Image by Hung Diesel from Pixabay
“So, has anybody ever really thought about why cheese popcorn and caramel popcorn work together so well?”
This was eleven-year-old Velma Trent while handing a big bucket of some of her big sister Vanna's blend of popcorn to her best friend, eleven-year-old Eleanor Ludlow.
“Thank you – I'll distribute it to everyone over here!” said Eleanor. “But to your question – people like salty and sweet, but also, when cheese and caramel melt, they are both sticky and tasty.”
“You know,” Velma said, “even dried off on popcorn, you do get a little of all that when you chew, and it does work really well like that.”
“Seriously, Velma,” Eleanor said, “I don't know what your sister is waiting on. College is good, but, her popcorn is billion-dollar stuff.”
“Oh, we know – you and your family are helping us perfect our recipes like we helped you with the Ludlow Bubbly,” Velma said. “Pop-Pop is just waiting on Vanna to be satisfied, settle down her recipes, get to be 18, and then write the business plan so he can fund it.”
“It's kinda hard when you make so many good versions,” Eleanor said. “Papa went through that too with our soda.”
“Yeah, you gotta put a bunch of stuff out there and also do market research,” Velma said. “It's like peanut butter ginger cayenne: I absolutely love it but we don't know if there's a market for pad thai popcorn.”
“Well, research can surprise you,” Eleanor said. “Papa just kept making the Calm Mile, which is really a family recipe for chamomile tea, apple juice, and cinnamon, because he likes it and we like it, but then Covid-19 hit, and people cannot get enough of the Calm Mile. When it is not running a close second to Fat Tuesday that we do with Dubois Spice Cabinet, it is actually first!”
“You just can't tell what people will go for,” Velma said. “But, when you can almost take dirt and make good popcorn seasoning out of it, you gotta make some decisions.”
“Well, salt is rock,” Eleanor said, “and Vanna makes some of the greatest salted popcorn I've eaten.”
“That's what I'm saying – she has it like that,” Velma said, “but the thing is, Pop-Pop is already a billionaire and he knows what it takes, and he's firm on you can't take fifty-eleven recipes to market.”
“Wait, how much is fifty-eleven?” Eleanor said.
“That's grandparent talk,” Velma said. “I mean, we can work it out to 61 or 550, but the idea is, it's way too many when you don't even have manufacturing and your own kitchen or a staff.”
“Oh,” Eleanor said. “It's like asking my baby brother Robert a question and finding out that he knows or thinks way more about it than any other five-year-old on earth.”
“The most confident fifty-eleven words ever uttered in life on any subject are definitely coming from Mr. Robert Edward Ludlow III,” Velma said, “but you know, Ellie, he's such a little gentleman and doesn't talk when his mouth is full.”
“Yeah, let me go fill it up – thanks again and thank Vanna for us and see you later.”