NC Made: Poppy

Ginger Frank left the wedding industry to spend more time with her two kids in foody, artsy, beautiful Asheville. The town that has everything, or so we thought.

"I thought, Asheville needs a popcorn shop," Ginger Frank said.

So she opened Poppy Hand-crafted Popcorn.

"My whole ambition was to do a retail popcorn shop and be closed on the weekends," Ginger Frank says.

That was 10 years ago and look at Poppy now.

"It's grown incredibly from an 1100 square foot on the second floor of a strip plaza and nothing about that was ideal. The elevator worked some of the time."

She later moved to a 45,000-square-foot production facility. A month after moving in, Hurricane Helene hit.

"We don't have a retail store at this time. We had one in Biltmore Village, and we hope to bring it back. About 80 percent of our business these days is wholesale, 20 percent is customer through our website."

Today, Poppy is sold in 3,000 retailers nationwide and in lots of fun flavors.

"I would have never imagined this when I opened Poppy. I didn't know to dream this big," Frank says.

Ginger shows her gratitude by giving back in all kinds of ways, from donating $100,000 to the small business community after Helene to helping at-risk kids.

"It's the part of the business that keeps me going. On the hard days I look at the impact I've had on my family, our employees, our community and that's what helps me get out of bed in the morning."

"I just have always felt like Asheville has been so incredibly good to us. If I'd opened Poppy in another area, I don't know if it would have worked. I always want to show up for Asheville. How can we show up in these ways to be a force for good while we're making great snacks."