Cajun Pop's bold colored bags contain bold
Louisiana flavors. If you ever wanted to try your favorite local-inspired foods
and desserts, such as boiled crawfish, beignets, or Bananas Foster in popcorn
form, Cajun Pop is making that highly specific dream of yours a reality. The
Baton Rouge-based snack company has long been selling their treats at select
stores across eight states (here in Louisiana, you can find them at grocery retailers
including Rouses, Associated, and Walmart), but just this past week, the brand
launched their online store—meaning you can now get Louisiana-inspired flavored
popcorn shipped to any corner of the country.
A
national audience of Cajun Pop-loving customers was CEO/Founder Mike Coates's
vision from the beginning. "Louisiana cuisine is like no other in the world,"
he said in a press release announcing the new ecommerce site. "I wanted to find
a way to creatively share the unique taste with people across the country."
Coates is particularly excited about the king cake-flavored popcorn, saying it
has been "described as 'Mardi Gras in a bag.'"
Popcorn
took off as an American snack in the 1820s. The snack food was originally sold
and marketed as "pearls" or "nonpareil," according to PBS.org, but "by 1848, the word 'popcorn' was included in John
Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of
Americanisms. Bartlett claimed that the name was derived from the noise it
makes on bursting open." This name change is a shame because while the
onomatopoeic "popcorn" is nice, imagine a world with "cornpearls" or
"poppearls."
Flash
forward to 2018. The contemporary person has a non-stop lifestyle. Popcorn's
popularity is ballooning, its lucrative kernel of possibility continues to
appreciate. There is something called a "global popcorn market," and it's
expected to exceed $15 million by 2023, according to Allied Market Research.
"The busy and hectic lifestyle has motivated individuals to adopt convenient
solutions, such as instant and ready-to-eat convenient food over traditional
meals," AMR wrote, adding that "popcorn is a rich and concentrated source of
nutrients such as proteins, antioxidants, fiber, vitamin B complex, and others,
which makes it popular among households as a healthy alternative for breakfast
and meals." In sum, AMR sees the near-future for planet Earth as populated by
on-the-go people feeding from bags (check) in which popcorn is part of a
complete breakfast (mainstream popularity of this: still pending). The increase
in worldwide sales for the sweet/salty, fluffy/crunchy, buttery/skinny
many-sided snack is undeniable.
It
was this popcorn-friendly market that Coates entered when he started Cajun Pop
in 2019, branching away from Popology popcorn and those hulking tubs at the
mall. Early on, Coates enlisted help from SASSO—the marketing and advertising
agency that Drew Brees has worked with since 2016. Together, Cajun Pop and
SASSO wanted to capture the best of the Pelican State in their product. Their
slogans were a perfect umami of kitschy and catchy, like "That's not just
popcorn popping, that's the sound of Jazz in our kernels." Theme and taste are
the intertwining focus for Cajun Pop, but above all, their product is about
capturing Louisiana in a poppable, portable bite.
