5 questions with Tracy Mavis

Financial adviser Tracy Mavis didn’t think he could help a client several years ago who came to him wanting to sell his Popcorn Express business.

Then Mavis started thinking about it and realized he might know someone – himself.

Now, Mavis works two jobs, one with Merrill Lynch and one with his family at the renamed Kernel’s Popcorn Express.

“They’re both fun,” he said.

“This is more physical,” Mavis said of the popcorn business.

That’s in part because he’s spent a lot of evenings and weekends getting an expanded store open. The store had been in 2,000 square feet at 224 N. Kansas, between First and Second streets, for a couple of decades.

A few weeks ago, Mavis and his family moved it to 6,000 square feet at the former PrintMaster space at Second and Wabash.

John Potochnik of Weichert Realtors Compass Point and Elyssa Seymour of NAI Martens handled the deal.

“Now we can handle extra capacity,” Mavis said.

In the almost five years he’s owned the business, he’s added six flavors for a total of more than 40 flavors of popcorn.

He’s expanded his wholesale business, in which he loans popcorn machines to businesses and sells them his products, from three states to seven. Kernel’s Popcorn Express is now in 250 convenience stores.

Though Mavis enjoys both of his jobs, he said they come with a toll, too.

“A long day. There’s no doubt about that.”

Q. Why the popcorn business?

A. I was just looking for something to do that was diversified from my investment business and something that the family could get involved in … that was fun.

Q. Is it?

A. It’s been a lot of fun, actually. Everybody that comes in is happy. And everybody that comes in loves popcorn. … It’s just a fun thing.

Q. So why loan your equipment to businesses that want to serve popcorn?

A. It’s kind of a like a printer. They give you a cheap printer, and the cartridges (are) where they make the money. … People think that it’s popped right there.

Q. Zombie popcorn is popular this time of year. That’s your creation, right?

A. I tell all the kids, it’s gummy worms that we dug up from the back … and we clipped the candy corn off the witches’ toes, and we add it to the mix. … And their eyes all light up.

Q. What’s one thing few people know about you?

A. I used to fly airplanes. I quit 23 years ago when I had my first child. … I didn’t want to be a statistic and die in an airplane crash. … I think about it every day. (I’ve gone) through a takeoff and landing every day for the last 23 years. I could probably jump in an airplane and take off and fly it right now.

This story was originally published October 1, 2014 at 4:28 PM with the headline "5 questions with Tracy Mavis."