From garden shed start up to Harrods –multi award winning gourmet popcorn brand goes worldwide
Entrepreneurs Leave Corporate City Jobs For The Garden Shed
Since its launch in 2016, multi-award winning gourmet popcorn brand, Popcorn Shed has gone from humble beginnings in a garden shed to supplying top retailers including Harrods, Selfridges, etc and exporting to over 20 countries worldwide.
Launched by cousins LJ and SF, who both gave up high-flying city jobs to pursue their passion for baking and creating, something they’ve been doing together since they wer old enough to reach the magimix, the entrepreneurial co founders bravely ditched secure, high-paying careers to fulfill their passion to create delicious gourmet popcorn.
Taking this risk has certainly paid off with the pair seeing big growth, with profits doubling year on year. They have gained listings with well known UK retailers such as John Lewis, Selfridges, Harrods, Ocado and the Co-op.
The first in Europe to launch a fully vegan range of popcorn flavours with their innovative Mini Pop! Range, Popcorn Shed has won a number of awards for their packaging and great tasting products.
Sam and Laura came up with the idea for Popcorn Shed during a trip to the US, where they discovered gourmet popcorn. On returning to the UK they realised that great tasting and high-quality popcorn was not easy to source, spotting a gap in the mainstream market.
“ We started experimenting with popcorn recipes in Laura’s mother’s kitchen. As recipe development continued to create the perfect tasting popcorn, so did the mess and we were banished to the garden shed in Laura’s mother’s back garden”, says Sam.
The family started referring to the shed as the ‘Popcorn Shed’, and that’s how they stumbled upon a name for their burgeoning business. From humble beginnings the entrepreneurial cousins now outsource production to two UK based factories and are exporting to over 20 countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal, Sweden and France.
The pair have recently launched three new flavours (Goats Cheese & Black Pepper, Cherry Bakewell and Vegan Caramel) and a Popcorn Shed Advent Calender and are in talks with other leading retailers worldwide.
“ We started experimenting with popcorn recipes in Laura’s mother’s kitchen. As recipe development continued to create the perfect tasting popcorn, so did the mess and we were banished to the garden shed in Laura’s mother’s back garden”, says Sam.
The family started referring to the shed as the ‘Popcorn Shed’, and that’s how they stumbled upon a name for their burgeoning business. From humble beginnings the entrepreneurial cousins now outsource production to two UK based factories and are exporting to over 20 countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal, Sweden and France.
The pair have recently launched three new flavours (Goats Cheese & Black Pepper, Cherry Bakewell and Vegan Caramel) and a Popcorn Shed Advent Calender and are in talks with other leading retailers worldwide.
Gourmet flavours: Vegetarian and Gluten free.
Salted Caramel - Sea Salted Caramel with Belgian Milk Chocolate (Great Taste award winning 2017).
Say Cheese! - Cheddar Cheese Popcorn (Great Taste award winning 2018).
Sweet Cheesus – A mix of Cheddar Cheese and caramel.
Goats Cheese – Goats Cheese with cracked black pepper.
Berry-licious - Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Popcorn (Great Taste award winning 2018).
Butterly Nuts - Peanut Butter Caramel Popcorn with Roasted Peanut Halves.
Pop N Choc - Chocolate Caramel Popcorn with Belgian Milk Chocolate.
Pecan Pie - Caramel Popcorn with Roasted Pecan Pieces.
Cherry Bakewell - Caramel almond popcorn with real cherry pieces. Based on the famous Bakewell Tart, a classic english dessert.
Vegan Caramel - A rich butterscotch caramel popcorn made with coconut oil. You wouldn't even know that there's no dairy!
RRP: £3.50
Available from: Ocado, Amazon, Selfridges and Popcorn Shed.
Mini Pop! flavours: Vegan and gluten free.
Sweet & Salty - The perfect balance of Sweet and Salty
Vegan Toffee - The first Vegan Toffee Popcorn in the UK. Deliciously sweet with a butterscotch flavour.
Sea Salt - Seasoned with a sprinkle of the perfect amount of sea salt.
Salt & Vinegar - A British classic flavour. Zingy, light and wonderfully tasty.
White Truffle - Luxury and fragrant lightly salted Truffle Popcorn. A unique flavour for all the senses.
RRP: £0.89
Available from: Ocado, Amazon, Selfridges, Harrods, John Lewis Food Hall and Popcorn Shed.
