Meet Sam: the co-founder who turned kitchen experiments into a UK popcorn sensation

• Business name: Popcorn Shed

• Industry: Gourmet snacks

• Founded in: 2016

• Top business product: Business credit card

• Key learning: “Structure your commercials so that you know exactly what margin you are driving from each order.”

Sam Feller and Laura Jackson’s business started with a kitchen and a shared mission: to recreate the luxury popcorn flavours they had discovered in the US. What began as a hobby quickly drew attention from friends and family who couldn’t get enough of their flavoursome experiments. As demand grew, their kitchen laboratory became too cramped, and production moved into the garden shed that ultimately gave the business its name.

From these early experiments, Popcorn Shed was born: a UK-based artisanal popcorn brand known for playful, flavour-packed products, now stocked in John Lewis and enjoyed by snack connoisseurs up and down the country.

How did Popcorn Shed get started?

Laura and I are first cousins who grew up together. Inspired by a shared love of food, we started making popcorn at home in Laura’s mum’s kitchen. We wanted to replicate the luxury popcorn flavours that we’d tasted in the States, and after months of recipe trials — breaking a popcorn machine and hob in the process — we finally hit on our three launch recipes: chocolate, salted caramel and pecan pie.

Production grew quickly (maybe too quickly). We ended up making such a mess in that kitchen that one day my auntie lost it and banished all the ingredients and equipment to the garden shed. At the time we were searching for a brand name, and our friends and family started referring to our new workshop as the ‘Popcorn Shed’. It had a ring to it, so it stuck!

What was the journey like going from kitchen experiments to a full-scale artisanal production process? Were there any unexpected challenges along the way?

We knew we needed to find a professional, accredited manufacturer to produce the popcorn on our behalf. It took us about six months to get the recipes signed off with them, and we had to make numerous tweaks to the formulations along the way in order to fit with their factory setup.

For example, in our initial recipes we finished off the caramel popcorn in a commercial oven to maximise crunchiness. However, this proved not to be commercially viable or necessary when we scaled up to larger industrial machinery.

You describe popcorn as a way of creating memorable moments. What role does that sense of joy and connection play in how you develop new products and flavours?

Popcorn brings people together. Consumers tend to associate popcorn with leisure moments like going to the cinema, gifting, watching sports, or enjoying a movie night at home.

When we develop new products, we always look at how they can make our customers’ lives that little bit more joyful. Innovation is a huge part of our brand promise, so we also sometimes release flavours that allow our customers to discover new tastes that they might not normally associate with a sweet snack, such as pink gin.

As we've grown we've gone cross-category by releasing make-at-home kits, confectionery products and seasonings, which has helped make us a little bit different from anything else on the market. 

What’s been your biggest ‘pinch-me’ moment so far? 

Having our gourmet popcorn stocked in John Lewis was a huge milestone for the brand, and felt almost like a seal of approval from the buying team. We’re really proud of making it onto those shelves.

What financial products have helped support the business?

Our business is highly seasonal, with most of our orders being shipped in the second half of the year. We use credit cards and bank overdrafts to support the impact this has on the business’ cashflow.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start a fun, creative food business?

Structure your commercials so that you know exactly what margin you are driving from each order/account. Too many people enter the industry without a clue about the numbers that sit behind the figures, but these are hugely important to enable you to grow a sustainable, profitable business.

What does growth look like for Popcorn Shed going forward? Are there new markets, products or projects you’re especially excited about?

Yes! We’ll be releasing lots of new products and range extensions this year! I'm sworn to strict secrecy, so I can’t tell you exactly what they are, but they’re super fun and will help to further cement our position as the number one gourmet popcorn gifting brand in the UK.