Our Story
James (my husband) and I (Brenda) started our kettle corn business in the year 2000. At the time we needed to make some extra income and thought it would get us through some “tough times”. Over the years we built a nice size following and started doing several local events every year. In August of 2014, at one such event, we were discussing what direction the business should take. James was working a full-time job and we were only doing the kettle korn on weekends over the summer. As we began brainstorming, a retail popcorn shop began to take shape. As the vision grew, ice cream and snack items were incorporated into the plan and Sonrisers Popcream was born on April 1, 2015, in Clarinda, IA. The first year was a whirlwind. We had more business than we could keep with but noticed that being an ice cream shop everything slowed down a lot in the fall. We wanted to stay open until Christmas for popcorn and by November of 2016, we were starting to get into the groove of things, understanding the ebbs and flows of the business. We 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, we expanded once again, sending our popcorn out to travel across the nation and land on your doorstep.
As was the case with small businesses everywhere 2020 brought on a whole new set of challenges. With everyone staying home and not eating out, it was clear we would need to pivot to survive. We were already selling our popcorn in a few grocery stores and with everything in such chaos, we decided to shut down the ice cream and pizza side of the business and focus on the local grocery store sale until the storm was over and then re-evaluate. Store sales became such a success that we decided to stay with popcorn only. We now focus all our attention on making great popcorn for local store sales and kettle corn events.
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!!