Lori & Hezekiah

Something BARowed Candy Bar Stations

By Ellen Richardson -

Photos by Still Shots Photography

Now that events are back in full swing, are you and your family planning some of those occasions that were canceled last year? If you answered yes to this question, you have found the article to make these events memorable. Thanks to a dream born to inspiring area business owners Hezekiah and Lori Poag, any event that you hold this holiday season can be made a lot sweeter.

The owners of Something BARowed Candy Bar Stations Sweet Shop and Party Venue in Greensboro, NC began their family business in 2013 after searching for a fun addition to their wedding.

“When we got married, my husband and I wanted a candy bar station for the guests at our wedding,” said Lori. “Back then, this kind of thing was just coming onto 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 wedding industry, so we had to go out and find candies that matched our wedding colors, jars to hold these candies, and seek the assistance of our friends to serve guest at our reception. It became a thorn in our side and the most stressful part of our wedding day.”

While most who undertake a taxing task on the happiest day of their lives would look back and think, ‘I never want to deal with something like that again’, this was not the case for the sweetest couple in Guilford County. “After our wedding day, we had a bunch of equipment and supplies at our disposal. Instead of getting rid of them, we decided to keep everything to someday start a business. Not long after starting our lives together, my husband and I started a side hustle for other couples like us who wanted something unique at their events,” said Lori. “It was cool because our career backgrounds, mine in PR, Marketing and Advertising and Hezekiah’s in Retail Management and Merchandising, gave aid to both the creative and sales side of this business.”

After their new business and “fun date night activity” continued to take off, these sweethearts would decide to turn what was once a thorn into a beautiful rose. “It is funny because we started this business setting up candy stations at events and celebrations for family and friends,” said Lori. “Our first event was a baby shower for a friend, and this led to more referrals, which made us have to learn the whole logisitics and business side of sweets.” Thanks to an overarching goal to break into the same event scene that gave birth to their entrepreneurial spirits, it would not take long before Hezekiah and Lori became one of the hottest vendors in the Triad. “We started attending Triad Wedding Shows and before long found ourselves booking weddings as much as our other events,” said Lori. “I can remember going into labor on a weekend that we had a large out-of-town wedding, and despite laying in a hospital bed and giving birth, I was on the phone with my staff trying to ensure everything was covered.” Riding high from their newfound passion and miraculously completing 82 events, the Poag family, culminated the year of 2015 with a booming new business and the birth of a little boy.

While the Poag’s were riding high from success on the wedding scene, they began to get lots of inquiries from parents on doing childrens events. That activity sparked Lori and Hezekiah’s interest in offering their candy bar stations at children’s parties. “We found that kids love our candy bar stations, but trying to transport the candies and glass candy jars while keeping things from getting broken or going missing wasn’t easy. So our new goal was to find a storefront where we could store our materials and host children’s parties,” said Lori.

We found that kids love our candy bar stations, but trying to transport the candies and glass candy jars while keeping things from getting broken or going missing wasn’t easy. So our new goal was to find a storefront where we could store our materials and host children’s parties.

In 2017, this sweet dream came true as the Poag family moved their operation from a guest bedroom in their home into their new storefront in Downtown Greensboro. “The best part about moving into our new location on East Market Street is that we now have a party room where customers can come to us for all types of fun events like birthday parties, baby showers, girls’ night out, etc.,” said Lori. “This space became popular for lots of families in this area, that is until the pandemic hit and shut everything down,” said Hezekiah.

Despite coming close to having to see their new family dream come crashing down, the couple who follows where their passion leads found a new way to keep things popping – Popcorn. “Once events were taken away, in March of 2020, we knew that we might have to close our doors,” said Lori. “Fortunately, we started noticing what the restaurants were doing to survive. We recognized the success that restaurants were having with their take-out service during the pandemic, so we searched for a sutiable take-out item within our existing products. Believe it or not the answer was on our shelf, staring at us in our face the whole time. Gourmet popcorn!”

Beginning with six flavors and eventually increasing to more than thirty flavors of popcorn not only saved the Poag family business but made the king and queen of sweets the newest royalty in the popcorn kingdom. “It was funny because our popcorn sales started bypassing our prepandemic space rental numbers. We were even featured on Beyoncé’s website and received a $10,000 grant along with other black-owned businesses,” said Lori. “After this, orders started pouring in and we were fortunate to be asked to travel to Atlanta and create a custom popcorn bar for hip hop celebrities T.I. and Tiny Harris.”

Popcorn also opened a new side of sweet events. “We started created mini bags with customizable stickers that said things like ‘thanks for popping by,’ which allowed families to hand out favors during drive-thru celebrations and even to send to friends and families to let them know that they are thinking about them,” said Lori. “These became very popular and even helped us increase party bookings in our event space this year.”

Today, the Poag family continues to have one of the most popular sweet shops and event addition companies in the Triad and has seen their relationship flourish alongside their family business. “We have learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This has helped us work well together,” said Lori. “Of course we have our arguments on the business side, and I am grateful that my husband has helped keep me grounded and tell me when to turn it off.” “We have also had to stop and refocus on our relationship outside of this business to be sure that both can coexist,” said Hezekiah. “We have continued to remind each other that no matter what happens, our relationship and this family is most important and will always come first. Making this our firm foundation has made everything, including our business, thrive. To find out more about Something BARowed and all this business’s sweet opportunities, please visit their website.