You’re not a CEO…
You’re making the same money as when you were hired as a bottle packer? You don’t receive a paycheck for 8 months because you’re reinvesting your own money into the company??? WHY? Why would you have to put your own money into this company? You’re not an owner, and you make a blue collar bottle packer salary.
Are you insane? You’re the Sunk Cost poster boy here, you feel like you’ve put too much time into the company to just walk away. But really what is the alternative? You can ask for a salary increase, but they are not going to give you triple your current salary. If you’re so mad that you’re kicking the shit out of tables then you’re probably going to go into the meeting with a hot head and all kinds of demands, and they’ll most likely be unaware of all the nuances of your contribution, completely blindsided, and quite frankly unlikely to believe all of your contributions (because some of them, like giving up 8 months of your wages, are insane).
Give it a try but plan to leave the company if you don’t get what you want. You’ll have better luck making more money elsewhere.
edit: and not to kick someone when they’re down, but if you’re willing to work 8 months without pay “to help the company grow faster” and still earning your original bottle packer salary despite all the hours and sacrifices you claim you’re making, well your decision making IS COMPLETE GARBAGE. You are seriously a terrible negotiator (for yourself) and someone who makes awful, self-destructive decisions, and for what? To enrich the owner of a beverage company that you have no stock in? WHAT? Your friend should not go into business with you, because you have proven you’re willing to do DUMB, ILLOGICAL, SHIT.
I personally wouldn’t do this.
If you do, factor in costs for security, fence/property repairs, vandalism, etc.
The last company I was employed with was on a shared property with a consignment store (like a big thrift store). It was also near a homeless camp/tent city type area, and the vandalism was insane. The homeless would come over with wire/bolt cutters at night, cut through the chain link fence on an almost nightly basis. They’d steal property, the homeless (or just generic criminals) once brought over a plasma cutter and cut through a steel shipping container door. They would steal propane tanks (the entire cage of like 16 tanks), others would graffiti the building and shipping containers. They hired night security, once the security was assaulted by like 6+ homeless/criminals and nearly killed. Some of the other security were just bad, asleep on the job, or the homeless/criminals would come and they’d just watch them from inside the car and call 911, but usually too late to matter, apprehension weren’t made.
No matter how you slice it, it’s a risk. Maybe your area isn’t as bad, maybe the homeless/criminals are better behaved, or the area is better policed, but just factor in the potential for damage and theft and vandalism. Plus customers will be more nervous about going into a “bad area” especially if hauling expensive goods, or large amounts of cash.