Schlaegel's popcorn, tax businesses move to Holton

After more than 50 years in the Whiting area, the tax preparation service and popcorn business started by Gary and Marian Schlaegel and their family has moved to Holton.

Schlaegel’s Homegrown Popcorn and NEK Tax Services — formerly Schlaegel Tax Preparation — can now be found at 705 Arizona Ave. in Holton, and co-owner Jacob Yingst — the Schlaegels’ grandson — said that moving the family business from the Schlaegels’ farm to Holton is “bittersweet” but will prove to be a boon to its continued growth.

“It’s a business that started in their basement and grew into a thriving business in an office right next to their house,” Yingst said of his grandparents. “It was a hard decision to move down here, but I think we all kind of agreed that it was in the best long-term interest of the business. It’s pretty impressive what they built out there in the middle of nowhere.”

The move also means that the business’ regular customers don’t have to drive out to Whiting for the same expert tax services and delicious popcorn that they’ve enjoyed for half a century, even though the popcorn will still be grown on the Schlaegels’ farm.

“We’re going to stay true to our roots and keep growing the popcorn out there,” Yingst said. “We’ll never change that.”

The new location is the former home of 705 Antiques and was previously the home of Pagel Realty and Auction, it was noted.

Gary Schlaegel started the tax business in 1969 after leaving a job at Horton to become a dairy farmer on 80 acres of land northwest of Whiting, with the tax work as a sideline to “dairying.” He and Marian also grew some row crops on the farm, including popcorn, samples of which he would soon start giving to his tax preparation customers.

Those customers, it was reported, liked the popcorn so much that they recommended the Schlaegels sell it as a sideline to the tax business, and eventually, they dedicated 10 acres of their farmground to growing the popcorn in both yellow and white varieties. In 1997, the Schlaegels built a new facility next to their house to handle the popcorn and tax businesses, and they started selling flavored popcorn that year as well.

Today, the popcorn business boasts more than 25 different flavors, and Yingst said processing the popcorn for sale at the new Holton facility will still be done at the rural Whiting facility, adding that in the future, while popcorn will still be grown and harvested at Whiting, all other operations should be moved to the new Holton facility by sometime next summer.

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