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How To Succeed in The Caramel Corn Business PDF
How To Succeed in The Caramel Corn Business PDF
How To Succeed in The Caramel Corn Business PDF
in the
Caramel Corn
Business
This book is for informational purposes only. Your results may vary from the illustrations in this book.
Costs normally do not include miscellaneous supplies, labor, etc.
But if you have 1,000 to 15,000 guests per day, you should be When you are planning your route of busy fair dates, be sure
doing freshly made caramel corn in at least one location. (And, you are operating your corn treat machine virtually all of the
possibly offer packaged caramel corn in the exit traffic pattern.) hours you are open for business. The first year you play some
spots they wont automatically become mega buck caramel corn
The corn treat concept makes it easy to produce perfect spots, but you will be hard pressed to keep up with the demand
caramel corn all the time. The same is true with fresh-made in the second & third years.
cheese popcorn. And, dont forget threeway combination of all
three. Possibly, the Mark 10, 40 lb. per hour caramelizer is the best for
you. Should you do cheese corn, too? Well, if you wish to do
three flavors, you will need to do the Cheddar Easy concept,
Theatres as well.
When people come to a theatre, many are prepared to spend
$3.00, $5.00 and upward for candy and popcorn. A $2.00 size of Tourist Attractions
fresh-made caramel corn has a food cost of about 25! When its There are many tourist attraction areas frequented by rather
freshly made, you will sell all you can produce. You may need to upscale tourists and shoppers. Freshly made caramel corn is
actually supplement with production and inventory you build almost a necessity in these types of fun spots. Its is part of the
up during off hours. fun of visiting a major tourist attraction area.
The nicest part of fresh made caramel corn in a cinema You cant buy gourmet quality freshly made
concession operation is the fact that somebody else has caramel corn very many places however,
already established with the corn treat concept, casual labor or
a rather substan- even temps can make perfect caramel corn
tial selling price of batch after batch after batch! Theres nothing
around 50 to 55 to it.
per oz. but you
produce for under One of the more important aspects of tourist
10 per oz. attractions is the theme gift tin opportunity. Your tourist
attraction area has its own graphics, logos and designs.
Therefore, incorporate these into a $10.00 and $25.00 gift tin.
More importantly, people like the perception of freshness. The Produce three-way gift cans for take home or gift-giving.
knowledge there is a kernel of whole grain cereal (popcorn) This booklet offers many ideas on how to do a better job of
inside that sweet coating, tends to legitimatize this sweet treat. marketing gift tins.
That cant be beat!
*Food costs may vary slightly.
Secure shopping mall locations, if it is possible, and you want Youll also see a lot of ideas on popcorn, caramel corn, cheese
the aroma of freshly popping popcorn and freshly cooking corn and other fun foods at the Annual Factory (and often
Caramel Coating to be exhausted to the shoppers. When they Autumn) Sales Event sponsored by Gold Medal Branches and
sniff the gourmet flavors, theres no way to pass by without Dealers in selected cities. Be sure to check for the dates and
making a purchase not only a Popcorn or Caramel Corn or location of a Factory Sale near you.
three-way but of other beverages, sandwiches and companion
snacks. Even more important, is the opportunity to develop
seasonal or special message gift tins, starting at the $10.00 size
and going right on up to $25.00.
The section in the booklet on marketing gift tins will give you a
lot more ideas. Remember, if the rent is a little higher, the
shoppers normally have a little more money. They spend a lot
more and you need to do a better job of marketing, so you make
sure that you can pay the rent and hang on to that
profit-making location!
Equipment
Back in the old days, caramel coated popcorn and variety
flavored popcorn was generally manufactured in a copper kettle.
The corn was popped in a regular popper. The coating was
cooked to the proper temperature in the copper kettle, popped
corn was placed in the copper kettle, and a canoe paddle
3. You always sell more because you have more flash, more
pizzazz, and a better-perceived image of freshness when you
have a Gold Medal cooker/mixer in the store.
5. Only Gold Medal sells through dealers. They know the 11. High capacity and the ultimate in dependability, at a very
equipment, have the supplies, and know how. modest cost. We have a Mark 10 for a commercial, 40 lb. per
hour unit. This unit produces four, 10 lb. batches per hour.
6. You are never out of business when you are using two or
more Gold Medal Commercial Corn Treat Cooker/Mixers. 12. Youll see 40%-60% labor savings compared to any other
Not only does your equipment cost far less, one person easily candy coating method.
runs two at a time, cutting labor costs.
13. Less breaking during mixing with our exclusive Gentle-Coat
7. Gold Medal is truly the worlds most experienced Tumbling Action. So gentle that you can even pop medium
manufacturer of automatic candy coating equipment for kernel corn, no need to carry two styles of popping corn.
popcorn, since 1967. This concept works!
14. Its the easiest and fastest clean-up for frequent flavor
8. With the simple method of operating, absolutely no skills are changes. You steam n clean between flavor changes to eliminate
required. With just a few simple instructions and training, even flavor contamination of the next batch.
an inexperienced newly hired employee can get perfect results
every time with the Corn Treat concept. 15. Proven in thousands of installations!
9. A single corn treat operation on adequate voltage, produces 16. Works perfectly with any recipe, but most people build their
five batches per hour, 75 to 80 oz. per batch, almost 25 lbs. per profit foundations with the entire Corn Treat concept
hour. Thats $160 in sales per hour! (At 50 per oz.) caramel, milk chocolate, cheddar and multi-flavors.
10. On a multi-flavor operation with two units, every hour you Retail 4 oz. for $3.00 Food Cost Under 40
can make nine flavor changes, thats up to 27 flavor changes in
three hours another Gold Medal exclusive. Its the ultimate in
flexibility! Still, most of your sales will be caramel, regular, ched-
dar and three-way.
Net weight Yield (includes 3% moisture retention). Net Weight With a little experimentation, you will determine that certain
Yield 80 oz = 8.4/oz.* flavors taste better when you use Flavacol, but certain other fla-
vors might be better to be popped with Color-Pop Salt or com-
Add 4 oz. Butter @ 2.00/lb. $0.50 binations. Some may be better if you pop them with plain white
Total Batch Cost $7.24 coconut oil instead of butter flavored and colored coconut oil. It
really depends on what flavors you want to offer, and what taste
Net Weight Yield 80 oz. = 9 per oz.* is preferable in your market. Generally speaking, a little salt and
a little buttery flavor tend to enhance all other flavors. In other
Basic Corn Treat Concentrated Mix words, if youre making a butterscotch type candy coating, youll
The only way to make a variety of flavors. The Basic want the Flavacol in there all the way. But, possibly not when you
Corn Treat Mix plus four cups of sugar makes a clear glaze make a Blue Raspberry or Bubblegum.
candy. Add the quarter cup of flavor mix to make any flavor.
Confused? You wont be once you get into it.
1 pouch Basic Mix $3.13 To make regular caramel corn, you pop your corn in the
Cup Flavor $1.13 regular manner as described above. In the cooker/mixer unit,
4 oz. White Coconut Oil $0.50 you place 8 oz. of water, a Naks Pop Oil Bar, and a package of
4 Cups Sugar $1.12 Corn Treat Mix Concentrate, plus four cups of sugar. Put on the
22 oz. Popped Corn $1.76 lid, make sure heat is turned on and motor is off. Leave the lid
Total Batch Cost $7.64 on till steam comes out, then remove it. The condensation
dissolves crystals on sidewalls. When the buzzer sounds, the
Net Weight 83 oz (includes about 3% moisture retention) Corn Treat Mixer has already shut the heat off, and you should
Net Weight Yield = 9.2 per oz* turn it off. Turn the motor on, add the stick of butter and add
your 5 gallon measure of regular popped corn. (When the heat
Chocolate Glaze is on and the motor switch is off, the motor actually agitates a
It is easy and profitable. Locations that retail at 33 to 44 per oz few seconds out of every minute just to keep the temperature of
will not charge extra for chocolate. If you sell at 50 to 60 per the mixture uniform across the thermostat probe.) Let it mix 5
oz., you may want to raise your price a little for this premium to 10 turns.
product.
Then, tilt the dump handle up and latch it in the Final Mix
1 Pouch #2090 Chocolate Con. $4.83 position. Mix for a minute or so to make sure that everything is
4 Cups Sugar $1.12 being evenly distributed. Spray in 15 to 20 squirts of the Free
1 Oil Bar $0.56 N` Easy Candy Corn Separator, mix another minute or two,
22 oz. Popped Corn $1.76 then tilt it all the way over. Spread it out and return the kettle to
Total Batch Cost $8.27 the original upright position. Add more ingredients and start
the next batch. Next, spread your original batch just a little
Net Weight about 80 oz. Cost per oz. = 10.3* more. Be careful not to break the tender kernels and dont use
a lot of downward pressure. Rather, take your scoop in hand,
upside down and, with metal-to-metal contact between the
scoop and the cooling pan, run it under the layer of corn and let
it separate gently.
As you change flavors, some people like to steam clean the kettle
for a minute or two. Pour the steam water into a dish pan and
make your next flavor!
1. Sell at least 3 to 5 sizes. 15. Use a $2.00 off coupon in the suburban weekly shopper type
newspapers which goes out to neighborhoods. Feature a flavor
2. Sell at least 3 to 5 selections/sizes of keepsake (re-useable) of the month.
cans, tins, or glassware.
16. Promote standing orders for a college student away from
3. Be ready to accept all major credit cards. home. They would receive a can the first time and then a refill
three times each semester. Charge the credit card when it ships
4. Wholesale to vendors at flea markets, bazaars, fairs, and tell customers they can cancel at any time.
upscale ice cream/candy/nut shops. It could be packaged in
cans or bulk. 17. Manufacturer reps. and industrial sales people can buy
hundreds, if not thousands, as holiday season gifts for good
5. Sell gift tins through local retailers, boutiques, gift shops or customers.
deluxe candy, or ice cream shops. Note: This outlet is almost
endless in scope your success would depend on how
aggressive you solicit this business (as well as the quality you
maintain and the packaging you develop).
7. Feature personalized gift sales (e.g. gift can that could be re-
used with monogrammed initials). You can use local art school
students on a co-op basis.
Now that this industry has more of our 3rd Generation shops, whole idea is to generate sales and profits. If you think
there is a greater emphasis by of the consumer on getting customers like a flavor enough, then you keep it in the line and
product that has a higher perceived quality! We show you how probably eliminate the slowest item you have in your total array.
to sell more with add-ins. There definitely will be regional preferences. Sometimes the
best way to find out whats a top seller is to add natural additive
Raisins: Gold Medal is not in the business of distributing raisins enhancements and promote your flavor of the month.
nor are Gold Medal dealers. However, your neighborhood
bakery buys hundreds of pounds of raisins every month from Dried Banana Chips: Dont make Banana without them! You
his bakery supply house. That supplier may also sell semi- can get them with little effort. Basically, these are processed in
dehydrated, diced appliesanother great add-in. A truly the equatorial regions of Africa, Central America, and the
gourmet popcorn shop operator who wants to emphasize Philippines. Theyre readily available from importers around the
product quality and to the consumer must get a source on U.S. Since they greatly enhance the banana flavor and directly
raisins. After all, the franchise shops cannot use raisins, influence banana glaze popcorn sales upward, use some even if
nor any of these other goodies. you buy them at your local grocery store.
Granulated Nuts: In the Gold Medal catalog, you see our Apple Chips: There are many different types of apple chips
granulated peanuts for use in candy apples and caramel available: freeze dried, dehydrated, diced and
apples. This is the ideal size for peanut butter brittle candy semi-dehydrated, and diced and semi-freeze dried. At
glazed popcorn. But if you prefer larger present, Gold Medal does not stock this item, but if
whole Spanish red-skin peanuts, which you want it, we can help. The apple chips we think are best
are more traditionally used in peanut in a candy-glazed popcorn are thin; the thick ones retain
brittle or in Cracker Jacks, thats moisture and cause sticky product after 4 days.
okay with us. As you look for an
enhanced product, and feature a Shaved Coconut: This is another product you can
flavor of the month (with put in with Chocolate or Pina Colada. Or try
granulated peanuts), you can new flavors for the flavor of the month. Shaved
do it with Chocolate, Toffee, Coconut is readily available in virtually every
Peanut Butter, regular major metro market.
Caramel, Honey, Butterscotch,
and probably several others. The
What Should My Starting Order of Supplies and Ingredients With respect to Corn Treat Flavor Mix concentrated powders,
Consist Of? you should always start off with two cans of each. When you
The answer is not too difficult. Lets assume that you are open up the second can (each can is enough for 15 batches of
planning a shop that will do $250,000 per year. Lets assume that that particular flavor) add another can onto your weekly order.
you want to turn inventory 25 times, and therefore you should
always have enough stock on hand to do $10,000 in retail. By following this guideline, you are in a position to do a
maximum of $6,000 a week, but you will average enough
Your local Gold Medal distributor would normally inventory in-house at any point in time to do about $10,000
recommend that you buy your popcorn 500 lbs. at a time worth of sales in a two week period. Then you will be
(10-50 lb. bags). The proper oil to corn ratio is 30%. Therefore, getting close to a 25x turn on your inventory. We are not
you will need three 50 lb. pails of coconut oil. To start, probably making claims for anticipated sales, or saying that 25x turn on
one will be colored and the other two will be plain white inventory is exact or precise. This is not a precise business.
coconut oil. Always start with one case of Flavacol, the
commercial size (half gallon milk cartons) is probably a little It is very, very important to check your inventory in detail every
better for you than the quart size carton. The 500 lbs. of corn Monday morning. Watch your inventory consumption so that
will give you approximately 9000 oz. of finished product. That you never run out of stock. In this business, when you pay
means ready to sell either as regular or buttered, ready to dust $50.00 or less for 100 lbs. of popcorn and it turns into 5400 oz.
with the savory powder, or ready to glaze. of glazed product, you cant you afford to be out of stock.
Thus far, everyone who has visited Cincinnati for the Corn Since there are more kernels per pound of this medium
Treat concept demonstration and hands-on training has kernel corn, you actually get more volume. Your finished
commented essentially the same way. It more or less goes like 3-oz. container (net weight) looks bigger. Conversely, your
this: Weve tried the rest and these flavors are the best. This one-gallon size give pack actually weighs less when you use
concept is absolutely idiot proof. Its exactly what we want. medium kernels.
Theres no secrets. Everything is so much more open. This is the
concept we want to go with. Im glad we came to Cincinnati. In summary, the only candy coating machine or candy coating
method that can use medium kernel corn happens to be the
If youre looking to open one shop, a visit to Cincinnati Gold Medal Corn Treat equipment. There is more profit for you
gives you the latest innovations and techniques to make an when you use it, and there should be more sales for you if you
outstanding product. ever get into a competitive situation where you are up against
someone who uses the tough type popcorn and throws a candy
Yes, its probably worth spending a few hundred dollars. glaze on it. Yours will be far superior.
Someone said, Gold Medals Corn Treat Machine breaks up How important is the Underwriters Laboratories listing mark
too many kernels of popped corn. Is this really true? and the National Sanitation Foundation mark on a Gourmet
The answer is, actually, that is totally false! The exclusive Popcorn Shop machine?
patented design of the Gold Medal Corn Treat machine gives Unless you are operating in a barn on a farm, far removed from
you three distinct benefits: the city, you may have the Board of Health inspecting your
place of business. The city building inspectors will probably be
The mixing/coating inspecting. The fire marshall will also have a representative
action is so gentle that making inspections. Unless you have the Underwriters
there is virtually zero Laboratory listing mark on the equipment, you may never be
break-up during the able to operate. The only candy glazing equipment which
normal glazing process carries the Underwriters Laboratory listing, is the Gold Medal
(unless you let it set there Corn Treat Cooker Mixer unit.
and mix for five minutes,
which is probably 2 In addition, the only gas fired popcorn machine to get the UL
minutes too long). Even listing (or any other seal of approval) happens to be the Jumbo
if you mix it for an extra minute or two too long, you will still 360. When properly mounted with 6 of clearance on all
only reduce your total volume of finished glazed product by less three sides and 36 of overhead clearance (part of the UL
than 10%and, thats even if you use the more tender medium specifications for installation), the Jumbo 360 would be the only
kernel corn. gas fired popper that could be operated in a public place such as
a shopping center.
Mid-October through the holidays When dealing The following procedure is not recommended, but if you have a
with the manufacturers reps and corporate gift can special order and need to make a lot of extra batches in a short
givers, remember these people make their decisions on period of time, you actually can pre-heat the batch of
what to give really quite early. Possibly, even in ingredients in a 3 to 4 quart saucepan. Once you dump out
mid-September. For sure, start marketing October 1st. batch number one, put the pre-heated mixture in the Corn Treat
machine. While you can dramatically speed up the number of
January a second back to college season cycles per hour, its not recommended for several reasons:
Late January and early FebruaryValentine gift season If you heat the mixture up close to the boiling point,
you can splash it and someone could be burned.
March and April the school booster group fund
raiser season. (This may also be repeated in late With two 4-quart saucepots on a twin hot plate,
September and early October.) what if one batch overheats and burns?
May 1 through August 1st the thank you to home Its very difficult to control the person who
buyers. More people change addresses in the summer, is doing this.
if they have school age children. Work your real estate
agents and develop a season for this market. Therefore, while its obvious that you could figure this out
yourself as a way of getting maybe eight batches per hour out of
You can see that there is a gift tin market virtually every month one Corn Treat machine, we caution you against it because it is
of the year, if you wish to work on developing it. Theres just one not safe. Extreme care and caution must be exercised. Also, and
word of caution mentioned previously that bears repeating: this very important, if you leave the heat turned on in the Corn
Treat kettle and have no ingredients in it for any prolonged
Make sure you check your particular approach to extending the period of time, you can permanently damage the unit. This type
staying quality of your finished product in the tins. There are of damage is not covered under our parts warranty.
many ideas to prolong the life such as:
What is the Flav-R-Tater?
Wrap saran around the top and shrink it to seal. To get automatic savory production, use the automatic Flav-
R-Tater Tumbler. Fill the shaker box to the line with freshly
Tape the lid to the can, but make sure the pressure popped corn, add 1/3 cup of flavor, put on lid, turn on for two
sensitive adhesive is removable. Otherwise, you will minutes. Empty and repeat. See the catalog for more details.
tear off the paint.
Put the entire can in a large What is Cheddar Easy?
poly bag and twist-tie. The Cheddar Easy concept is the easiest way to produce a
true cheese coating on freshly popped popcorn. Either White
Use a poly bag can liner and Cheddar or Regular Cheddar Easy is packed in 35-lb. pails. Its
twist-tie inside. necessary to warm the cheese paste somewhat not above 130
degrees. Then fill a 16-oz. cup with this melted cheese and pour
Dont do anything and depend it over a 5-gallon measure of freshly popped popcorn in the
on the friction seal of the metal Cheddar Easy mixing tub. Turn on the motor and allow it to
lid against the head that is formed mix for a minute or so. When it appears to be evenly coated,
at the top edge of the can.
When the buzzer sounds, add one or two sticks of butter and
a 5-gallon measure of regular popped popcorn. Turn the heat
off and the mixer on. When it is evenly coated, dump it over to
your cooling area and repeat the cooking cycle.
For variety colors and flavors: Use the Basic Corn Treat
Concentrated Mix, 4 cups of sugar, 4 oz. of clear or white oil,
plus a cup of water. Cook about half way then add cup flavor,
agitate and cook until the buzzer sounds.
Please see the Full Gold Medal Catalog for all of the
newest equipment & supply items! Order your copy today at
www.gmpopcorn.com, e-mail us at info@gmpopcorn.com or
call us 800-543-0862.
*Food costs may vary slightly.
GM-001-2012
How to Succeed In The Caramel Corn Business gmpopcorn.com | 800-543-0862
10700 Medallion Drive | Cincinnati, Ohio 45241 | 1-800-543-0862 | www.gmpopcorn.com | info@gmpopcorn.com