Learn About Us
About
The Process
Our gourmet popcorn is made by hand, every time. We have unique flavors in our recipes that are bound to have you begging for more. Even at a large scale, we are able to hand-coat our popcorn and make sure you are getting a burst of flavor in each kernel.
Popping Kernels since
2000
Gourmet Popcorn
Made in Clarinda, Iowa
James and Brenda started their kettle corn business in 2000 when they needed to make some extra income and thought it would get them through some “tough times”. Over the years they built a nice size following and started doing several local events every year. In August of 2014, at one such event they were discussing what direction the business should take. James was working a full-time job and they were only doing the kettle corn on weekends over the summer. As they began brainstorming, a retail popcorn shop started to take shape. As the vision grew, ice cream and snack items were incorporated into the plan and Sonrisers Popcream opened April 1, 2015, in Clarinda, IA.
The first year was a whirlwind. They had more business than they could keep up with but noticed that, being an ice cream shop, everything slowed down a lot in the fall but they wanted to stay open until Christmas for popcorn sales. By November of 2016, they started to get into the groove of things, understanding the ebbs and flows of the business. They added some sandwiches and pizza to help make up the difference between the end of the ice cream season and the beginning of the Christmas popcorn season. In November of 2019, they expanded once again, sending their popcorn out to travel across the nation and land on your doorstep through website sales. Slowly over the years, their popcorn began to show up on local grocery store shelves. And by the time the crazy Covid pandemic hit in 2020, they were in about 30 grocery stores.
In March, when things became unpredictable, they didn’t hire their normal ice cream staff and eventually closed the doors of the retail shop and rode out the year on grocery store sales. Wholesale soon become front and center of their business and when Spring of 2021 rolled around there was a big decision to make. Ice cream or no ice cream? The popcorn had always been the vision, so with a lot of prayer the decision was made to no longer sell ice cream and sandwiches but change the focus to growing the wholesale side of the business. They did keep a few retail hours to sell popcorn out the shop but the main focus is now kettle corn events, wholesale and website sales. Their message to you is this – Popcorn is no longer a way of earning extra money to get through the “tough times”; it’s our way of life. Popcorn has become our passion. We hope you love eating our product as much as we love making it for you. ENJOY!!
Made In-House
Daily
