Underdogs
We have so much working in our favor and those are the things we focus on. Optimism, after all,...
Minutia, Core, and Epic
A year ago I quit my job and went full time at Quinn Popcorn. It’s been an incredible year,...
Hickory Smoked Cheddar + Olive Oil & Herbs
We are ready to release our first new flavors since we started Quinn Popcorn! We have a super scientific...
Food Startup Friends
When we started Quinn Popcorn we had no food industry knowledge. It was just the two of us, newborn...
Upcycled Biz Cards
We have new business cards. Is this a big deal? Nope. But we did it our way, and I...
Thank You 2012
Just over a year ago Quinn Popcorn was an attic run experiment selling in a few local stores. Now...
Quinn Crew Book Report
It’s never easy to make time for reading, but we are slowly building an QP office collection! These are...
Sticker Shock
Before becoming an absolute food industry nerd I regularly experienced sticker shock. Holy sh*t. That jar of tomato sauce...
Wood, Paint, and Band-Aids
Using my hands to turn an idea into an object makes me feel good. I build things whenever I...
The New York Office
The Nets, The Islanders, Quinn Popcorn??? Well, it’s not exactly complete franchise relocation, but we do have a desk...
Radical Transparency
A few weeks ago Kristy, Quinn, and I packed up to go our first concert in months. We all...
Expo East Wrap Up
Two years ago Quinn Popcorn was just an idea, Kristy’s idea in fact. We knew nothing about the food...
Raise Complete
A few weeks ago we got through the most stressful challenge yet. We took in investors and raised some...
Let it Rain
Ken, a trustworthy, brilliant, master story teller, and investor in QP, asked C.V., Kevin, Coulter and me what we...
Pulling It Together
These are our first business cards. Yup, it only took us 20 months. At first I would give an...
Going Full Time
Prior to yesterday I was working at IDEO, one of the most creative and inspiring companies in the world....
The Summer Crew
This summer is going to rock. Literally. I know the blog has been quiet for a while, but we...
Just Cheese Please
Quinn’s favorite food right now is cheese. In the morning, “cheese pwease”, afternoon, “moe cheese”, evening, “cheese!” I...
Packing Past Dusk
I haven’t packed a single Quinn Popcorn box in weeks. We have hired a small army of packers to...
QP’s Newest Addition
When searching for warehouse/office spaces I forgot one thing, a loading dock. Well, I didn’t actually forget it, I...
Edible Love
Edible Magazine: Edible Manhattan, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, Brooklyn, Seattle, just to name a few. Then there is Edible Boston....
Genetically Modified Organism
I think it’s time to shed a little light on this whole GMO thing. As a techno geek, I...
The State of QP
It’s been too long since we gave a overall update, so here goes. Last week we packed and shipped...
PFOA FUBAR
We try to avoid too much discussion on the bad aspects of typical microwave popcorn. It’s just negative, and...
With A Little Help From Our Friends
Launching Quinn Popcorn has been a ride. One minute we are hanging on a shooting star, and the next...
Tiny Hands, Tiny Fruits
Staying on top of Quinn Popcorn has been making it almost impossible to find time to prepare a wholesome...
Playing With The Big Boys
Over the past 16 months Coulter and I have been going full speed ahead trying to get Quinn Popcorn...
A Little More DailyCandy Recap
Coulter and I just received some of the photos and video taken during the DailyCandy Start Small Go Big...
The War Room
While I’m being facetious with that title, it’s actually not that far off. The battle begins anew every night...
A New Year Ahead
Coulter and I rang in the new year watching Harry Pottery- Deathly Hallows. We started Star Wars, but the...
Live on Chronicle
Okay, so it wasn’t live, but there were no retakes so it might as well have been. About a...
Lemon Rework
About 6 weeks ago, smack in the middle of trying to get Batch 2 underway at our co-packing facility,...
Portland or Bust
Quinn Popcorn’s reach is slowly growing, and connecting with our consumers is getting more interesting (and challenging). We spent...
One Busy Thursday
The Holidays are officially upon us and this week has been a total blur. Today was particularly crazed,...
QP Back Online
Wanted to quickly let you guys know that we have been packing nonstop so we can have QP available...
Up & Running!
We have been pretty silent during the last few weeks, but a lot has happend! Batch 2 has taken...
Mast Brothers Chocolate
Just after Quinn was born my office sent a gift hbasket filled with gourmet this and that. Incredibly nice...
Red Rooster Harlem
If you live in NYC the Red Rooster is a hopscotch game away in Harlem. We visited the restaurant and...
Batch Two – Light Speed is Too Slow
We are making a lot of popcorn this time. Four times more than what we did last time. That’s...
Potential
That’s our new warehouse. It’s 1700 sq ft of empty right now. Ostensibly it looks like no more than...
Calm Before The Storm
We have a few weeks until our next batch comes in. There is a ton of prep involved, but...
Overdrafted
See that up there, that’s our second batch getting underway. Or at least that’s my slightly abstract interpretation that allows me...
CEO,CFO,COO, C*%
I spent the better half of last night looking up internal structures of companies whom Coulter and I both...
Interviewing In Pajamas
About two weeks ago I made a desperate plee for help on our local T.V station, NECN. “Please,...
Here We Go Again-Batch 2
Four months after going to production with Batch 1 we have pulled the trigger and mustered up the strength...
Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast
A friend and one-time colleague reminded me of the above saying recently. Since then I have repeated it roughly...
Quinn Popcorn + Liz Chatfield PR
When we first started Quinn Popcorn our parents were our biggest fans. It’s easy to watch your children take...
DailyCandy & NYC
(Me on 3 cups of coffee by 11am….. I crashed at 4pm* FYI.) Coulter and I attend the DailyCandy Start...
Whoa, Amazon Sold Out
You guys cleared out our Amazon inventory! We blew through the pallet of popcorn in about four days. Running...
An Ally In Whole Foods
Kristy started talking to Whole Foods well before we had a product. I think the first meeting was only...
Batch Two – Bag Edits
All of the feedback we have received on the Batch One page, through email, and in person, has been...
Amazon Is A Go
We have been working on this for a while and written several posts about it and now our popcorn...
Don’t Fall Off!
This is exactly how I feel right now. I am trying to hold on…grasping to stay on this ride…...
Happy Baby = Happy Quinn
I purchased HappyPuffs a few weeks ago and after opening the container something seemed a little off. Long story...
Pallet Out
I felt like I was sending my child off on a school bus for the first time. I didn’t...
A Snippet From Today’s List
If you have noticed, I tend to write updates when I am so overloaded I don’t know what to...
Morning Show Debut
We were so cool and collected up until we stepped onto the set. This was another one of those...
Demo Rhythm
We have only demoed Quinn Popcorn twice at Whole Foods, but the experience so far has been pretty awesome....
One Year Old
Our son Quinn just had his 1st birthday, and Quinn Popcorn turned one a few days after that! This...
Demo Done
So, that first demo went amazingly well. We were totally unprepared, our setup was generic at best, and we...
Demo # 1
Tomorrow is our first demo. It will be at the Hingham Whole Foods from 11:00 – 1:00. I shouldn’t be, but...
And The Winner Is…
About 3 days ago we were way behind in Daily Candy’s Start Small Go Big contest. Honestly, I had...
Batch One
Our Kickstarter backers are just starting to get their popcorn, and we are just starting to get some feedback...
Vote Vote Vote
We had almost given up on the Start Small Go Big competition but we just pulled into the lead....
1st Shipment Out
We had plenty of boxes packed up over a week ago, but we finally got our first set of...
Setting Our Course
Something I am asked a lot is, “How did you start this?” I think the assumption is that there...
Courting Buyers
We have packed up about half of our initial run. A lot of that is going to the Kickstarter...
Well, There It Is
We finally found it. There had to be a mistake somewhere on our packaging. Now we know there is...
Still Packin’
We have been a little quite on the blog front for a few days. Essentially, if you don’t see a...
Vote for us on Daily Candy
So, exciting news! We have been nominated as one of the top three finalist in the food & beverage...
Public Speaking in Boulder, CO
(photo above was taken by a friend of Alex Bogusky’s) We flew out to Boulder this past weekend to...
Our Common Pitch
A few weeks ago, while we were high off our Kickstarter progress, we decided to take a chance and...
Packing Popcorn
We started packing boxes three days ago. I have to say it feels pretty incredible to see all those...
T-Shirt Indecision – What’s Your Pick?
So, we need to have a load of t-shirts made for our Kickstarter friends, and I just can’t...
Quinn Popcorn Kickstarted
alt=”Kickstarter_Complete” width=”640″ height=”421″ /> Quinn Popcorn Backers, we did it! We honestly can’t thank you guys enough!!! Thank...
One More Kickstarter Day
It’s been 29 days. That doesn’t seem possible, but it has. Now there are only 24 hours left until...
Pallets of Popcorn
We received our first big shipment a few days ago. All throughout the last year we have eagerly met the UPS/USPS...
Kick-Off Your Weekend With Kickstarter Projects
It’s Friday tomorrow, with a LONG working weekend ahead of us! So I am taking a break right now,...
We Found Our Space
Coulter and I have had this detailed vision of where we would put Quinn Popcorn together; of what the...
In Search of Space
The next big step for us is packing up the boxes. We are doing it ourselves which will be...
Quinn Press
We have been getting some really great press lately, and I just realized we haven’t shared any of...
Kickstarter Still Kicking
I have probably refreshed my browser a billion times in the last 15 days. Each time hoping to see...
CoCoa Metro- Chocolate Milk Anyone?
As I was opening boxes in our shipping facility the other day, sweating after moving one darn box,...
Boxes In Hand
A few weeks ago I posted photos of our printer doing a test run of our boxes. Now they...
I Passed!
( Coulter is obsessed with fireworks, he took the above photo a few years ago when we were in...
Tuesday’s Test
I have been studying for two weeks and all day today for my ServeSafe Food Managerial test I am taking...
Confidence & Momentum
The night we posted Quinn Popcorn on Kickstarter Kristy and I each went to bed with a lump in...
A Long Painful Outtake
So it turns out that getting in front of a video camera is difficult, really difficult. We had to...
Popcorn Bag Susceptor
We have said the word susceptor roughly 10,000 times in the past year, and finally I am going to...
Where Do You Want To See Quinn Popcorn?
Trying to get Quinn Popcorn into stores and onto shelves goes something like this: Call a store,...
KickStart Quinn Popcorn
We have officially kicked off Quinn Popcorn on Kickstarter! This is kinda a big deal for us and the response...
Food Safety Test
In order for us to package our popcorn boxes in a shared kitchen I need to take the ServSafe...
Kickstarter Video Woes
Making a compelling video has to be the most important part of a Kickstarter listing. We need a decent...
Putting It All Together
We keep getting asked when we will have our final product. We will receive all of our components during...
KickStarter
There are a lot of cool things happening around funding for startups and Kickstarter is leading the charge. Put...
Hot Off the Press
I spent this morning at our box manufacturer in Connecticut. They gave me the full tour, which, for...
SoWa Open Market
Coulter and I drove to an open market in Boston this past Sunday. The SoWa market is open every Sunday,...
Always Be Closing
Our boxes are printing, our pouches are getting filled, and a pallet of popcorn bags is ready to...
The Amazon Jungle
Since Quinn Popcorn won’t necessarily be available at a store near you right when we launch, we want to...
Blind Corners
We get a lot of questions about how we are so sure this is going to work. We aren’t. If...
Why I Paid $8 For Tea
I have become obsessively introspective when it comes to food purchasing. Bear with me on this one. So, what did teapigs...
Burn Rate
That’s a screen shot from our Mint.com account. (If you haven’t tried mint.com go do it!) As you can see, our budgeted spending...
First Bags in Hand
A few of our first bags arrived yesterday via UPS overnight. Really this shouldn’t be a big deal. I mean, we...
Status Update – Production Craziness
The final days of putting this all together means total chaos over here. Okay, total chose might me a...
Package Design Wrap Up
I posted the box dieline yesterday, but it’s impossible to get a feel for the package from that. This...
COGs Isn’t My BFF (Repost)
Sorry for the repost but this post mysteriously disappeared from our site. So strange. Anyway, it’s more relevant now...
Graphic Design Iron Man
Yup, that’s it. That’s the final dieline. This (and the two other flavors) will go to the box manufacturer...
Organic Red Tape
As I was checking over my list of requirements this afternoon, making sure we are doing everything by the...
Logistical Fun
Well, we knew things were going to come up closer to our deadline, but I kinda hoped that they...
Planogram Shmanogram (oh, and please vote!)
My goal here is probably becoming clear. I will continue to post about the package design until you are...
Box Evolution Continues
A friend and talented graphic designer lent me a hand today. I took his suggestions as well as a...
Early Box Layouts – And My Eyes Hurt
It’s midnight and I have been working on the box layout all weekend. I’m friggin exhausted. I just have...
Colored Husks
Each of our flavors will have an associated color. The colored husks on the front of our packages will...
Launching With These Three Flavors…
There are many reasons why we have chosen the below, but among all of them, we chose them because...
Micromanaged…by My Wife
I need and want to write more posts that contain really hard to find industry knowledge. This isn’t that....
Food Startups In & Around Boston
Starting Quinn Popcorn just outside of Boston has been pretty ideal. We have a ton of idols that began...
Status Update – 6 Weeks!?
Coulter took the above photo on a trip to Munich. It looks like a vacation. Toasted bread with Brie and...
Pretty Busy Little Saturday
I have become a popcorn peddler. We are handing out popcorn samples as quickly as we can make them. It’s...
Rosemary Square Groupers
A few weeks ago Kristy wrote about her little Rosemary breakdown. Following the discovery of a few insects in...
Purely Lemon?
For those of you who have been keeping up with our posts, my ultimate goal has been to find...
In Search Of Parmesan
We found our cheese! It’s amazing how hard it was to find a cheese free of recombinant bovine...
And the Winner Is…
Thanks to all of the comments on the bags, we now have what we hope is the final layout....
Narrowing In On Bag Graphics
Of all the million little pieces that must come together to make a box of our popcorn, the bag...
We Need Your Brain, All of It
This is the part where I ask you for ideas. Our bag needs a name. Yes, we will use...
The Perfect Mixture
That image above cracks me up and it’s the reason I decided to write this post. Kristy is often...
A Brief Fish Taco Vacation
In the 7 months that we have started Quinn Popcorn I have yet to take a break. Yes, I...
Hormones & Spiders
When we think we have it all figured out… we don’t. While on the hunt to find milk that...
Speed Bumps
Remember when we said that we were cruising along at high-speed… well, we have run into a few roadblocks...
Coffee Break?
If you ask me to stop for one second, even to breath, I will tell you that you’re out...
Friends and Family Feedback
For us one of the big advantages of engaging a broader audience this early on is that all of...
From Maple Trees to Maple Sugar
From Sap to Maple- the process of turning sap into syrup and then into sugar. microwave popcorn
Maple Isn’t Just For Pancakes
Sourcing our maple sugar
Papers Papers Everywhere
Completed paperwork is pretty satisfying. It means that we are that much closer to getting Quinn Popcorn on the...
Loving EVOL
Kristy and I keep an eye out for emerging food brands and continue to build a list of the...
Prototype Bags!
Big news for Quinn Popcorn! Reinventing the bag has been a huge challenge for us and we are one...
How Things Get Done
I just witnessed the reason why Quinn Popcorn is heading to market so quickly and I need to pass...
How To Fill Our Pouches?
With a baby in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other…. I wish it was that...
Our New Husk
The graphic design or brand language of Quinn Popcorn is something we talk about all the time and have...
Popcorn Yield
Since we are not using a susceptor in our bag there is some concern that we will end up...
A Fun Status Update
We have started friends and family flavor testing. We have a ton of bags and pouches to fill and...
Sea Salts & Mountain Salts
Before Quinn Popcorn, yes, I was a sea salt user, but now I am completely infatuated with it… admittedly...
Developing Our Visual Brand Language
We have been working with a graphic designer to nail our brands design language. My current and previous...
Flavor Poll
We have been working on sourcing the best ingredients and refining our recipes but there is another important dimension...
Early Package Rendering
The graphic design for the box is not finalized yet, in fact it’s not even close. I...
Bag Update – Getting There…
It’s been a while since we have written an update on the popcorn bag effort but a lot has...
Popcorners via JetBlue
I have been meaning to give Popcorners a try and finally got my chance. They seem to have...
Pitch Cards
Kristy wrote about her meeting with the local buyer for a national grocer in a recent post. The...
Trademarking Quinn Popcorn
We need to federally trademark our logo and company name. For those of you unfamiliar with this, trademarks...
Getting Started With Buyers
In order to qualify as a local vendor, you need to package your product in a facility not...
My “Just Get It Done” List
I need to come up with a better way to write/say "To Do List". It is so...
Justin’s Nut Butter
Kristy’s and I were in Boulder CO a few years ago and came across this amazing peanut butter at...
Inside Out Bag Video
A quick recap on this experiment: I cut the top off of a regular microwave popcorn bag so...
Defining the Brand
Foremost we want to emphasize that out product is natural, and unmolested. Microwave popcorn currently feels manufactured and...
Extracting Oils From Plants
So I did some research and found that there are three main ways to extract oils from plants and...
Just One Handful…
So at this point, I have a love hate relationship with it. Every time I test a flavor,...
Status Update
There are just a couple other topics we need to tackle… Things like brand development, graphic design, launch...
Finding the Right Oil
For all those butter lovers out there, we are not going to be using butter in any of our...
Microwave Bag Experiments
I know I have already said this but we need the bag to be distinct. The bag is...
Peanut Flour
I received peanut flour from a farm in Georgia today. I am A. really excited to try our...
Bag Material Options
We want to avoid coatings such as plastic, wax, or silicones that are needed to make regular paper grease...
Sales Seminar – The Best I Will Ever Attend
I not only took about 20 pages of notes, but was also able to take home a CD of...
Pod Coffee…Really?
This leads me to the question, why is pod coffee so friggin popular? Making a good coffee is...
Discovering Flavors
Between all the sourcing and problem solving we have been diligently trying out tons of flavor combinations. Over...
Popcorn Bag Dissection
I wanted to pull apart a popcorn bag to see what makes it tick. It seems crazy but...
Expo East
A friend of ours who started a food company a couple of years ago suggested that we attend The...
REWORK
Okay, here is my take in a few sentences. Rework makes you more aware of all of the...
The Preparing Experience
Microwave popcorn is a product that was designed and marketed for convenience. Instant coffee and Lunchables are also...
The Popcorn Bag
The popcorn bag is going to be one of our biggest hurdles. The existing bag is optimized and...
And A Little About Me, Coulter
The way Kristy and I work in the kitchen really sums us up. With Kristy at the helm even...
A Bit About Me, Kristy
Instead of sitting on the couch watching the Food Network all day (I would if I could but we...
Why Popcorn
I grew up making Jiffy Pop on the stove. I am sure you are all well aware that there...
Quinn Popcorn Begins
With this post we officially announce Quinn Popcorn. I guess that makes it real in some sense, but it...
