It takes a special and new kind of knack to survive and thrive in business during Covid19. As restaurants and other small businesses struggle, some are actually thriving due to new advancements in delivery apps, and sheer adaptability to the “new times” — one of those businesses is owned by Virgil Dickerson, who recently took the plunge and started KREAM Kimchi after leaving his jobs at Passport program and Marble Distilling.
“I started at the very beginning of COVID when everything kind of shut down. I had a lot of time on my hands because restaurants and bars were closed, and the passport job and marble job were kind of on hold — I just started making kimchi with some friends and I put a picture on Instagram saying: ‘I guess I have a new hobby.‘ Delivering kimchi to my friends by bike.
And that opened up a floodgate of people saying: ‘Well, I want some kimchi.’ And basically everyone that asked, I brought a jar of kimchi. Through COVID I gave over 500 jars of kimchi to friends and strangers. And throughout that whole process, people were like: ‘You should start a business. This is really good.‘ And that’s what I did.”
The official Launch of KREAM Kimchi was last Saturday, and since then Virgil has “been making kimchi like a madman ever since.”
Covid19 certainly has been tough for so many, but there may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon for some folks. These “new times” are truly new since most of what we know that worked before Covid19 as far as marketing strategies, business development, and audience acquisition doesn’t really apply anymore. The world has changed.
“I know there’s a lot of people having a hard time during COVID but I’ve [actually] been thriving. I’ve lost almost 50 pounds since December, a lot of that’s due to my biking kimchi and to friends in Aurora [and] Golden. So, starting this company is not only going to be pretty lucrative for me, financially, but it also saved my life because I was overweight. I mean, I still am, but I’m working on it, you know?”