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Popcorn sales popping

Ready-to-eat snacks offer many flavors, appeal to health-conscious buyers

The Columbian
Published: December 6, 2014, 12:00am
2 Photos
Spicy, savory and other fun-flavored popcorn has become a popular item at The Popcorn Factory, in Lake Forest, Ill.
Spicy, savory and other fun-flavored popcorn has become a popular item at The Popcorn Factory, in Lake Forest, Ill. Photo Gallery

CHICAGO — Popcorn company executive Alan Petrik knows on which side his business is buttered — think flavor combos that go far beyond the classic favorite of cheese and caramel corn.

“People are being very particular about their flavors and profiles that they like,” said Petrik, chief operating officer of The Popcorn Factory Inc., the Lake Forest, Ill.-based subsidiary of 1-800-Flowers.com that sells popcorn gifts starting at $5 for a popcorn card and hitting $169 for a 12-month subscription to its Fresh Flavors Club, with monthly delivery.

He’s seeing the likes of bacon, wasabi and sriracha becoming popular. “It’s not just butter (or) cheese and caramel anymore.”

Indeed.

A boom in gourmet flavors coupled with a reputation for being a healthier snack food are boosting the ready-to-eat popcorn business, with sales growing faster than those of microwave brands.

According to Chicago-based market research firm IRI, ready-to-eat popcorn and caramel corn sales were up by 25 percent, to about $941 million at multioutlet stores for the 52-week period ended Nov. 2, while microwave popcorn sales were down 4 percent to about $851 million.

Consumers are willing to pay more, too, for the convenience of ready-to-eat popcorn, said Jared Koerten, senior analyst at market research firm Euromonitor International. “A lot are gourmet products and very high-end,” he said.

That consumers are reaching for already popped products isn’t a surprise; people are consuming more prepared foods in general, said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst of NPD Group. Fancy flavors also provide a new way of experiencing a familiar snack, he added.

“We love new experiences, and popcorn is a way to get new experiences with different flavors,” Balzer said.

At the Sweet and Snacks Expo in Chicago this year, buyers sampled popcorn flavors as diverse as rogue blue cheese, chipotle caramel and pumpkin seeds, ginger and sweet orange, and toasted sesame and seaweed.

Franklin Park-based Gary Poppins popcorn was among the vendors. The brand plays to the more indulgent side of the category, with 50 flavors that include black truffle, porcini mushroom and white chocolate Oreo mint.

The company’s sales have grown more than 300 percent in the past two years, and its workforce has grown from 30 people last year to 100 today, said president and owner Brian Lipner.

Gary Poppins’ best-seller also is a twist on the Chicago staple of cheddar and caramel corn, tossing in kettle corn rather than the traditional butter. But a coffee and caramel mix, and a bacon caramel flavor also sell well, Lipner said.

“There’s just more snacking happening. People are on the go more than they have been in the past. Also being perceived as a better-for-you type snack is helping to drive the growth also in the category,” Lipner said.

SkinnyPop Popcorn, which started in Skokie, Ill., is a pioneer in the healthier category, hitting shelves in August 2010.

“We were the first to go big in the ready-to-eat category in the better-for-you section. We had the world to ourselves for the first year,” said co-founder and senior adviser Andy Friedman. “We’ve got the name, the packaging and fantastic differentiated flavors that everybody is trying to copy. For the last 3½ years, the big guys have tried to knock us off. But we have not skipped a beat.”

Sales for the brand, available in more than 25,000 stores, quadrupled from 2012 to 2013, he said. He expects them to triple this year.

It’s fifth flavor, Hatch Chile, will roll out nationwide in the first quarter of 2015, with others later in the year, Friedman said.

The Popcorn Factory’s sales at retail stores have grown 75 to 100 percent over the past year, Petrik said. The 35-year-old brand is primarily known for Internet sales, but is available in Jewel grocery stores and department stores such as Kohl’s, Burlington Coat Factory, T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s.

The company has about 15 different caramel corn varieties, including some with marshmallows and graham crackers. But the market for the more decadent flavors — chocolate drizzle pecan among them — is here to stay, as well, Petrik said

Hitting retail shelves is a strategy to get more business outside of the third quarter, the snack’s busiest sales period, Petrik said.

“From the e-commerce side, we know we have national recognition. It was a logical step to use the capital that we have to get into these other channels,” Petrik said. In the spring, it launched a Lite Works Popcorn! line with wasabi soy and sriracha flavors to appeal to the health-conscious crowd.

Waukegan, Ill.-based Cornfield’s Inc., whose G.H. Cretors brand is carried in about 3,500 stores including Jewel, Meijer and Whole Foods, is feeling the competition but is still betting on a 30 percent increase in sales next year.

“We’re seeing multinationals comes out with more popcorn SKUs, everything from Snyder’s to General Mills,” said Claire Cretors, president of Cornfield’s.

G.H. Cretors introduced a caramel apple flavor with chunks of apple and yogurt drizzle and recently launched an organic line of popcorn, which includes extra virgin olive oil and “simply salted” varieties.

Cretors said she expects the organic products to be big sellers in January when New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier kick in.

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