selected as a recipient of Beyonce’s BeyGOOD Small Business Impact Fund. Our business was featured on her website along with receiving a $10,000 grant.

Three important lessons that we have learned along the way are:

1. When times get hard…NEVER quit!
2. Follow your passion and not the money.
3. ALWAYS provide great customer service (even when you make a mistake)

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would tell them to stay at the O’Henry Hotel, go eat at Dame’s Chicken & Waffles, and head to Bourbon Bowl for a fun night out,

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We are absolutely nothing without our awesome customers and community supporters! We would also like to Shoutout our super hero shop manager Brittany, for always holding down the day-to-day operations so we have the freedom to create new business opportunities and attract more clientele. We appreciate her so much!

Website: www.SomethingBARowed.com

Instagram: @SomethingBARowed

Twitter: https://twitter.com/somthingbarowed

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomethingBARowed

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/something-barowed-greensboro

Image Credits
Still Shots Photography

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