Popping its way to success in North Central Wisconsin

Rich Palzewic

Staff

August 5, 2024

MINOCQUA – Though the winter of 2023-24 was probably well received by most people living in Wisconsin due to the lack of snow and warmer-than-average temperatures, those relying on the white stuff for business didn’t fare as well.

“I didn’t realize how much business we got from snowmobile traffic or people visiting the area during the winter,” Jim Gleich, co-owner of Minocqua Popcorn and Puffs, said. “This past winter was nice for many people, but not so much for us. It was the first time in the history of snowmobiling in the area that our trails didn’t open.”

Despite the lack of snow, Gleich said since spring rolled around, business for the 20-year-old company, located at 412 Oneida St. in Minocqua, has been good.

“There aren’t many businesses that can say they’ve been around for 20 years, so it’s exciting – we’re still growing,” he said.

Gleich, along with his wife, Pam, and the couple’s son, Josh, and his wife, Mercy, all have a hand in the business.

“We brought Josh and Mercy on board about a year ago,” he said. 

Minocqua Popcorn currently owns and operates two locations – the main store in Minocqua and another one 25 miles away in Eagle River.

Gleich said summer hours at the Minocqua store are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

“Eagle River is a bit different as a town,” he laughed. “They seem to roll up the streets a little earlier here in Minocqua compared to Eagle River.”

Gleich said hours for the Eagle River store (102 W. Wall St.) are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

How the ‘popping’ began

Minocqua Popcorn has had three owners during its two decades of existence, Gleich said.

“We’ve owned the business since (May 16, 2022),” he said. “I grew up in the Chicago area, and my wife grew up in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. When I was younger, my parents owned property in Saint Germain (about 15 miles from Eagle River), and then my wife and I eventually bought property in Saint Germain as well.

Gleich said they spent a lot of summers in the Northwoods.

“We eventually decided to move up here, not realizing we’d buy the popcorn company,” he said. “We’ve lived here permanently for about eight years now.”

Gleich said the seeds of buying Minocqua Popcorn began popping about six years ago.

“When the previous owners opened the Eagle River store, they were looking for a general manager, and they hired my wife to run things,” he said. “She worked for the previous owners for a few years, and then they approached us to see if we would be interested in purchasing the company because they were retiring.”

Gleich said it didn’t take them long to make the decision – and in 2022, they became the third owners of the company.

Going back two decades, Gleich said Char and Frank Moravec began the business in 2004.

“When they opened the original store, it was called the Minocqua Popcorn Company and was in a different location on Chicago Street,” he said. “It was a small store and only had a couple of flavors. Eventually, they opened a store in Eagle River (at a different location than what it is now). They owned (the company) until 2013.”

After retiring, the Moravecs sold the business to Jim and Nancy Wescott, Gleich said.
“They were the ones who moved (it) to the current location in Minocqua,” he said. “Then they opened the Eagle River store again. Jim was a food scientist – he’s the one who started developing the flavors we have now. He’s also the one who brought on the puffs.”

What’s a popcorn puff?

Using seeds imported from Europe, popcorn puffs, Gleich said, look like a little pasta wheel – arriving uncooked and about the size of a penny.

“It’s dehydrated and potato-based,” he said. “Then we put them through an industrial air popper in our factory, and that’s what puffs them up. These are a popcorn alternative. A lot of people nowadays can’t eat popcorn for medical reasons, etc.”

Gleich said there are a lot of flavors they do as puffs that don’t work on popcorn.

“For various reasons, some flavors work on puffs but don’t work on popcorn,” he said. “Our biggest selling puff right now is a lemon bar puff. It tastes like a lemon bar. If you put that flavor on popcorn, it doesn’t work.”

Gleich said he spent six months working under Jim Wescott to perfect the craft.

“I have a culinary background, but this is completely different,” he said. “There’s a lot of science involved, believe it or not, when creating popcorn flavors. Will it work or will it stick to the popcorn?”

Luckily, Gleich said, they also “inherited” Factory Manager Eric Schirmer with the transition of ownership.

“We call him ‘Captain Caramel,’” Gleich laughed. “Besides a storefront, we have a factory in Minocqua where we do all of our popping and coat and bag everything. Eric is good with the science behind it, too. If we didn’t have Eric, we probably wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing because he’s a big part of our company right now.”

Flavors

Ranging from sweet to savory, Gleich said the family often brainstorms different flavors to mix up.

“My wife and I, my son and daughter-in-law and Eric, we sit down once in a while and throw ideas around,” he said. “Based on our discussions, Eric and Josh will then create touristy formulations of a certain flavor we come up with, and then we blindly taste them and give feedback.”

Gleich said if the flavor “gets past us,” it moves onto the next round of taste-testing.

“We take samples to local businesses and friends and ask them to sample before we invest in buying bags and products,” he said. “The process probably takes about six months to create a new flavor – just making sure it’s correct.”

Gleich said though they might like a flavor they’ve concocted, that doesn’t mean others will think the same.

“A few years ago, we came out with an orange dreamsicle (flavor), which, on paper, sounded great, so we let people sample it,” he said. “A couple of people brought up the old baby aspirin flavor. Those are the reasons we have people outside of our four walls sample it before we go with it.”

Gleich said popular flavors include The Minocqua Mix (a cheese and caramel blend) and White Chocolate Pretzel.

“We also have a bunch of different kid and adult flavors,” he said. “We do a brandy old-fashioned flavor, and during Minocqua’s Beef-A-Rama, we have the brandy flavor on special. I couldn’t even tell you how many hundreds of gallons we sell that one day. We also have cranberry popcorn we do and run that on special during Eagle River’s Cranberry Fest. The same thing there – we sell hundreds of gallons of cranberry popcorn that weekend.”

An interesting flavor, Gleich said, is the Carolina Reaper.

“We call that the world’s hottest popcorn,” he said. “It’s a caramel-based popcorn, and we add reaper pepper oil. We sell that in small bags – a lot smaller than our normal-sized bags. It’s more of a gimmicky popcorn, but we have people who sit down and eat it like it’s nothing.”

Gleich said Minocqua Popcorn also offers free samples of anything in the store’s bins – a taste-before-you-buy type of opportunity.

“Every day, we get people who try the Carolina Reaper – some of them can handle it, and some leave crying,” he said.

Shipping nationwide

Minocqua Popcorn, which Gleich said also serves Dan’s hand-scooped ice cream at its Eagle River location, doesn’t just do business in the Northwoods – “it’s nationwide.”

“It’s amazing to me,” he said. “We get orders from all 50 states. I wonder sometimes how people in California, New York, etc. know about little Minocqua Popcorn. During the holidays – the end of November through Christmas – we get bombarded with corporate orders and personal orders from throughout the country.”

Gleich said during peak season – June through August and during holidays – both stores combined have about 15 employees.

“During the peak season, the two stores are busy,” he said. “We’ll hire a bunch of high school kids, and then once the season slows down a bit, we go down to six or seven employees. My wife runs the Minocqua store, I run the Eagle River store and our son bounces back between the stores and factory.”

Gleich said though they never intended to become popcorn store/factory owners, “we love what we do.”

“We’re not the type of people who sit at home and simply count our money,” he said. “The fun is seeing people come in. With a culinary background, I was always behind the scenes and never got to meet and greet people. That’s what it’s all about – hearing the good stories and having people thank us for making great popcorn.”

Statewide recognition

Gleich said Minocqua Popcorn has been a finalist in the “Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin” competition for the last two years.

“Two years ago, we made the Sweet 16 out of 200 companies, which was amazing,” he said. “We were by far the smallest company and ended up losing to John Deere. Last year, we made it to the final 14 and lost to Ariens – simply having their employees vote is probably going to beat us, but it’s been cool to be nominated and make the Sweet 16.”