Image via Mama Moore’s Gourmet Popcorn
Debra Moore and her husband were looking for a way to pay for college for their third son. Having already gone through the application and payment process twice, the Moores knew they needed to find a way to bring in extra cash to support their youngest child’s tuition fees.
“My bright idea was to find something that I could do on the weekends, which was pretty cheap. As a result, that’s how I came up with Mama Moore’s Gourmet Popcorn.”
The wife and husband team started selling regular kettle corn as a mobile business in 2022 on the weekends. Quickly demand for their product began to grow. Mama Moore’s opened their first gourmet popcorn shop in Grand Prairie, Texas, six years later. The brand has built a virtual component that has helped scale the company to the next level. Not only did Mama Moore’s son graduate college with his tuition paid, Mama Moore’s Gourmet Popcorn is also quickly becoming a local — and perhaps very soon — a national legend.
Read this week’s Founder Feature to discover how this tasty treat became the income source to power two parents, their son, a community, and eventually entire corporations and nonprofits — into spreading joy.
digitalundivided: What inspired you to create such a broad flavor profile?
Debra Moore: In the food world, they call it reconstructing. I look at what I really like and see if I can reconstruct that and make it into popcorn. Having close to 40 flavors is a lot. But having four or five flavors, I don’t think, is enough. I could always have butter, caramel cheddar, and white cheddar. But having the flavor like dill pickle… dill pickles are really big right now… that was a little bit unique and out there. Birthday cake is another one. You can get birthday cake ice cream. Obviously, there’s the actual birthday cake. So, that was a flavor I thought was different. My personal favorite is Pound Cake. I want to have flavors that are a little bit out there. Because we’re just not selling popcorn. We’re selling gourmet popcorn. It makes a huge difference.
Image via Mama Moore’s Gourmet Popcorn
digitalundivided: Why is your product necessary for this market?
Debra Moore: I serve pretty much everybody, I like to say. And I like to think that popcorn is a universal food. When you come into our store, it’s what makes us different — the experience. I tell all of my Kernels…that is what I call my employees, my team members… I call them my “Kernels.” I tell the Kernels, “When someone comes in if they’ve had a bad day, we want to make sure that they leave with a smile.” So, you’re buying popcorn, but you’re buying the experience of coming and getting excellent customer service, and a quality product at a reasonable price. That’s what makes us different.
And then if you’re coming in for a snack…I have one customer that actually pretty much had me in tears. I told her she couldn’t do that because I’m trying to run a business here. But she came in, and her mother was sick. They later found out that she had cancer and she had gone to the hospital. If you know of anyone with cancer, they don’t eat very much, and not many things give them a satisfying taste. But, the one thing that she wanted was Mama Moore’s Gourmet Popcorn. Those are the stories that touched me the most from the people that we serve. Yes, we do corporate events. And, yes, we do large orders. But those little special stories are the ones that really touch us.
digitalundivided: Was having a give-back model always something you wanted to incorporate as part of your business? Or was that something that happened organically?
Debra Moore: I’ve always wanted to, I didn’t exactly know how. Every quarter, I had a certain budget for donations, and it’s kind of first come, first serve. Even if my budget has been exhausted, what I try to do is because I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Sometimes I’m like, “Well, how can I still help you?” But I wanted to know how I could do even more.
Late last year, I introduced a virtual fundraising platform. I wanted to do that specifically for small nonprofits because oftentimes they don’t have the means to get the funds that they need to provide the programs that they want to have with the money that they need. So we’ve created a virtual platform. They provide us the information about their memberships, that information is inputted into the system, and a personalized page is developed not only for the site but for the individual members as well. And as a result, they can send that custom link to their friends, families, and co-workers. The popcorn orders are placed, we receive the orders, we pop it, pack it and ship it directly to their customers. At the end of the campaign, we split the funds 50–50. It’s going really well — it’s really taken off. I’m really happy with having developed the virtual platform. It’s a double, double plus, if you want to say. I just feel like it’s a community thing that I’m really proud of.
Image via Mama Moore’s Gourmet Popcorn
digitalundivided: How did participating in digitalundivided’s BREAKTHROUGH program help you navigate your founder journey?
Debra Moore: We had an entrepreneurial coach, and there was one thing that she said, and I told my husband — and now he always uses it against me! It’s a good thing, though. But, I was looking to open another facility for production. The conversation with her made me think about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.
One of the things that she mentioned was this facility. I have this facility, and I have all this equipment that I’ve purchased. She said, “The longer you take to actually get that up and running, you’re losing money, and you will continue to lose money. Even when you start, you’re already in the hole. So, always think about how you’re going to get to the next step and how long it’s going to take you to get to the next step.”
That conversation, and the few weeks of training that we had with digitalundivided, helped me understand who my customer was and financially what I needed to do to basically breakthrough and know how much money I could gain, but also how much money I would lose if I didn’t get moving. That was pretty amazing to me.
digitalundivided: Is there a business motto that you abide by at all times?
Debra Moore: I always say it’s hard, but do it anyway if that’s your passion. I don’t know if that’s a business motto. But it’s going to be hard. It’s got to be something you love and you have a passion for. I always have had a passion for people and popcorn, and I combine those by offering all my many flavors.
Are you an Oakland-based, early-stage founder looking to gain a deeper understanding of your customer, growth marketing strategies, and gain networking opportunities to scale your venture? Apply to digitalundivided’s BREAKTHROUGH Oakland program today! Each company accepted into the program will receive a $5,000 grant. Applications close May 21st.
[Editors note]: This interview has been lightly edited from its original transcription.