Business & Tech
Your Industrial Park Neighbors: Gold Rush Kettle Corn
Truckloads of sweet, natural kettle corn are popping on East 2nd Street
With the delicious smell wafting distractingly through the office, Benicia Patch interviewed Jason Holdaway, operations manager, at .
How long have you been in the Industrial Park, and what are the advantages of this location?
We moved here from Alamo in 2000. This is company headquarters where we manufacture, produce and package. The location is cost-effective and located near the intersections of the major freeways so we can easily ship our products.
Can you tell me how your products are made?
We cook our natural kettle corn one batch at a time over a patented fire-burning kettle using only four ingredients - no preservatives - soybean oil, popcorn, sugar, and salt. Most major companies use a conveyor belt and spray on flavorings and preservatives. Our packaged product is organic and third-party independently audited. Our Farmer’s Market product is all natural.
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You manufacture kettle corn and the sell the kettle equipment for producing it. How much kettle corn is produced here?
We use five large truckloads of raw corn per year for farmers’ markets, three truckloads for the packaging side. Just to give you an idea, a pallet holds 50, 50-lb. bags of unpopped corn kernels, and there are 20 pallets per truck.
Where does that product go?
We serve 75 farmers markets a week in the Bay Area. We also send out product to our mall division store, Great Mall in Milipitas, and distribute to a lot of natural-type food stores because it is organic - like Whole Foods. We’re also at , Andronico's, Costco, , Beverages and More.
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What other flavors are available and which is most popular?
Our flavors are kettle corn, caramel corn, cheese corn, chocolate drizzle and sea salt. Kettle corn is the most popular. (And, this reporter received a mouthwatering sample. The kettle corn is light-tasting, just the right balance of sweet and salty.)
Where can we get your packaged products in Benicia?
Raley’s and CVS usually carry it. It’s always available online at kettlepop.com.