The Kernels’ Journey: Fresh Popcorn Here…and Everywhere
I’m on lookout for a shipment of crab-legs-flavored popcorn.
I’ve long been a fan of the classics when it comes to popcorn — give me salty, hot and buttery any day. But then, on a fateful evening I tried something new and snacked kettle corn off a paper towel while watching a movie.
Initially, kettle corn’s light sweetness and mere hint of salt surprised me, turned me off frankly. I ate it because, well, one eats popcorn during a movie. But on returning to my standby, movie-butter flavor, I found it missing something. It was missing fun, adventure and creativity. It was missing the extra. Kettle corn had taken me too far from the common, and there was no going back.
The evolution of popcorn’s popularity is a fascinating story, and popcorn’s place in American culture seems solid at this point. But more than that, popcorn especially comes to mind during these days of late spring in Greater Atlanta. With warming weather and lighter obligations what with school systems letting out for break, carnivals and festivals ramp up in earnest. No carnival or festival is complete unless popcorn is on offer as one of the eats.
It’s not just the big spectacular events where people expect a bag of fresh popcorn. Warm weather brings a fuller community schedule with small events planned on a neighborhood level. Movie nights in cul-de-sacs and backyards, and game nights in renovated basements come with an expectation of…you guessed it, popcorn.
Popcorn is America’s favorite snack, but still when thinking of popcorn, movies pop to mind, and the reverse is also true. There is history to the marriage of movies and popcorn, and if a date of nuptials must be given, it would be one in the Great Depression era. The movie industry was one of the only industries to thrive during that time of devastating struggle and lack by providing escape from reality. Movies had only recently begun drawing larger crowds after integrating synchronized sound. Illiteracy was no longer an obstacle to enjoying a flick. Before, it had been necessary to read titles and captions in order to follow dialog.
Popcorn kernels were cheap to purchase for vendors, easy to prepare, and a moviegoer could grab a bagful for about a dime. According to Smithsonian Magazine, theaters that began selling concessions were more likely to survive the Depression than those theaters holding tight to a high-class idea of a movie-going experience. Those resistant to concessions on those grounds thought popcorn and other foods cheapened the experience. And in fact, most theaters were reluctant to welcome concessions. Ventilation was poor since, after all, the buildings hadn’t been constructed with popcorn popping in mind. Besides that, theaters didn’t want to encourage grease and spills by selling food. As the need for revenue overtook the importance of maintaining the upkeep of their expensive lobbies, theaters began to welcome popcorn vendors to sell inside the lobbies or outside the theater doors.
Eventually, of course, theaters began selling their own concessions and kept all profits. In fact, profits became substantial as kernels remained relatively cheap and the markup from selling popped corn increased over the years.
Seriouseats.com says the trend continues today with a popcorn markup of between 800% and 1500%. Concession sales are key for theater profits because of the cost of procuring movies from Hollywood plus paying back a percentage from the movie ticket sales.
AMC Theatres claims to be the №1 seller of popcorn among movie theaters, popping approximately 35 tons of kernels daily. AMC sells about 52 million bags per year.
Today, while popcorn is the best-selling concession in theaters, only 30% of popcorn consumption occurs there. That leaves 70% of popcorn consumption to occur outside of those venues. That’s a lot of popcorn eating.
With the invention, and eventual affordability, of in-home televisions in the 1940s, food companies expanded on the popcorn industry by making popcorn accessible and convenient to people at home. Enter: stovetop popping.
And then, the 1980s brought the biggest thing to hit popcorn…since movie theaters, anyway: the microwave. Really, the appliance was created back in the 1940s, but the price of $495, according to Wired.com, for the first nukes (more on why it’s called nuking) translates to about $3200 in today’s dollars. That made microwaves a no-thanks for most households.
It didn’t stay that way, as we all know. As the price of home microwaves dropped, more households purchased them. Microwave dinners were no longer unthinkable. Nabisco, General Mills, and Orville Redenbacher entered the snack market with microwavable popcorn, bringing about the start of the microwave-popcorn revolution. Popularity is ongoing, though not entirely without hiccups from studies on health hazards.
Seriouseats.com points to a 2008 study that found a chemical in artificial butter flavor linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The same study found that some microwavable bags were lined with a material linked to respiratory diseases. These respiratory diseases were found in people who worked in microwavable popcorn factories. The condition is nicknamed “popcorn lung.”
Findings like these pushed some consumers away from microwavable popcorn. TeMika Grooms, a popcorn enthusiast, loves popcorn but doesn’t own a microwave. Grooms chooses to prepare popcorn plain, stovetop and with a bit of oil. Grooms claims popcorn to be a stress reliever, and will sometimes add nutritional yeast, brown sugar and cinnamon, or chili powder and cumin for flavoring.
Other enthusiasts go about popcorn preparation differently. Carletta Coleman says, “I like the crunch [of popcorn], but there are too many chemicals in the bags.” She prepares it stovetop with olive oil or avocado oil, no salt, and no butter.
Turns out, plenty people are willing to stop and talk popcorn on a moment’s notice. Sharon Browning adds a few semi-sweet chocolate chips to her popcorn, while Jennifer Moore also doesn’t own a microwave and instead opts for an air popper which she purchased though claiming to only eat popcorn occasionally. Moore chooses organic brands and buys in bulk from Wholefoods.
This group was together when I encountered them on a random, sunny Sunday afternoon, and they seemed surprised at some of the answers to my questions about popcorn preferences. They began to trade recipes. Coleman’s brother once brought her kernels from an Amish farmer’s market. She gushed about the fresh taste and quality. “They weren’t really selling it,” Coleman said of the farmer’s market. “He [her brother] just happened to mention popcorn and they brought some out for him.”
The number of popcorn consumers is great and growing greater still.
Consumer Goods & FMCG forecasts growth in the number of popcorn consumers for the next couple of years, going from 235.3 million to 238.4 million by 2024. The global pandemic didn’t slow consumption, with the number of consumers going from 231.77 million in 2019 to 235.3 million for 2022. The top three popcorn brands purchased in the last three years are Orville Redenbacher, Act II, and Pop Secret.
Crunch ‘N Munch squeaked into the top 10 at just over 10 million consumers for 2020, though far off the mark from Redenbacher’s №1 spot of almost 65 million consumers.
But Crunch ‘N Munch isn’t a plain popcorn. In fact, it can be considered a bit adventurous, and it is without question pre-popped. Pre-popped is another segment of the popcorn market that’s on the rise. The reason is not all about chemicals and packaging either.
In the 2013 AdAge article, Pop Psychology: Ready-Made Popcorn Gains on Microwave Brands, E.J. Schultz contrasted the times, saying that in “1980s, microwave popcorn was all the rage….But today even a few minutes might be too long for some consumers, whose obsession for convenient eating is sparking growth in the ready-to-eat, or pre-popped, segment.”
Like those who came before to answer the call for microwavable popcorn, other businesses are now entering the popcorn market to answer the cravings for new, adventurous flavorings and ready-to-eat pre-popped popcorn.
Savannah Rae’s Gourmet Popcorn in Savannah, Georgia will celebrate eight years in business on June 5, 2022. They’ve come through the trials of COVID-19 stronger than before, seeing their online sales triple during the pandemic. Owner and founder Jamie McAllister works on some aspect of the business seven days a week. “I’ve put everything I have into it for eight years.”
He moved to Savannah to start the business in honor of his mother, Rae McAllister, whom the business is named for and who also enjoyed popcorn nearly every evening.
McAllister attributes his success to work ethic, a superior product, and the fact that “we don’t do anything else.” Location is also key, according to McAllister. A lot of the foot traffic comes from tourists, and Savannah Rae’s is currently №5 on Trip Advisor, behind mostly shops that have been in the area for decades.
Popcorn flavors are anything but expected. The crab-legs-flavored popcorn I mentioned is from Savannah Rae’s. They also offer mint Oreo, blueberry cheesecake, key lime pie, cilantro lime, hot wings and ranch, and sriracha. And then there are the calendar-specific flavors. Christmas, the biggest holiday for the store, brings eggnog-flavored, white chocolate-flavored, and pumpkin pie-flavored. Summer brings hot-weather favorites like lemon meringue-flavor. At any time of year, there are over 150 flavors to choose from.
Turns out popcorn is a perfect food for flavor experimentation. In Atlanta, Georgia, Caja Popcorn owner and chef Nick McCormick says popcorn naturally allows seasonings to take well. The light flavor and fluffy texture of popcorn doesn’t overwhelm on its own. To coat his popcorn with flavor, he might create and emulsion of oil and seasonings or toss with butter before sifting seasonings onto the popcorn batch.
Caja Popcorn started as a storefront on Peachtree Battle in Atlanta. The then-owner brought in local chefs to add flavor and a bit of gourmet feel to the brand. In 2018, McCormick took over the business.
McCormick looks to go fully wholesale with Caja Popcorn now that it’s no longer a storefront business. He knows, RTE, ready to eat, snacks are becoming bigger than ever. And there are multiple opportunities for sales beyond storefront and store shelves. And it turns out popcorn consumption isn’t only about movie-theater munchies and at-home crunching. The gifts segment of the popcorn market can be quite robust.
Savannah Rae’s provided customized popcorn for a Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation event for the launch of their G7 model. McAllister said his company produced 5,000 bags of blue-and-white popcorn.
Continuing on the subject of custom product for a bit, McAllister created tiramisu-flavored popcorn for a hotel in Savannah, whose name he wouldn’t give, “And that’s the only place you can get that flavor from us.”
Another hotel, this one in Nashville, Tennessee, is the only place to find Savannah Rae’s Nashville Hot flavor. Once a custom flavor is created, McAllister doesn’t offer it online or in the store. “I want it to be something special. If you can find it, you can get it.”
His passion and commitment to excellence came through in his tone. When I mentioned that very thing to him, McAllister responded, “My own wife can’t believe how passionate I am about it.”
He quite literally takes momentous occasions personally. For instance, when a bride orders Savannah Rae’s for her wedding, McAllister does the entire order himself without help from his staff. That’s the level of perfection he desires for his popcorn. He calls it the biggest compliment his company can get when a woman has ordered his product for “the biggest day of her life.”
McCormick with Caja Popcorn created Hawk’s Blend, which he described as spicy and cheesy. Hawk’s Blend was sold in venue during the eastern conference playoffs of 2021.
Delta Airlines gave away Caja Popcorn during their thank-you surprise days for passengers boarding their planes. Chick-fil-A gave Caja as part of their onboarding welcome, and Home Depot during team-building field trips.
Popcorn has travelled a long way since it began popping onto the scene in theaters as it’s now enjoyed anywhere and with creative flavors.
By the way, my crab-legs-flavored popcorn tastes uncannily like the seafood slathered in butter. In fact, I’ll open the bag of loaded-baked-potato-flavored to go right along with it.
Happy popcorn snacking! Wherever you are.
