Dave Goryca refused to give up hope of supporting his family after losing his job in the automotive industry and a chunk of his pension just one year before retirement.
“You can be angry,” he said, “but that doesn’t fix anything.”
Over the past five years, Goryca has worked tirelessly to build an award-winning business that’s turning a profit.
This is the story of two Michigan men — one forced to exit Ford Motor Co. and another who left a career at General Motors Co. by choice. Goryca and his brother-in-law, Paul Rooney of Troy, took most of their life savings and home equity to create Voyage Bloom, a top-shelf cannabis company based in Mount Morris.
“It was the only space we could afford,” said Goryca, 61, of Livonia. “We negotiated a land contract on a three-building storage unit facility. We commuted two and a half hours per day for almost two years during construction. And we transformed one and a half of the buildings into a 4,500-square-foot grow facility.”
Last year, Voyage Bloom swept the cannabis flower category that included “best overall” and “best tasting” at the Zalympix Michigan competition with consumers choosing best products. Now the company sells in 90 dispensaries statewide.
I think of this company as car guys cannabis.
Goryca worked for Ford Credit for 29 years, writing software supporting all Ford dealerships and millions of customers. He ended up downsized with hundreds of other employees. A few of them sued Ford for age discrimination and settled out of court.
Meanwhile, Rooney, now 60, worked at Metro Detroit car dealerships for 38 years. He started at 18 as a porter washing cars at a Toyota dealership in Center Line and worked his way up through the service department doing oil changes, installing radios and gradually moving into car sales. He later transitioned to Chevrolet, specializing in fleet sales, GM employee sales and managing dealer trades.
“Since COVID, the automotive business was going through some changes,” Rooney said. “So when the opportunity to go into the cannabis industry was presented to me, I felt it was time for a career change.”
Brandon Coffield, 31, of White Lake Township, created the business plan. As CEO, he handles business development, sales and introducing new strains. Co-owner Robert Patrick, 31, of Davisburg oversees cultivation. Their proprietary cannabis flower strain is called Slurmz. It has a candy flavor best described as a classic Red Bull energy drink, with a burst of grape and apple.
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