One cozy night in December 2020 over holiday treats and movies, an idea was born.
Sisters Bailey and Harper Galloway, then 10 and 5, were cleaning up after making Christmas cookies with their mom, Ebony McCallister. Harper suggested they watch The Grinch. Microwave popcorn followed, and almost instantly, the snack blossomed into something new.
“We basically took all the leftover cookie and pretzel pieces and mixed them together with the warm popcorn,” recalls Bailey, now 13. “We sat down to watch the movie and I told my mom, ‘This is really good. I think we’ve got something.’ And after that, it kind of just kind of blew up.”
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Bailey and Harper, now 8, are the co-owners of Posh Pop, a Zachary-based gourmet popcorn company that has grown from a cottage enterprise to LSU AgCenter Food Innovation Institute (Foodii) tenant to soon-to-be retail store. The three-year-old kid-run company currently sells its sweet and savory popcorn at six different LSU Athletics events. It’s a regular vendor at the Zachary Farmers & Artisans Market and has a mobile special events trailer. The company just announced plans to open a storefront this summer in Zachary on Virginia Street, near the new location of artisan bakery CounterspaceBR.
“They were serious about it from the first night,” McCallister says. “I knew they weren’t going to let it go because that’s all they could talk about for 48 hours straight.”
The two even performed a mock Shark Tank presentation in the living room, says McCallister, who would only allow the girls to watch Shark Tank or the Food Network after 7 p.m.
“They knew about pitching a business,” she laughs.
The girls named the enterprise Posh Pop. McCallister used her sales and marketing skills to create a logo, website and social media, then wrapped up the brand to give the girls for Christmas a few weeks later.
The sisters started with online sales in early 2021. That was followed by face-to-face sales that summer at the Zachary Farmers & Artisans Market, and their first festival that fall, Live After Five. Word continued to spread, and customers began requesting the popcorn for special events like baby showers and birthday parties, McCallister says.
In 2022, the sisters landed a competitive youth business tenant spot inside Foodii and moved production there. Currently, the team produces popcorn at the LSU AgCenter facility at least once a week. They often spend weekends on production and sales.
Their stable of more than a dozen flavors includes fan favorite Cheesy Cheddar Bomb, sweet-spicy Cajun Critter and Saturday Morning, awash in Fruity Pebbles cereal and mini marshmallows. One of Harper’s creations, Slumber Party, is a colorful mix of popcorn, cookie crumbles, marshmallows, chocolate drizzle and lots and lots of sprinkles.
“It’s like a rainbow sugar rush,” she says.
Just like a slumber party.
Campus cravings
Last spring, Posh Pop was invited to sell at LSU Softball games. The experience was challenging, McCallister says, but despite having a hard-to-reach location, sales were strong. LSU Athletics has since invited the business to sell inside Tiger Stadium, the PMAC and Alex Box Stadium.
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New digs
The forthcoming retail store in Zachary will sell at least eight flavors with rotating specials, and it will host products made by other kid-preneurs, according to McCallister.
Flavor fun
At LSU sporting events, the sisters sell flavors like Kettle Me Baby, a traditional kettle corn, and Tiger Tease, a creation made with a white chocolate drizzle and sprinkles. They regularly create a special Flava of the Month, like King Kake for Mardi Gras or First Kiss for Valentine’s Day.
This article was originally published in the April 2024 issue of 225 magazine.