Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South Charlotte.
Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Ep. #62 From Mental Health to Mouthwatering Treats: Byron Coley's Sweet Success with Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Imagine stumbling upon a cinnamon bun business so unique and delicious that it changes your career path forever. That's precisely what happened to Byron Coley, our guest on this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. We sit down with Byron, the owner of Cinnaholic in Ballantyne, who shares his inspiring transition from a mental health professional to a proud franchise owner. Byron takes us on his flavorful journey, revealing how a social media post introduced him to Cinnaholic and ignited his passion for opening a vegan cinnamon roll franchise. Located in the Earth Fare shopping center, Byron’s shop offers a delectable array of options including brownies, cookies, baby buns, cookie cakes, and cinna cakes, all 100% vegan and irresistibly tasty.
Get ready to have your assumptions challenged as Byron dispels common myths about vegan products lacking flavor. He opens up about his own initial skepticism and how Cinnaholic's plant-based delights surpassed his expectations. Tune in as we explore the innovative range of toppings and frostings that elevate these cinnamon rolls to new heights of deliciousness. With his story and insights, Byron invites you to experience the mouthwatering world of Cinnaholic, where each bite promises to be as satisfying as it is worry-free. Whether you're a vegan enthusiast or a curious first-timer, this episode is sure to whet your appetite for a visit to Byron's delightful cinnamon creation haven.
Cinnaholic - Charlotte - Ballantyne
Bryon Coley
3419 Toringdon Way Suite 108
Charlotte, NC 28277
(980) 585-1177
cinnaholicballantyne@gmail.com
cinnaholic.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everybody and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm excited today to introduce Byron Coley, who I've had the pleasure of meeting. He is the owner of Cinnholic, which is a fabulous cinnamon bun business here in the Ballantyne area. Welcome, byron.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you for having me, Regina.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got to meet you at your ribbon cutting with the Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce. The smell is heavenly when you walk in. Oh my God, I would weigh 200 pounds, I think, if I was there every day.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure. I'm sure you'd get tired of it quickly, oh I don't know.
Speaker 2:So, Byron, tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you to wanting to open this business.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely Well, I am a North Carolina native, born and raised in Raleigh Durham, north Carolina. My wife and I relocated here to Charlotte in 2018. And since then we have had three beautiful girls. Wow, yeah, so we stay quite busy. We are both mental health professionals in the local Charlotte area and right before COVID found Cineholic through, I think, a social media ad and had a chance to taste it, buy the product and fell in love, and that's kind of what led us to opening up our own franchise model here in Ballantyne.
Speaker 2:Well, you are very, very convenient. You're right in that Earth Fair shopping center off of Johnston, and was that Community House?
Speaker 3:Yes, Community House.
Speaker 2:Okay, definitely. Well, talk us through your menu. Obviously, I have bought one, and then many of your cinnamon buns to take to meetings, but I think what struck me is all those incredible toppings. It's like overwhelming the options you have.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I think overwhelming is a good word. I think a lot of people that are coming in for the first time are kind of thrown about a back by the amount of options they have to build their roles. One of the things that we always advise people who've never tried cinnamon holly is to come in and perhaps just try an old school and that is essentially a classic cinnamon roll, and then if they want to come in again, then they can be a little bit more adventurous. But aside from the cinnamon rolls and all the many toppings that we have, we also have different frostings that they can put on the cinnamon roll before topping it with the toppings. We also have a variety of other options brownies, cookies, we have baby buns, which are smaller cinnamon rolls which are good for kids, or, if you want to try multiple types of frostings, cookie doughs. We have cookie cakes and we have cinnamon roll cakes, which we call a cinna cake.
Speaker 2:I think the other thing that I was so surprised about is that the cinnamon rolls are 100% vegan. So talk to us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah. So the founders of this company found a need of having more vegan options, and so everything in our store is 100% plant-based. So that means no dairy. That means everything, of course, is lactose-free, egg-free and it's also cholesterol-free. So a lot of people ask us how we make our rolls, like what makes them vegan? Do we use bananas and do we use apples as the base? We use all vegan products for our toppings, so we have to order from specific vendors, and that means that those who have, like these, egg allergies and perhaps like a dairy allergy, are able to eat our cinnamon rolls worry free.
Speaker 2:That's amazing and you know I would say a misconception that people may have when they hear vegan is that you know you're missing something in flavor, but I can vouch, that is just not true you're missing something in flavor.
Speaker 3:but I can vouch that is just not true. No, it's not true and I can attest to that. I was one of those people that were pretty skeptical when they heard something was vegan or something was low fat or something. But I don't even usually start off the conversation about Cinnaholic with is vegan because I know for many people it's going to turn their nose. But once they taste it again because I know for many people it's going to turn their nose, but once they taste it, like you, they can attest that it does not meet the expectation they originally had.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. With your journey through all of this, transitioning with your career, were there any hardships along the way your career? Were there any?
Speaker 3:hardships along the way. I mean, I think one of the hardships just and this just comes with being a business owner is just finding the right location for us, and we looked kind of tried to stay within this South Charlotte area, but Ballantyne was always kind of the spot that we kind of kept coming back to and it was just a matter of finding a shopping center that we felt was located where we wanted it to near the highway, near a growing area, which I think we accomplished. Much of our business is catering, so we knew that we wanted to be near a business park.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that was perhaps the biggest obstacle that we had in this journey so far.
Speaker 2:So with catering, take us a little deeper. How many cinnamon buns and varieties? I mean, how does that whole thing work?
Speaker 3:And how much?
Speaker 2:time. Do you need to make 100 or 200 cinnamon buns?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a lot of cinnamon buns, yeah, yeah, but we can. So traditionally people have been getting you know a few dozen, and so those can either be baby buns and those can either be the regular size cinnamon rolls. I'd say roughly three baby buns would equate to a size of a cinnamon roll. That's a rough estimate. As far as time, the making of the rolls actually don't take long. It is the process of letting them cool to the touch and then frosting them and decorating them with whatever flavors and toppings that the individual might choose. But we request at least 24 hours and that just gives us time, mostly again, just to let those rolls cool completely and then frost them.
Speaker 2:Well, that's amazing. And do you offer delivery to these local businesses?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's a great question. So, personally, we can get something delivered within a reasonable mile range I'd say five, 10 miles, but we also have options. We're linked on DoorDash, uber, eats and for more catering events. We are linked to the platform Easy Cater, which a lot of businesses are already attached to, and so you can find us on any of those platforms.
Speaker 2:So now you have three little girls. I think you said a brand new business. Your wife, I know, is in mental health. With all of this going on in your life, what are you most proud of right now?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. What am I most proud of? You know I really try to, with everything going on and my wife and family they always kind of pick at me that I always have something going on. So I'd say I am proud of our girls always and them being flexible with mom and dad's crazy schedules. And I'm also proud of my and my family's ability to, while we have all of these things kind of happening around us, while we have all of these things kind of happening around us, to still find time to just enjoy the now, which can be really tough. And I know perhaps I'm speaking to many people with that, but that's something that we do, Maybe not as often as we would like, but we try to be pretty intentional about that.
Speaker 2:Well, at least you're aware, and that's the biggest piece of living in the moment. And now, what kind of stuff do you guys like doing as a family?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we're, of course, always busy with the girls, so our girls play, they do gymnastics, they do soccer Some of the stuff that perhaps a lot of kids do now, just with school activities and after school activities. We also, when we're not busy with that, we also enjoy traveling and we during COVID, because of social distancing, we actually got into RVing and so when we travel we'll often take the RV and go to I don't know, visit family, or we've gone to Florida in it, and that's one of the things that we enjoy doing, just sightseeing and whenever we're able to like get on the road a little further.
Speaker 2:You know those are going to be great memories for your children when they grow up. Something that sticks, I think, with kids. That get that growing up. And what's your favorite place you've gone? Do you camp or do you get to stay in your RV?
Speaker 3:No, we stay in the RV. We haven't gotten that adventurous yet. Yeah, we usually go to some of the same places and because our smallest is just one, we don't usually we haven't gone far in a while. So we'll usually go to the Carowinds Campground, which is really nice. We're able to camp out there something different for the girls, and then go to Carowinds Campground, which is really nice. We're able to camp out there something different for the girls and then go to Carowinds. We also do the various campgrounds for the Raleigh-Durham area, so that's where our family is and again, it just allows us a chance to do something different while also visiting family.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it sounds like you guys are very, very well-rounded, and I can vouch for how delicious the cinnamon buns are at Cinnaholic. So tell our listeners how to find you and how to reach you.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely Well. As Regina mentioned, we are located in the Earth Fair Shopping Center, so right in Toringdon, the Toringdon Shopping Center. We also, of course, as I mentioned earlier, can be found on DoorDash, uber Eats and Easy Cater and social media platforms, cineholic Balantine, or if you just Google Cinnaholic Balantine, we'll pop up. And, of course, if you guys ever need anything as it relates to catering or just orders, feel free to give us a call or visit our website online to find out our email address and content information. I also will put this out there.
Speaker 3:I know that we've been receiving feedback that it would be great if we opened up earlier. Right now that's not really feasible just because of our staffing, but if anybody needs an order, big or small, any earlier than what we open up, which is at 10 right now, we can accommodate that with, of course, enough notice. But hopefully we'll be able to meet the needs of the community in the future by opening up earlier. But we'd love to hear from you guys. For those that have not tried Cinnaholic, please come in and try it. As Regina mentioned, it's absolutely delicious and, yeah, we're here for a long time hopefully.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you have walk-in traffic. You've got little tables. You can sit and eat right there or you can take it to go. Well, Byron, congratulations on your grand opening and so excited to have you here in the community. I know I'll see you again soon.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it. Thanks, Regina.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPSouthCharlotte. com. That's GNPSouthcharlotte. com. That's gnpsouthcharlottecom, or call 980-351-5719.