West Carver News

Serving the western Carver County area including Watertown, Mayer, and New Germany – an online-only news publication

Three Mad Poppers brings gourmet popcorn to New Germany



PHOTO BY AUSTEN NEATON
Three Mad Poppers owner Jason Price moved his business to New Germany about one year ago, and now he hopes to use it to become more involved in his community.

For just over a year, Jason Price, the owner of New Germany’s Three Mad Poppers, has worked to lay a new foundation for his business in the town.
Jason Price is a Shakopee native, and he has owned and operated his business, Three Mad Poppers, which makes gourmet popcorn, since 2018. That year, he acquired the business from the family who originally started it and moved it into the Twin Cities.
Included with the business was some of the equipment needed to make the popcorn and some base recipes. He decided to keep the name Three Mad Poppers because he felt it still fit, as he had a wife and child who could be the other
two mad poppers. Price said he has always been an entrepreneur. But, after having several different side businesses throughout his life, he decided to take over one that would let him work with his longtime love of popcorn.
“I was looking to branch out and do my own thing, and I came across this,” he said. “I was always playing around with different flavors of popcorn growing up, and I thought it could be fun. So, I went for it and decided to try and see
how it went.”
Price said that there was a learning curve when he first started, as he needed to gain more experience making gourmet popcorn. “There was definitely a learning curve. I mean, I used to know how to push the button on the microwave and have had experience with that,” he said. “With the equipment we have now, there was a lot to the process of learning how to use some of it. There is definitely an art to it.”
Price also specified what gourmet popcorn means to him and how it differs from other popcorn. “Gourmet popcorn, to me, is more of the hand-made popcorn where you are adding the other ingredients after it is popped,” he explained. “There are a lot of places that pop the popcorn in oil and then add the other ingredients, and that is still gourmet popcorn; it’s just a slightly different flavor profile.”

COVID-19 kills the popcorn business
When he first began running Three Mad Poppers, Price brought his popcorn to countless farmer’s markets and festivals to spread his brand. Though he started with just base recipes, he quickly used those to formulate several new recipes. “I’ve always liked making specialty flavors. I’ve got a list of about a hundred recipes, and I probably have a thousand flavors in my head,” he said.
Within six months, he had enough success selling his product that he was able to start his own storefront in Bloomington. Price was still working his regular job as an accountant when he first took over the business, but at this point, he quit to focus on Three Mad Poppers full-time.
Over the next two years, Price sold his popcorn from his storefront and at markets and gained several wholesale clients. Some of these wholesale clients were breweries with which he worked to make alcohol-infused popcorn flavors.
His business took a hit in 2020, however, when the COVID-19 pandemic prevented large gatherings from taking place. With no more farmer’s markets or festivals to bring his popcorn to, he had to focus solely on his storefront, which struggled but kept the business alive throughout the pandemic.
With breweries shutting down during the pandemic, many of his wholesale accounts were put on hold, making things even more difficult. “Covid hit, and the main streams of the business literally got shut down overnight,” Price said. “We did just enough to get by and pay the rent. We made it through, and the backside of it has been a lot better.”

Making a new home
After the COVID-19 pandemic began to subside, Price saw his business operations improve as he could again attend markets and festivals. His wholesale accounts also returned as breweries again opened up. Price quickly decided that he wanted to move out of the storefront he had in the metro area.
He officially acquired his location in New Germany in March of 2022, which he opened shortly after. However, with the move, there also came a change in Price’s business model. With a growing family, he decided he could no longer attend farmer’s markets regularly. Instead, his business has become mostly reliant on its wholesale accounts, which he said has put it in a great position to succeed. With five locally employed workers at his location, however, Price hopes to build up his storefront to sell popcorn directly to customers. “If the community supported it, it would be nice to ramp that part of the business up a bit. There is tons of room for expansion,” Price said. “At the end of the day, we are never going to quit trying to grow the business. If you quit trying to grow, then your business will be out of business.”
Price also said that he feels his prices are fair for the quality of his product. “I try to keep it reasonable as much as I can,” he said. “If I’m not going to buy it at a certain price, then I won’t charge that price. It’s hand-made, it’s family-owned, and it’s made in small batches.”

Kernel community
Price said that through his business, he hopes to impact the community other than selling people popcorn. “The community out here has been so open and so great,” he said. “I’d like to do more in the community out here and try to be a part of it rather than an outsider from Shakopee who brought his business here.”
One such way is to organize fundraisers that can help different groups of people in the local communities nearby, such as students at schools. “It helps get our name out a little bit, but if we can help other people in the community, then that is the number one thing,” he said.
Price said he also hopes to sell popcorn at some of the major events in the area, such as the several different summer celebrations in each community, which will help him become more familiar with everyone. Price also hopes to continue providing job opportunities for local residents with his business and that he looks forward to creating a great work environment for them. “I want to try to make sure my employees have pride in their own work and let them soar and fly on their own,” he said. “They are going to come up with different ways of doing things that are way better than what I ever would have come up with.”

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