Prince Edward Island is home to Canada's first state-of-the-art gourmet popcorn manufacturing facility. Tender Loving Corn Wholesale Inc. (TLCW) opened its first plant today in Charlottetown, an operation that has the capacity to process 15 million bags of specialty flavored gourmet popcorn annually.
The manufacturing facility will process, package and distribute the Tender Loving Corn (TLC) gourmet popcorn to convenience stores, gas stations, lunch counters and supermarkets in P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. The company has plans to expand its operation even further by distributing TLC's gourmet popcorn across the country in the near future.
"This is an exciting time for TLC," states the woman behind the expansion, President and founder, Tracey L. Connolly. "We are proud of our accomplishment with the establishment of our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. It means a lot to me to have the first plant established at home. With our expansion we can now say TLC is a serious snack food competitor and one of the most nutritious snack foods on the market."
"This move establishes Tender Loving Corn as a new player in Prince Edward Island's food processing industry," said the Honourable Pat Binns, Premier of Prince Edward Island. "By expanding into a wholesale business, TLCW is creating a niche in the snack food market, extending its reach to millions of potential consumers."
Almost 60 per cent of the hardware design for the specialty plant was fabricated on P.E.I.
"It is inspiring to see a young entrepreneur who continues to work hard to expand the company that she founded only a short time ago. I congratulate Tracey L. Connolly and her business partners on the opening of the wholesale division. Tender Loving Corn will be a new export product for P.E.I.," said Mr. George Proud, Member of Parliament for Hillsborough, on behalf of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).
TLC Wholesale Inc. is owned and operated by President and C.E.O. Tracey L. Connolly, Halifax, NS; Vice President Operations Ted Grant, Charlottetown, PEI; and Vice President Finance Douglas L Gorveatt, Halifax, NS.
TLC Wholesale was developed after a successful pilot with PACU Corporation, a PEI company owned and operated by Ted and Rita Grant and family. In 1999, PACU purchased the franchise rights for both retail and wholesale license from TLC Inc. The pilot tested 200 locations across PEI over a 12-month period. Following the success of the trial, TLC and PACU made the decision to jointly establish and operate the wholesale division of TLC.
Through its Business Development Program, ACOA provided a $96,000 repayable loan for the establishment of the manufacturing facility. The Province, through Prince Edward Island Business Development, contributed $50,000 to the project.
Tender Loving Corn commenced operations in Halifax, N.S. in 1994 as a sole proprietorship owned and operated by Tracey L. Connolly, a former PEI resident. The young entrepreneur took a childhood love for popcorn and turned it into a strong thriving business. The 33 year-old now retails specialty popcorn products from kiosk and fixed mall locations in NS, NB, PEI and soon to open stores in Newfoundland. TLC Inc. currently has eight franchise locations in addition to its original flagship store in Halifax.