Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Mariel.
Lauren, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I always like to preface my story with this… I didn’t set out to begin a ready-to-eat popcorn business nor did I ever dream of being in the food industry. It still continues to blow mind to this day that I own a popcorn company of all things. In fact, I was working a corporate job in sales and marketing, but when my mother (a.k.a. my best friend) received an unthinkable diagnosis, I decided to quit my job to spend more time with her and help her through treatments. I also immediately felt like I had to take action in whatever way I could to help and support my mom and ALL other women for that matter.
Throughout my childhood, one of my favorite activities was making stovetop popcorn with my mom. Naturally, memories of these special times spent together resurfaced when my mother was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer.
Heartbroken with all of this news, I attempted to channel my emotions into something positive… which is where Live Love Pop comes in. I decided to start a popcorn company to honor my cherished memories with my mom. Right away I knew I wanted Live Love Pop to have real meaning and purpose behind it. With this in mind, I launched our Selfless Snacking campaign which would is attached to all the bags/flavors. This is where a portion of sales from Live Love Pop go to various charities and causes that are making a difference in the world.
When I look back at this time, the vision and idea were the easy part, however, getting started was a completely different story. With no industry experience or knowledge, I had to do a lot of research and learning on my own before getting started. After coming to the conclusion that no co-packer could pop the way I wanted them to pop (which was obviously the way my mom taught me), and/or wouldn’t work with me because I didn’t have the volumes they were looking for, I decided to buy my own popcorn machine and try this thing on my own. I started popping for family and friends and small local retailers in a kitchen up in Addison. One of my very best friends and previous employers, Ashlee Kleinert, let me use her office building’s kitchen. When orders started to pick up, we decided to build our own commercial kitchen. Ashlee was kind enough to let us add on to her building and create our very own kitchen right on her property. From there, we were able to ramp up volume. I never dreamt Live Love Pop would grow so quickly, but the orders kept rolling in. Customers started realizing that our small batch of healthy popcorn was much better than what they were found in the big box grocery stores and ready to eat popcorn was fairly new at this point. Additionally, people were drawn to our story and the fact that we were woman-owned and mission-driven.
Once we started gaining larger customers, we finally found a fabulous co-packer out of state that was able to replicate our product perfectly and obviously produce for us on a much larger scale. And here we are today… a national popcorn brand. If I’m being completely honest, I NEVER in my wildest dreams thought we would be where we are today, but I couldn’t be happier with how the brand has evolved.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
As any typical entrepreneur would probably say… the road has been anything but smooth. BUT I wouldn’t change this road or journey for anything!
The biggest challenge would have to be the amount of work and energy that not only goes into building a brand but getting it out there and explaining why it is healthier/better than a lot of the others people are already stuck on. Packaged foods get a bad rep for not being healthy or have the stigma of sacrificing taste for quality (or vice versa). Additionally finding the right manufacturer for your product is difficult and overwhelming. You’re passing off your recipe and brand (a.k.a. your baby) to another team and you have to trust they will put as much love, passion and time into the product as you yourself would — that’s NOT easy to find.
Please tell us about Live Love Pop.
Live Love Pop is a woman-owned, mission-driven healthy line of popcorn. We base our flavors off of popular potato chip flavors in the market — So basically, we’re just providing a healthier base with ALL of the flavors you crave sans the fat and calories you get with chips. We give back to charities with each various flavor of popcorn. This is called our Selfless Snacking Campaign.
I am the CEO and Founder of LLP. I specialize in overseeing the company in addition to handling sales and marketing. These are two things I genuinely have always enjoyed doing.
I’m most proud of our Selfless Snacking Campaign. Live Love Pop is a mission-driven brand and the fact we get to wake up every day knowing we are making a difference in our world with each bag sold makes me very proud. Purpose in life is everything, and I truly believe this is Live Love Pop’s (and my) purpose.
What sets us apart from others:
1. Woman-Owned
2. Mission Driven
3. Unique Flavors that no other popcorn brand has on the market
4. We have custom lines built for our brand so that we are able to mimic the way my mom taught me how to pop. Meaning we pop the classic way in small batches. By “classic,” I mean the oil-popping method. Most brands have switched over to the air popping method since it’s a cheaper, easier, faster way of popping popcorn. The air popping method changes the consistency of the popcorn which I’m not a fan of.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.livelovepop.com
- Instagram: @livelovepop
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiveLovePopPopcorn/
Image Credit:
JLU Photography
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