A staple along Bluffton’s Main Street, Shirley’s Gourmet Popcorn Company holds a special place in the hearts of many Bluffton students, alumni and community members. Over the summer, senior communication major Kiera Suffel had the opportunity to go behind the scenes with a marketing and communications internship at Shirley’s.
Shirley’s Popcorn, photo by Beth Weigandt
Suffel said she’s had an interest in Shirley’s since she started attending Bluffton. Two years ago, Suffel even wrote an article for The Wit about its founders, Pete and Kim Suter, and the background of the company.
Last fall, Kiera reached out to Shirley’s about possibly job shadowing their communications director. Suffel said she thought working doing marketing and communication for a popcorn store would be a lot of fun.
In the midst of searching for a summer internship, Shirley’s emailed Kiera to let her know they had created an internship and wondered if she would like to apply.
Shirley’s founder and owner Pete Suter said the internship was created because having an intern would allow for a smoother transition within the company when their brand manager stepped down mid-summer.
Suffel was granted the internship and spent her summer acting as a marketing coordinator for Shirley’s. From May to the beginning of August, she logged 30 hours a week doing tasks like creating graphic design work, press releases and social media posts and conducting market research.
Suffel was also able to work on creating promotional kits to send out all to the Shirley’s franchises. These kits include details like graphics and social media caption ideas to help all of the stores with their special promotions.
Photo provided by Kiera Suffel
To better understand the ins and outs of the business, Suffel even spent time working behind the counter at Shirley’s. She said being able to help make the popcorn and understand the process was very eye-opening to her, and it allowed her to gain new knowledge about company products.
Suffel said her favorite part about the internship experience was being able to go to POPCon, a franchise conference where franchisees and managers come together in Harrisonburg, Va. She said that it was great being able to meet the people that she had corresponded with all summer long.
Kiera Suffel at POPCon. Photo provided
Overall, Suter said Kiera fit their company culture extremely well and had great ideas in her role as a marketing coordinator.
“She’s a lot of fun, easy to work with and willing to do whatever was asked or expected of her. She brought new energy to the team,” said Suter.
Suter said Shirley’s Gourmet Popcorn Co. would absolutely consider having an intern for next summer as he is “excited about future prospects” and expects growth in the company in the next several years.
