Bits & Pieces Craft Co. celebrates growth

Chris Rugowski

Contributor

March 2, 2026

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Popcorn, local entrepreneurs Linda and Scott Heineck said, goes with everything – including success.

In just four years, the Heinecks said their business – Bits & Pieces Craft Co. – has exceeded all expectations, popping its way into both the hearts and bellies of the community.

Linda said 2026 is shaping up to be a year of growth for the business, with their popcorn success driving expansion in two directions: new treats like cotton candy and donuts, and a revamped production and packaging space to meet increasing orders.

Let’s get popping

Linda said the story began with Scott experimenting with a small tabletop popcorn popper, enjoying the process of creating and sharing flavored batches with his coworkers.

However, when his coworkers continued to ask for more flavors, Linda said what began as 20 flavors quickly expanded to 50.

When they decided to expand beyond friends and family, Linda said they initially sold Scott’s creations at garage sales.

The concept took a giant step forward, she said, in early spring 2022 when they learned about the Wisconsin Rapids Downtown Farmers Market. 

With the paperwork filed, a handful of flavors and product bags ready, they made their first market appearance that June under a canopy tent.

“A lot of people liked it, except they thought I was buying it from someone else, bagging it and selling it,” she said.

To make it clear the popcorn was their own creation, Linda said they had a banner created featuring photos of themselves with their poppers.

“It was a crude-looking banner, but it worked until we got professional banners created,” she said.

Learning as they went, Linda said they realized the best way to get noticed was to hand out samples directly to the crowd, since many didn’t know what Bits & Pieces offered.

This, she said, continued until they acquired a small trailer to transport the kettle corn popping machine, which boosted both their visibility and sales, as customers could watch Scott making the popcorn.

Linda said Bits & Pieces’ first significant sale came in the summer of 2022, when Vista Royale, a local campground, ordered popcorn for its Fourth of July celebration.

“They sold it out of their clubhouse, and when people caught wind of this, I began to get questions and comments about the popcorn,” she said. “It was all positive, and it all just grew from there.”

It’s all about the flavors

When Bits & Pieces first began selling at the markets, Linda said they initially skipped the classic butter flavor, focusing instead on kettle, cheese and other unique varieties to position themselves as a gourmet brand.

“You have to learn what people are going to want,” she said. “At first, it was a lot of guessing what people might know and like, such as caramel corn, and then you bring another flavor and that becomes popular, so then we try to make more of that flavor.”

Linda said they know samples are key to driving sales, recognizing that most people aren’t likely to spend their hard-earned money on something they haven’t tried first.

A perfect example, she said, is the banana-flavored popcorn – inspired by the taste of banana Laffy Taffy – which has quickly become one of their most popular flavors.

The Heinecks said their popcorn journey has been a mix of trial and growth, honing their skills along the way, while continually inventing new flavors.

Linda said they’ve come a long way from the basics – cheese, butter and caramel – now developing unique varieties inspired by customer suggestions.

“There are so many good flavors right now, and we’re adding in the ‘experiments’ a little bit at a time,” she said. “One thing we got asked for was a hotter flavor. We have jalapeno, which has a good flavor, but not much heat. So, we created Blazing Hot and used capsaicin, and that got hotter, of course, but now we have Mango Ghost Pepper, which sneaks up on you.”

For those who prefer less heat, Linda said their Bacon flavor is a favorite, particularly around Father’s Day. 

Noting that it could be a bit heavy on its own, she said they began combining it with other flavors like ranch and loaded baked potato, which also became favorites.

Linda said their candied popcorn also comes in a variety of flavors – from black cherry, sour watermelon, green apple and grape to seasonal options like pumpkin spice and cranberry. 

With improvements to flavor intensity and customer input, Linda said the menu – now at about 50 flavors – continues to grow.

Branching out for 2026

Starting in 2026, the Heinecks said the once-exclusive popcorn business plans to expand into cotton candy and donuts. 

While reviewing their popcorn supplier catalog, Linda said they considered what products would complement their offerings and decided to pursue these new treats.

“I told my husband, ‘We’re not doing the coated and candied nuts, and funnel cakes because that was a lot of work and messy,’” she said. “We decided on the cotton candy, also because there are lots of different flavors, and we can go into the gourmet side of it.”

Using the same trial-and-error strategy they applied to popcorn, Linda said they plan to experiment with cotton candy flavors this year, learning what people know, like and will buy. 

The key questions, she said, are straightforward: will cherry and blue raspberry stay popular, and does the treat appeal more to adults or to kids?

For adult customers, Linda said they plan to explore flavors like coffee, espresso and adult beverage-inspired options – such as merlot, bourbon, champagne and rum.

Though eager to offer cotton candy, she said learning to spin it is an entirely new hurdle for the couple.

“There is a lot more to it [than you’d think],” she said. “It can be messy, and with that, a lot more cleaning as well. Bearing that in mind, the cotton candy is going to be sold packaged, pre-made for the time being.”

The decision to add donuts, Linda said, came largely because farmers’ markets start early, and customers aren’t quite ready to buy popcorn in the morning.

“We’re selling State Fair donuts, which are pre-made, but we can put chocolate, sugar and other flavors on them as you like,” she said.

Slow, steady growth

As far as they know, Linda said Bits & Pieces is one of the only popcorn sellers in the area – and they’re fine with that. 

“Everything is better if it’s small-batch, and we’re considered small-batch,” she said. “I always say pop for the people you know, your neighbors, your local community.”

Linda said the connections they’ve built over the last four years have turned into friendships and even family-like support.

Events like farmers’ markets and The Food Truck Lot – a Wisconsin Rapids staple located at 940 Huntington Ave. – she said, helped them meet other vendors, learn about the local food truck scene and create a network that continues to support their growth.

“When we started in our canopy at the farmers market, everybody was super friendly, letting one another know about events,” she said. “I remember the lady across from us told us about events, so we went to those, and those led to another because someone was looking for a kettle corn popper.”

By 2024, after two years in business, Linda said their growth allowed them to invest in a custom food truck trailer tailored for popcorn sales, and now cotton candy and donuts.

The trailer, she said, resembles an old-fashioned popcorn cart, with colors designed to resonate with every age group.

“We get the older folks who tell us stories of remembering a popcorn trailer on one of the city corners in Wisconsin Rapids,” she said. 

To ensure the trailer would fit their individual needs, Linda said they selected a Georgia-based company that customized it to fit Bits & Pieces’ workflow needs.

“We told them we wanted the outlets in certain places, windows in certain places and then our back door can be used as a platform to put the kettle corn cooker on,” she said. 

After a year with the trailer, Linda said they are in the process of revamping the interior to make operations even more efficient.

From their garage to a canopy and now a food trailer, Linda said it’s rewarding to see how far the business has come – noting that “everything” about its scope has changed.

“It’s changed how we operate and are perceived,” she said. “When we were in a canopy, people didn’t know what we sold and people would walk past us a lot. Now, people see the trailer and walk right up. Not only that, the food truck works as a great shelter in almost any weather scenario.”

Popping growth

Linda said she never imagined she’d be running a popcorn business full-time.

In fact, during her first farmers’ markets, she said she would have called it just a hobby to stay busy.

“It wasn’t expected when I started [that it would grow into a full-time operation] – it was just something to do on my day off,” she said. “So, I’m glad [the growth] was all very organic.”

With growing interest from market-goers wondering about her absence on alternate Saturdays, Linda said she eventually decided to make every Saturday at the farmers market a regular commitment.

“I wasn’t doing anywhere near full-time, but we sold enough that I could do that, and it was encouraging,” she said.

With their custom food truck trailer completed in 2025 – just in time for The Food Truck Lot – Linda said she leveraged the boost in sales and networking opportunities to reduce her other work to part-time, and as of this month, is running Bits & Pieces full-time.

“To not have a regular paycheck coming in is pretty scary, but at this point, Bits & Pieces can pay its own bills,” she said. “Buying the trailer and building it out was a huge investment, but we see it being paid off and making money in the future.”

Linda said she credits the food truck community with inspiring her to pursue Bits & Pieces full-time.

Early on, she said, she noticed that while some vendors were already running their food trucks full-time, most were working to transition out of their regular jobs and make the food truck their main focus.

“Even in Wisconsin Rapids, everybody loves a food truck,” she said.

Linda said the business has grown so rapidly over the past four years that in 2025, they converted nearly their entire basement into a production facility.

Before the renovation, she said just one room handled everything – from cooking and packaging to accounting.

“We moved things around so we’d have an office, because we had to print labels and do the necessary office things,” she said. “We didn’t have enough room for the packaging in the cooking area anymore.”

Originally, Linda said the basement had a wall area around the office with a small countertop for bagging and labeling, but storage space was limited, and the area quickly became cramped. 

So, after reassessing their needs, she said they tore down the walls separating the office and production space, moved the office to its own dedicated room, created three rooms for packaging and product storage and added another room for extra bags and cups.

“I’m still getting used to it, because I have a ton of room, and I have to remember not to spread out too much more,” she said. “I am at capacity for my house now.”

Regardless of their growth, the Heinecks said staying local remains a top priority for them.

Check out the business’s Facebook page for more details – including information on upcoming events.