Fireworks Popcorn

It all started with the love of popcorn and a duck pond!

The Fireworks Popcorn Company was founded by Barry MacLean, CEO at the MacLean-Fogg Company of Mundelein, Illinois, which is the largest manufacturer of metal nuts (that screw onto bolts) in North America. Barry and his family had grown up enjoying popcorn on countless summer nights in the North Woods of Wisconsin, popped in a simple pan on a gas stove.

His zeal for popcorn lead him to purchase a commercial popper for the lunch room in the Mundelein plant where they manufactured metal nuts by cold forging. The excessive heat generated by the cold forging process had necessitated the installation of a cooling pond years earlier next to the plant, which of course never froze. Ducks would customarily stay the winter in the warm pond and employees soon found the ducks loved popcorn from the company popcorn popper.

As the bulk popcorn purchases suddenly increased several fold at MacLean-Fogg, Barry decided to have some of the company's agricultural land, which was being held by the company for future expansion, switched over to the production of popcorn. Taking the task to heart, Barry and those involved with the project soon discovered there was a surprisingly large variety of popcorns which could be grown separate from the "big yellow" popcorns that American consumers are now almost exclusively familiar with.

Matching the right varieties to the right growing climates, they were soon growing more popcorn than they could possibly eat and feed the ducks and started bottling it for employee gifts and finally started selling it. Thus, The Fireworks Popcorn Company was founded in 1988, beginning its ongoing quest for the highest quality popcorn varieties available.

Barry MacLean agreed in 1997 to sell Fireworks Popcorn to Richard Bourne (and his family), a popcorn lover who has since exclusively devoted himself to continue and expand this quest for exceptional popcorn varieties.

Today, with over 12 popcorn varieties grown in 10 states, our new popcorn spice line and specialty popping oils, there is always something new popping up at Fireworks Popcorn!