Kristy and Coulter Lewis are bringing their reinvented popcorn product to life with the help of micro-finance, crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter.
The couple”™s company, Quinn Popcorn, seeks to create flavored microwavable popcorn with no preservatives or chemicals.
“We loved microwave popcorn growing up, but we eventually learned what goes into it,” said Kristy Lewis, who with her husband Coulter, are natives of Darien. “For years we thought pure honest microwave popcorn with unique flavors was just around the corner, but it never happened.”
The couple, who now live in Arlington, Mass., developed a stripped-down popcorn bag made entirely of compostable paper.
“That”™s just never been done before,” Coulter Lewis said. “We call it the Pure Pop Bag.”
The couple has developed three varieties of popcorn that each use organic ingredients including lemon and sea salt, parmesan cheese, rosemary, Vermont maple and sea salt. The oils and spices are poured on from a separate bag after popping the corn. That makes it possible to use all natural ingredients, Coulter said.
“It took a lot of work, a lot of trial and error, but with the help of our family and friends, blog followers and fellow food entrepreneurs we”™re about all ready to get it out there,” Kristy said.
Coulter said the company has vendors, ingredients and packaging ready for its launch, but it needs a little financial booster.
“We turned to Kickstarter,” he said.
Manhattan-based Kickstarter is essentially a website where project creators can post projects with a self-determined funding goal and time period. Then independent individuals are able to pledge any amount to a project if they decide the projects goal resonates with them. If funding is not achieved within the time period, the money is returned to project supporters. Kickstarter typically encourages project creators to offer some form of thank you to its supporters, whether it is a handwritten note, as the Lewis”™ have done, or a mug or T-shirt. “It really enables people,” Coulter said. “It”™s really amazing that it works, but people who have not heard of it find it very difficult to understand. Once you sit down and go on you”™ll find yourself wanting to see projects come to life. It really allows positive businesses based on amazing ideas to flourish.”
Pledges are made directly on the site and go through Amazon”™s secure flexible payments service. No rights to the products funded are taken by the website, only a fee to set up a project profile. The Kickstarter funding for Quinn Popcorn began July 6 and will last for 30 days. Quinn Popcorn has set a goal of $10,000. Projects are able to receive more than their set goals.
“We decided on 30 days because for a project like ours Kickstarter shows that that is a good time period for likelihood of success,” Coulter said. “We found that Kickstarter really helps you find out what time period and financial amount will work for you.”
Projects on Kickstarter can range from large to small, from products and startup companies to films and music albums and tours. According to Google Trends, New York is currently the state with the highest level of Kickstarter online use and Tarrytown has the highest level in the state. Tarrytown has four successful Kickstarter projects including Evolve Dance, “Hazard” the film, True Apothecary EP and Sterling Sweets Bakery. Of Fairfield projects currently being funded on Kickstarter Bridgeport has two, Danbury has one, Shelton has two and Greenwich has one.
“I think Kickstarter is just starting to pick up steam here, it”™s being used much more avidly on the West Coast,” Coulter said.
Kickstarter also urges its project creators to post videos explaining their products and helps guide project creators through the process.
“The projects actually feel more human when the videos are not overly professionally made,” Coulter said. “It gives you some examples of what others have done, and what was successful and what wasn”™t. We actually went on and found a project that had achieved similar goals to ours and looked to that as a template model.”
Quinn Popcorn will be sold online, in select Whole Foods Markets and in area specialty markets starting three weeks after its Kickstarter project expires.
Editor”™s note: Quinn Popcorn surpassed its goal of $10,000 on July 15. As of July 22 at 9:30 a.m. the company”™s Kickstarter project had raised $18,121. The project will close on Aug. 9.
