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From left, Candy and Kirk Benton own and operate Bryson City Wine Market.
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
With the rise in entrepreneurship in North Carolina and continued economic growth of Bryson City, Smoky Mountain Times reached out to Honey Bear’s Cupcakery and Bryson City Wine Market to learn more about why Bryson City is a desired location to open a new business, what draws some to entrepreneurship and how there might be more support for the small business community.
Honey Bear’s Cupcakery
Kim Johner, who runs Honey Bear’s Cupcakery & More on Everett Street in Bryson City with her husband Jeff Johner, was destined for entrepreneurship. The cupcakery opened in July 2022— a time that to some might seem an unlikely one to start a business after the challenges of the pandemic.
For Kim, being the person in charge came naturally. Both her parents were successful business owners, inspiring her to follow their lead.
“I first started my own nail business in the neighborhood in my early teens,” Kim Johner explained by email. “Then a babysitting business with business cards and a resume.”
Originally from Connecticut, her family moved to Florida when she was a young adult. When her mom and stepdad wanted to sell their carpet cleaning business, she stepped in. She followed that up with a successful commercial cleaning business and then had a career in nursing, where she quickly rose to a leadership position.
Johner’s world was shaken in August 2017, when her daughter was a victim in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. Kim threw herself into work, she said, which was a Physical Therapy Now franchise she ran with her new husband, Jeff.
“Then in true Kim fashion, I needed a change. This one was going to be the biggest career change yet,” she shared by email. “We went from medical fields in Florida to starting a cupcakery in the mountains. Enter, Honey Bear's Cupcakery! While in my nursing career I would joke, ‘I just want to pour coffee and talk to people!’ I must have manifested that over time.”
The couple discovered Bryson City from friends and fell in love with the place, finding it a welcome place to start a business. Once they found their storefront on Everett Street, they spent months renovating the space to make it work for a cupcake shop.
“Bryson City is the PERFECT place to let the creative entrepreneur spirit come alive! Both tourists and residents are looking for new ideas, new places to go and new things to eat,” Kim said. “In a small town with what I call turnover growth, there is always a place to make old things new or add ideas never brought to this area. It has the benefit of not having as many places as a big city where there is one or more of almost anything you can think of, here is the chance to be bespoke, creative and fun!”
She encourages others who are interested in starting a business to explore what their community is missing. The next step is finding the right location.
“After an idea or two is sparked, it's time to start testing it out. Talk to other business owners, tourists, locals and see what they say. Some of our best ideas have come from others,” she said.
One thing to consider is knowing what the tourism season is and how you will survive in the off season.
When it comes to how to improve things for those starting out, Kim suggested a local packet for Swain County that would offer resources, applications and rules would be greatly beneficial.
Although it’s a lot of work being a business owner, Kim said the pride that comes with it is sometimes underrated.
“While working for someone else may be easier in a way, it is not as rewarding, and you know someone else is calling the shots. You can make suggestions, but really you are there to do the tasks they have created,” she said. “Business owners that have an entrepreneurial spirit tend to be creative people with ideas that just come one after another and keep the business alive and new.”
Bryson City Wine Market
At Bryson City Wine Market, owners Kirk and Candy Benton have found a way to merge their joint passions for wine, art and community. The shop opened 4 ½ years ago and has seen growth every year.
Prior to moving to the mountains, they both worked for big box wine stores in Florida, which provided them an education in knowing the product and how to run the business with all its ins and outs, like the paperwork and legalities involved, preparing them for making the dream of their own wine shop a reality.
Ready for a change, they set their sights on the mountains and spent months studying the market in Western North Carolina before deciding on Bryson City.
“We chose Bryson City for a couple of reasons,” Kirk said. “One of the main reasons was the train because it extends the season all the way to January and brings a ton of people in, also there’s proximity to the national park and all the people it brings in, and all the cabin rentals around here.”
The next step was finding the right location. Their shop on Main Street was a good fit for its affordability and that it has air conditioning— a must have for storing wine properly.
“We came here because we knew how to run a business like this and we wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life for small town mountain life,” Kirk said.
They’re in the shop six days a week, but their enthusiasm for wine and community keep them going. “That’s the tradeoff, I think, in building a business,” Kirk admits about the around-the-clock commitment. “At some point, we will definitely have some employees.”
On the other hand, he said, there’s been a benefit to avoiding one of the biggest challenges for employers in Swain County these days. “If you need employees, it could be an issue,” Kirk said. “As a start-up business, it would be wise to run it yourself for as long as you can to network enough to find employees.”
Other things to consider, he said, include what type of business you start as for tax purposes. For example, Bryson City Wine Market began as an LLC because it was an easy way to start, but that puts the tax burden on you, he said. They have since become a corporation as business has grown.
“You’d have to decide a business structure for tax reasons, LLC, sole proprietor, or corporation,” Kirk said.
The Bentons have also been engaged in the community through becoming members of Rotary Club of Bryson City, hosting an annual fundraiser for the scholarship. They have hosted a fundraiser for Restoration House and held a coat drive for Family Resource Center.
“That was thrilling to give back to the community,” Candy said of the Restoration House event.
They bring in their passion for art by connecting with local artists who display their work in the shop.
“We’ve had 16 local artists in the store,” Candy said. “That’s been fun. A lot of people visiting like to buy something that is made locally, so that’s a theme when they walk in the door.”
Wine classes are a central part of what they do.
“That was part of our business plan to begin with, we love doing our classes,” Kirk said. “It’s always beneficial and fun, and hosting events, that’s another plus; if you’re going to be here year-round, which is what we do, you need to have events and service the full-time residents, our locals.”
As far as improvements for businesses, Candy said she would like to see more opportunities for networking and other ways businesses could work together through the chamber, for example, to benefit the entire business community.
The couple agrees Swain County residents have been supportive, with Candy referring to regulars as their “wine family.”
“We all get together, we laugh, we enjoy and talk about everything we’re presenting and taste new things,” she said.
Over the past few years, the shop has become a mainstay of the community, a place where locals gather regularly with friends and “travel the world.”
Just recently, one group went to Tuscany, tasting wine from the region and learning about the vineyards there. “It’s inspirational,” said Candy, of how wine can transport you.
“We travel the world through wine,” she said. “It’s given us the experience to learn other cultures, new languages. We try different varietals from throughout the world, and there’s so much to learn! It’s a lifelong learning experience, it’s so fascinating. Every day, there’s something new to learn in wine, that’s one reason Kirk and I have fallen in love with this business. Who doesn’t want to try something new and experience life in a new way every day?”