Business : Vinton Popcorn Project to soon offer caramel corn; makes connection with past

Josh Shafer and Jordan Womochil are among VSHS students working on a new caramel corn project.

There’s a new aroma wafting from the popcorn room at Vinton-Shellsburg High School, and an old association helping the entrepreneurs continue their success.

The members of the entrepreneurship class who have been continuing the Vinton Popcorn Project will soon start selling caramel-flavored popcorn.

Advisor Aric Chavala and the students have been working on the project for several weeks, and hope to begin selling it in local stores and on-line in early February.

Flavored popcorn was a popular item when the Original Vinton Popcorn was a national success a few decades ago, says Caitlyn Martin, one of the class members. And caramel as their first flavor was an easy, unanimous choice – it’s a personal favorite of many of them.

Josh Shafer does much of the popcorn cooking for the class, using a new popper bought with funds from a Vinton Community Foundation grant. He adds two packets of caramel flavoring to the oil and popcorn for each batch.

The class members are still working on packaging details, pricing, labeling and deciding on whether to call the new product “caramel corn” or something else. They have set a target date of Feb. 5 for beginning sales, both in area stores and on the Vinton Popcorn Project web site.

The aroma from the popcorn room wafts each day to the library, and down the halls into nearby classrooms.

On Jan. 19 – National Popcorn Day – they shared their popcorn and caramel corn with VSHS students and others. The reaction to the caramel corn among students indicates there will be good demand when the sales begin next month.

Nebraska Popcorn returns

Along with the new aroma, Vinton Popcorn is now relying on an old friend for its supply of bulk popcorn.

The shelves of the popcorn room include several large, white bags of Morrison Farms popcorn. Frank Morrison and his son Brett continue to run the company that was formerly known as Nebraska Popcorn. Since the 1980s, Nebraska Popcorn has grown into a major supplier, and is now known as Morrison Farms.

“They were intrigued to learn about the new Vinton Popcorn,” says Chvala, adding that his class is probably the smallest customer that Morrison Farms now has.

“If it wasn’t for the connection from the past, I don’t think we’d be big enough for them to sell to us,” says the teacher.

The class members like the high quality and cleanliness of the Morrison Farms product. The company uses infra-red devices to clean the popcorn, making it easier for the students to use.

Learning process and growth

The popcorn project has been self-sufficient since receiving a $3,000 initial investment from area business leaders. Students do virtually all of the work, with guidance from Chvala. They keep the web site and Facebook page updated. They handle orders and do the packaging and labeling.

For a while now, Vinton Popcorn has been available at the Vinton Palace Theatre. The class has continued to sell its products in several Vinton stores, and has recently expanded to Roy’s Hometown Grocery in Shellsburg. Vinton Popcorn is now even available at the concession stands at home Center Point-Urbana athletic events.

The successful local and on-line sales have helped the Popcorn Project remain viable, although the advisor says there is more potential for profit.

“I’d like to say we are making money hand-over-fist, but we aren’t,” says Chvala. “We make mistakes and those mistakes cost us.”

The project, like any fledgling business, has overcome a variety of challenges, including issues with quality control, a problem with the bar code labeling, learning the different processes and paperwork necessary for each business customer, and even with the necessary government documentation.

But the students say learning those lessons now and the new challenges they face every day are part of the reason they enjoy the class so much.

“I want to have my own business,” says Shafer, who also has a new invention in mind for that business venture he hopes to begin after high school.

Students says they joined the class because they heard from others that it’s fun. They say there’s something new every day.

See the Vinton Popcorn Project web site, with links for ordering popcorn HERE.

See the class Facebook page HERE.

See more photos HERE.