We recently connected with Becky Quinn and have shared our conversation below.

Becky, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a customer success story with us?

One of our favorite success stories happened with The Great Wolf Lodge. The Great Wolf Lodge came to Poppin’ Love looking for custom amenities for their large group guests. They used to put together their own boxed amenities for guests which were not only a very time consuming process for their employees to put together, but were also not custom. They wanted something fun that would pair their characters with our popcorn flavors. We worked with their marketing department, who came up with some fun popcorn flavor names, that we used to create custom labels for the packaging as well as creating some new popcorn flavors for them. One of their characters is named Violet and they wanted a fun “purple” popcorn that they could pair with that character, so we created a Tutti Frutti popcorn flavor. This was such a fun and creative project to work on and The Great Wolf Lodge was so happy that we were able to create something to meet their needs. They love that they now have a custom amenities for their special guests.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

The story of POPPIN’ LOVE began more than 35 years ago when a little girl had her first taste of caramel corn…and fell in love! Since then, that girl has spent countless hours perfecting recipes and making endless batches to gift to family and friends.

The taste of POPPIN’ LOVE’s caramel corn is above and beyond other brands. Some say it is delightfully addictive and many have shamelessly confessed to hiding it so they can have it all to themselves! People have often asked if there is some magical ingredient that has been used in the recipe that makes them not want to stop eating the popcorn until it is all gone! The simple answer to this question is “YES” there is a magical ingredient, and that is LOVE! (There are a few other secrets, but we won’t give them away.)

All of our popcorn varieties are made with the highest quality ingredients and are packed with tons of flavor! The texture of our popcorn is like no other. It does not have your typical “hard glazed” finish. It has a light, crunchy, airy finish that melts in your mouth and doesn’t stick to your teeth.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Poppin’ Love opened for business six months before Covid hit. Before Covid most of our business came from corporate clients and live events. We worked primarily with Corporate clients to supply popcorn for popcorn bars at sales meetings, holiday parties and celebrations. We also provided popcorn favors to our clients for various uses such as conference booth amenities, welcome bags and meeting snacks. We were even supposed to have provided popcorn for a popcorn bar at the Democratic National Convention that was being held in downtown Phoenix. Days before the the Democratic National Convention was supposed to happen is when the world shut down due to Covid. Along with the world shutting down, Poppin’ Love’s business came to a screeching halt! Everything that Poppin’ Love had provided popcorn for was usually “in person”, and now “in person” no longer existed. Poppin’ Love, along with most other people in the event industry suffered greatly because our way of business was completely halted without any notice. Months went by with no business
and we had to pivot as did many other businesses.

Poppin’ Love had the opportunity to place our products in a local boutique which helped us keep the business going through most of Covid. We also had some of our corporate clients reach out about sending some popcorn treats to their employees’ homes. Little by little more business came back and now in 2022 we are in full swing again…..it’s business as usual…it’s actually better than it ever has been!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Before I started Poppin’ Love, my experience with social media was solely with Facebook. I had a personal Facebook account, which I never posted to, and that was it! Obviously, I needed help…and FAST! A friend of mine told me that I needed to get on Instagram, so I did, and she taught me everything I needed to know. It took awhile to build an audience, but fortunately my product helped with that. I used a professional photographer for my products so I had great pictures to post, which is key to selling a product. Our “Lifestyle” pictures of our popcorn really got the attention of many foodies and food bloggers on Instagram. I had many foodies reach out to me about my product and wanting to try it, so I sent out samples for them to try and review on their page. I noticed that as they posted reviews on my products I would gain followers. I gained the most followers when I would offer to have these foodies do a giveaway with my product because they would require people to follow me in order to be eligible for the giveaway. This is really how I have gained most of my followers!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.poppinlove.com
• Instagram: @poppinlovepopcorn
• Facebook: @poppinlovepopcorn

Image Credits
Timeless Present Photography